In Sherman Alexie’s fiction, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” Alexie narrates some story presented by some unreal events that happened in the reservation, but he conveyed these stories with real elements such as emotions, facts from history, or even what he remembers from his memory as to what he claims as “reservation realism”.…
Although the movie Smoke Signals and the book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven share stories and scenes they differ in many way.…
The predicament of the Native American Indians throughout history is devastated by many battles of relocation from one reservation to the next. One would perceive the Indians merely as puppets that were manipulated by white settlers. However, the Battle of the Little Bighorn was unique. Custer’s Last Stand has been a symbol of bravery, of folly, and of oppression.…
Author Amanda Rose has taken it upon herself to bring to light the horrific experiences of modern day immigrant’s flight to freedom through the Sonoran Desert. In addition to addressing the immigrant’s plight, she calls into question the immigration process or lack thereof, the United States legislative broken immigration policy, religious leaders and their roles, US Border Patrol and US citizens. Her intent is to open up a dialogue on US immigration policies and educate the American public on the devastating consequences of a hapless built dividing wall between two countries which are felt not only by the immigrants but by the people that live in and around the border. Rose illustrates the conflicts that everyday Americans citizens living on the border face in trying to help and solve border issues with their personal solutions. Do they work? Are they…
2) Enoch Rucker Blakeslee - Will’s grandfather who is 59 years old. He loves whiskey and tobacco. Stingy….didn’t pay for a phone in his house, electricity, or a bathroom. He is well-respected and stubborn. Had a long beard that was gray and usually stained from tobacco juice. Blue eyed; has all his teeth; lean, strong, and straight; Democrat; Baptist; devout Confederate veteran; only has one hand (right); good shooter with a gun. Rucker is a humorous man who owns the general store in Cold Sassy. Rucker is passionately Southern, but he has no use for the gossip and hypocrisy of Cold Sassy’s small-town ways, and he acts according to his own code of decent conduct, not the town’s.…
Roy Smith’s America was a Dateline 20/20 News Story covering the vicious attacks on Roy Smith, a man who desired nothing more than to live quietly on a ranch in Colorado he purchased, by the community he lived near because of the community’s fear and ignorant racial beliefs. He lived on the ranch for almost 20 years before being driven off his own land by vandalism, beatings and attempts on his life. The case later became a Colorado Civil Rights case. The officers who had jurisdiction over the area his ranch was in did not believe the attacks occurred as Roy described…
Emmet Till was a fourteen year- old boy brutally murdered on August 24th 1955. When he repeatedly flirted with a white cashier at a grocery store. Four days later Till was kidnapped by two white men, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, who were brothers, they beat him and shot him dead in the head. The white men were approved for murder, although, a bias, white-all male jury freed them. Till’s open casket funeral aroused the emerging Civil Rights Movement.…
There was once a time where alienation of certain races played a major role in the American society. Those who were not white were considered a minority, less human. Blacks were dehumanized, treated as property, and abused during that time period. In 1955, the death of Emmett Till, an African-American fourteen-year-old boy who was discriminated and wrongly judged due to his color of skin, played a crucial role in the Civil Rights Movement. Resulting from his ability to be humorous, many say that Emmett Till intended no harm by approaching the white woman who worked at the grocery store, but since racial conflicts clash, everything got out of hand and turned into a murder sentence for innocent Till.…
“Nobody can give everything away. It ain’t healthy,” (Alexie 33). Sherman Alexie’s book of short stories, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, focuses on the life of Native Americans on the Spokane Reservation, specifically focusing on Victor, the main character. In the collection of stories, Victor learns about the damage caused by letting anyone other than himself control his life.…
Finally, Sherman Alexie is trying to say money can be taken for granted, and lots of people could be using it for stuff they need. Instead of wasting on stuff they don't need. When Sherman Alexie says “A promise is just like money.” He is saying you can keep a promise, or blow it. Last, Sherman Alexie’s text Indian Killer impacted society through culture. There is a serial killer in Seattle is killing males that are white. The local people call him “Indian Killer” the murderer's actions are getting the city's Native American community into trouble. “All the anger in the world has come to my house. It's there in my closet. In my refrigerator. In the water. In the sheets. It's in my clothes. Can you smell it? I can never run away from it. It's in my hair. I can feel it between my teeth. Can you taste it? I hear it all the time. All…
