The Toughest Indian In The World Chapter Summary
The Protagonist in The Toughest Indian in the World assigns meaning to life by living in the modern world while staying in touch with his traditions, creating a conflict in the Spokane Indian to develop his identity.
Being a Spokane Indian, the protagonist has a strong bind with traditions, making them essential to build up his identity. For example, when introducing himself, he highlights the impact picking up Indian hitchhikers has made in his life; “Being a Spokane Indian, I only pick up Indian hitchhikers. I learned this particular ceremony from my father, a Coeur d’Alêne,” This demonstrates the connection the protagonist feels towards his Indian roots from which he defines his goals and purposes in life. With this, he implies he wants to live in the modern world but keep …show more content…
his Indian identity untouched. This demonstrates he doesn’t want to conform by staying in the Indian society but he wants to succeed to be able to higher Indian’s standards. On the other hand, when the protagonist illustrates how the Indian society has been oppressed by the White people and the resentment Indian’s feel towards these group in society as taught by their ancestors, he expresses; “That was how I learned to be silent in the presence of white people.
The silence is not about hate or pain or fear.” This illustrates how the protagonist wants to demonstrate to the White society that Indians can be successful by living in the modern world and working in it but always keeping his Indian values and traditions. Additionally, the protagonist gives tribute to his family and community by showing that Indians can succeed and coexist with the White society proving he is very mature. In conclusion, the character assigns meaning to life by paying tribute to his Indian community and demonstrating to different societies that Indians can be very successful and can coexist with the White society, leaving behind remorse.
The Spokane Indian in The Toughest Indian in the World, also assigns meaning to life through generosity, a value he learned from his Indian community, who see themselves as a family, a value that is essential for his identity. For example when the protagonist is recounting how his family used to pick up hitchhikers he reveals, “ ‘Make
room,’ my father would say to my siblings and me as we sat on the floor in the cavernous passenger area of our blue van… Of course, it was easy enough to make room for one hitchhiker, but Indians usually travel in packs.” This demonstrates that one of the most important values he learned from his family was to be generous, through this he has learned to help people, especially Indians. Generosity is one of the values he learns to live upon represented with the hitchhikers. For Example, being generous is so important to the protagonist that he is working and uses his work utilities to help others, specially Indian hitchhikers. This generosity has let him perceive that unity is the most important thing in life. He wants to achieve this unity with Indians and Whites because this is something that goes with his identity but opposes with the treatment Indians receive from Whites. Secondly, this can also be seen when the Spokane Indian recounts, “I always picked up every Indian hitchhiker, young and old men and women.. I pick them up and get them all a little closer to home, even if I can’t get them all the way.” With this he implies that he recognizes most Indians are less fortunate due to the way they have been rejected in society. Because of this reason, he tries to help everyone he can, recognizing he has a privileged position in comparison to other people in his society. He believes he has the responsibility with his community to continue this legacy of being generous and uniting the Indian community, making them think they are all a family who united can surpass all problems and eventually succeed in making a more equal society. Due to this responsibility, he feels that he has to endure all the controversies, creating a conflict on his priorities which impact his identity. The Spokane Indian assigns meaning to life by being generous, and by practicing this generosity he nourishes his traditions.
Additionally, the Spokane Indian builds up his identity by living in the modern world surrounded by White people, and learning to understand their values. Contradicting with his Indian values, the Spokane Indian had to coexist with White people illustrated when he states; “My father never taught me about hope. From an early age, I was told that our salmon would never come back and though some lessons might seem cruel, I learned to cover my heart in a crowd of white people.” This implies the anxiety the protagonist feels in building up his identity, which he has felt since the beginning with his father, who has forcedly implied preconceptions in the protagonist, that prevent his development and interactions with white people and can be seen at his job. Furthermore, the salmon demonstrates that the Indian economy is going down which has pushed him to make a sacrifice and work with white people. Being forced to interact with white people has changed his identity, making the protagonist fear that due to this change; he will not be able to fit in with his Indian community as he did before. Also, the author feels inferior, even when he gets the opportunity to closely interact/relate with the white community, seen when he exposes, “Cindy was a good one, cute and smart, funny as hell, a good ..catch no matter how you define it, but she was also one of those white women who only date brown-skinned guys.” With this, the Spokane Indian portrays his desire for the Indian’s and the White’s to be at the same level, this implies a slight alter in Indian’s identity, which begins with the Spokane Indian who now interacts on a regular basis with other groups in society, specially the white. He wants Indians to receive the same treatment and opportunities but keeping their values and traditions untouched. With this, he tries to hide the feeling of inferiority Indians feel with White people. By doing so, he implies his desire for success to represent his community as a whole and demonstrate to the world how far indians can get if their wish to, trying to establish a legacy of success in the modern world by pursuing Indian values. Through the strength he has to go through he creates his identity which he believes is the ideal identity for Indians From this, there is an evident conflict in his identity due to the fact that he is willing to make sacrifice for the wellbeing of the Indian community but contradicting his family values and traditions.
