Gloria Bird Short Story

Gloria Bird VS Sherman Alexie Gloria Bird’s Turtle Lake and Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” are two stories written by Native American authors. When reading these two stories, one would not make any type of connection between them. Both are unique in their own way, but if he or she looks a little closer the similarities and differences become clear. To begin, both of the stories are distinct in their own way. The two stories both depict the main character or characters battling with an inner or exterior struggle. The main difference between these two stories is what the fears or battles are. In Gloria Bird’s writings the main characters have childish fears or problems. For example, a main character,Sklemucks,

Bird’s story deals with the main characters scared of a figurative creature. The Stick Indians are a creature in tales that were used to scare young kids in some Indian culture. Similar to how the Loch Ness monster is used Scottish folklore. The men in Bird’s story, upon hearing about the Stick Indians, became uneasy sitting out in the open on the ice. The main characters decided that they wanted to head back to shore, because it was “cold”. The truth, however, was that they did not feel comfortable sitting out on the ice exposed. “Tapete suspected that Sklemucks was a little spooked himself.” They were letting their imagination run wild and free, leading them to assumptions about supposedly mythical creatures. In the other story by Alexie, the little boy lets his imagination run wild when he likens his problems to storms or tornadoes. When his uncles begin fighting, Victor thinks to himself “sudden rain like promises, like treaties.” He thinks of his problems like bad weather. This is childish because many of his problems are not as serious as certain weather patterns. For example, he starts to depict his own personal fights with hurricanes. Hurricanes that smash houses, flatten fields, and destroy memories. He wonders to himself if maybe changing his own personal hurricanes would be better than remembering them for what they