Intolerance on the basis of color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, social status, wealth, and other factors has caused the undue suffering of millions around the world. Even as early as the colonial era, Native Americans have been a prominent target of discrimination; the treatment of the American Indians portrays how modernization can open the door to oppression. Sherman Alexie, a Spokane author, illustrates how past prejudice continues to obstruct his fellow people from attaining success. The underlying theme in Alexie’s writing is his cognizant awareness that intolerance left unchecked makes oppression inevitable. In "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” he tells the story of how he developed his love of reading, and how he uses his gifts to challenge the boundaries that society has set for…
The Battle of the Alamo is one of the most famous and talked about battles to this day in the American military. I remember it like it was yesterday walking the dusty streets with my matching Colt six shooter revolvers strapped on, with my black cowboy hat pulled low over my forehead. Everyone knew there was a huge battle brewing ever since the Texans had claimed their independence from Mexico. First of all let me clear something up, the Alamo was a church and not a fort as everyone thinks it was. The name was Mision San Antonio de Valero, it was used as a missionary for Christians and Native Americans who converted over to Christianity. The reason we chose this particular spot was where it was located, out in the wide open we didn't figure…
Writer, poet, and filmmaker Sherman Alexie published a book called, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993). His writing involves his experiences as a Native American growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The stories in the book consist of love, leadership, honor, connections to earth, and relation to animals. Thomas Builds-the-Fire is a spiritual character in the book. He lives in the realm of the spirit.…
Sherman Alexie is a Native American writer, best known for his works “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” Smoke Signals, “What You Pawn,” and “Indian Education.” In every story Alexie’s style is recognizable, making his works incredibly unique to his culture. Within his writings, his imagery is beyond belief, his description of “He’s got those great big cheekbones that are like planets, you know, with little moons orbiting them,” (What You Pawn, 1) gives you a picture of Junior. Alexie uses great description towards his characters along with them wishing the whites to be gone. All of his stories at some point include the conflict of the Native Americans and the White men. In Smoke Signals Arnold talks to his son about Independence Day, “I could make anything disappear. Houdini with braids you know? Poof, wave my hand! The white people are gone, sent back to where they belong. Poof!” (140). Alexie not only tells the rivalry between the Indians and Whites, but he uses multiple flashbacks within his pieces. He goes back and forth between the fighting of Thomas and Victor as kids and as they are on their journey to receive Victor’s father in Smoke Signals. Many times he goes back to the day of the fire, and as the story goes on we see more of what actually happens, learning the story along with Thomas. Along with the flashbacks, Alexie repeatedly uses the quote “it’s a good day to die…” Just in Smoke Signals alone, “it’s a good day to…” was use multiple times. Alexie is fond of adding basketball and pop culture references to his stories. Some of these include Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. He also enjoys having ceremonies and oral stories appear in some way, to hold a profound meaning through out his story. Inside all of Alexie’s stories there is something that makes them different, something that will catch his audiences eye, something that makes the reader want to continue and follow his…
As I strolled home from work on a late night, I heard a loud siren with blue and red lights headed my way. Minding my own business, I kept walking because I absolutely knew the cops were not looking for an innocent man like me. The police car got closer and closer, quickly approaching my side. I noticed my shoes were untied, and I bent down to tie them. Within a blink of an eye, I was being arrested for attempted robbery because I was black and out late at night. In “Right Place, Wrong Face” by Alton Fitzgerald White, the stage is set for racial prejudice against an innocent man. Racial prejudice is not rare based on someone’s race or color. The way society provides a certain image for a particular set of people decreases their opportunity of showing their true character. Unfortunately White was caught in the right place at the wrong time, which led to his unjust arrest at his Harlem apartment building. His perception of everything was forever changed.…