Being a Spokane Indian, the protagonist has a strong bind with traditions, making them essential to build up his identity. For example, when introducing himself, he highlights the impact picking up Indian hitchhikers has made in his life; “Being a Spokane Indian, I only pick up Indian hitchhikers. I learned this particular ceremony from my father, a Coeur d’Alêne,” This demonstrates the connection the protagonist feels towards his Indian roots from which he defines his goals and purposes in life. With this, he implies he wants to live in the modern world but keep …show more content…
his Indian identity untouched. This demonstrates he doesn’t want to conform by staying in the Indian society but he wants to succeed to be able to higher Indian’s standards. On the other hand, when the protagonist illustrates how the Indian society has been oppressed by the White people and the resentment Indian’s feel towards these group in society as taught by their ancestors, he expresses; “That was how I learned to be silent in the presence of white people.
The silence is not about hate or pain or fear.” This illustrates how the protagonist wants to demonstrate to the White society that Indians can be successful by living in the modern world and working in it but always keeping his Indian values and traditions. Additionally, the protagonist gives tribute to his family and community by showing that Indians can succeed and coexist with the White society proving he is very mature. In conclusion, the character assigns meaning to life by paying tribute to his Indian community and demonstrating to different societies that Indians can be very successful and can coexist with the White society, leaving behind remorse.
The Spokane Indian in The Toughest Indian in the World, also assigns meaning to life through generosity, a value he learned from his Indian community, who see themselves as a family, a value that is essential for his identity. For example when the protagonist is recounting how his family used to pick up hitchhikers he reveals, “ ‘Make
room,’ my father would say to my siblings and me as we sat on the floor in the cavernous passenger area of our blue van… Of course, it was easy enough to make room for one hitchhiker, but Indians usually travel in packs.” This demonstrates that one of the most important values he learned from his family was to be generous, through this he has learned to help people, especially Indians. Generosity is one of the values he learns to live upon represented with the hitchhikers. For Example, being generous is so important to the protagonist that he is working and uses his work utilities to help others, specially Indian hitchhikers. This generosity has let him perceive that unity is the most important thing in life. He wants to achieve this unity with Indians and Whites because this is something that goes with his identity but opposes with the treatment Indians receive from Whites. Secondly, this can also be seen when the Spokane Indian recounts, “I always picked up every Indian hitchhiker, young and old men and women.. I pick them up and get them all a little closer to home, even if I can’t get them all the way.” With this he implies that he recognizes most Indians are less fortunate due to the way they have been rejected in society. Because of this reason, he tries to help everyone he can, recognizing he has a privileged position in comparison to other people in his society. He believes he has the responsibility with his community to continue this legacy of being generous and uniting the Indian community, making them think they are all a family who united can surpass all problems and eventually succeed in making a more equal society. Due to this responsibility, he feels that he has to endure all the controversies, creating a conflict on his priorities which impact his identity. The Spokane Indian assigns meaning to life by being generous, and by practicing this generosity he nourishes his traditions.
Additionally, the Spokane Indian builds up his identity by living in the modern world surrounded by White people, and learning to understand their values. Contradicting with his Indian values, the Spokane Indian had to coexist with White people illustrated when he states; “My father never taught me about hope. From an early age, I was told that our salmon would never come back and though some lessons might seem cruel, I learned to cover my heart in a crowd of white people.” This implies the anxiety the protagonist feels in building up his identity, which he has felt since the beginning with his father, who has forcedly implied preconceptions in the protagonist, that prevent his development and interactions with white people and can be seen at his job. Furthermore, the salmon demonstrates that the Indian economy is going down which has pushed him to make a sacrifice and work with white people. Being forced to interact with white people has changed his identity, making the protagonist fear that due to this change; he will not be able to fit in with his Indian community as he did before. Also, the author feels inferior, even when he gets the opportunity to closely interact/relate with the white community, seen when he exposes, “Cindy was a good one, cute and smart, funny as hell, a good ..catch no matter how you define it, but she was also one of those white women who only date brown-skinned guys.” With this, the Spokane Indian portrays his desire for the Indian’s and the White’s to be at the same level, this implies a slight alter in Indian’s identity, which begins with the Spokane Indian who now interacts on a regular basis with other groups in society, specially the white. He wants Indians to receive the same treatment and opportunities but keeping their values and traditions untouched. With this, he tries to hide the feeling of inferiority Indians feel with White people. By doing so, he implies his desire for success to represent his community as a whole and demonstrate to the world how far indians can get if their wish to, trying to establish a legacy of success in the modern world by pursuing Indian values. Through the strength he has to go through he creates his identity which he believes is the ideal identity for Indians From this, there is an evident conflict in his identity due to the fact that he is willing to make sacrifice for the wellbeing of the Indian community but contradicting his family values and traditions.