Smoake Signals
Smoke Signals
Smoke Signals portrays the some of the problems Native American Indians have had to deal with over the years. The main character is a young Native American teenage boy, Victor Joseph, (Adam Beach), and how alcohol affected his life and relationship between him and his father, Arnold Joseph, (Gary Farmer),. This story brings to light the custom of storytelling by the Native American’s. Story telling is used as narration by another character, Thomas, (Evan Adams). These stories by Thomas prompt flashback memories and explain the nature Victor and Thomas’ relationship and how it formed from the time they were infants. Victor and Thomas set out on a road trip to Phoenix to retrieve Victor’s fathers remain after his death and during this journey Victor learns to come to grips with his anger issues towards the fact of how he has felt cheated of out a Father and having to deal with the loneliness and anger growing up.
This story begins with a 4th of July party at Thomas’ parents house. Victor’s father, Arnold, an alcoholic, was celebrating and everyone had passed out at the house. He decides to light fireworks in the house and the house catches on fire. Arnold starts to run away when he remembers Victor in the house asleep and he goes back for him and he grabs Thomas as well. However, Thomas’ parents parish in the fire that night. Thomas was taken to live with his grandmother who deems Arnold as a hero and he tells her he didn’t mean to be a hero. What he wasn’t telling her was that he started the fire. All the guilt he now has from that night has only made his drinking problem worse. Arnold feels ashamed and less of a man and therefore cuts his long hair something of which represented his culture proudly. Arnold never grows his long hair again. Him and his wife both drank until one day when Victor was around 9 or 10, maybe a little younger, his mother notices him throwing rocks at the tailgate of their truck. She knows he is filled with anger due to the
Smoke Signals portrays the some of the problems Native American Indians have had to deal with over the years. The main character is a young Native American teenage boy, Victor Joseph, (Adam Beach), and how alcohol affected his life and relationship between him and his father, Arnold Joseph, (Gary Farmer),. This story brings to light the custom of storytelling by the Native American’s. Story telling is used as narration by another character, Thomas, (Evan Adams). These stories by Thomas prompt flashback memories and explain the nature Victor and Thomas’ relationship and how it formed from the time they were infants. Victor and Thomas set out on a road trip to Phoenix to retrieve Victor’s fathers remain after his death and during this journey Victor learns to come to grips with his anger issues towards the fact of how he has felt cheated of out a Father and having to deal with the loneliness and anger growing up.
This story begins with a 4th of July party at Thomas’ parents house. Victor’s father, Arnold, an alcoholic, was celebrating and everyone had passed out at the house. He decides to light fireworks in the house and the house catches on fire. Arnold starts to run away when he remembers Victor in the house asleep and he goes back for him and he grabs Thomas as well. However, Thomas’ parents parish in the fire that night. Thomas was taken to live with his grandmother who deems Arnold as a hero and he tells her he didn’t mean to be a hero. What he wasn’t telling her was that he started the fire. All the guilt he now has from that night has only made his drinking problem worse. Arnold feels ashamed and less of a man and therefore cuts his long hair something of which represented his culture proudly. Arnold never grows his long hair again. Him and his wife both drank until one day when Victor was around 9 or 10, maybe a little younger, his mother notices him throwing rocks at the tailgate of their truck. She knows he is filled with anger due to the