Sherman Alexie's Short Stories

In Sherman Alexie’s short stories “This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona”, and “Indian Education” Alexie uses action and dialogue to show the struggles of an Indian culture in a white mans world, putting the theme of race and social justice in a dilemma. Alexie uses dialogue in the short story “This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona”, to illustrate an ill-funded Indian reservation. After Victor had found out that his father had passed away Victor needed money to retrieve his father remains, realizing that, “[The only people that] have money on a reservation, [are] the cigarette and fireworks salespeople.” People in the reservation truly don’t have money but for the few that sell cigarettes and fireworks, even the Tribal Council,
“[Has] a difficult time financially”, only being able to provide Victor with a hundred dollars for the retrievel of his fathers remains. Alexie also uses action in the short story “Indian Education” to give a sense of predigest against the Indian race. While in the second grade Alexies teacher makes him take a separate spelling test designed for junior high students, and when he proved to her that he could spell the words correctly she made him eat the test. The predigest missionary teacher wanted Alexie to feel inadequate by giving him a harder test, even though he passed, the teacher was in such rage that he did not fail she made him eat the test. The missionary teacher has no respect for Alexie by calling him an, “indian, indian, indian” with no capitalization, giving no sing of respect for his background. Sherman Alexie’s short stories tell the stories of Indians in a racial and social injustice world.