How does this text BUILD on our knowledge and understanding of the writer?
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Text #19: “Tomson Highway: Interview with Sherman Alexie” (Book Review)
2. How does the text deepen our understanding of Alexie and his writing?
The text deepens our understanding of Alexie and his writing because it tells us that he was inspired by native American authors to write because it connected to him personally as he is a Native American as well who had to endure common ordeals. It is quoted in the text by Alexie, “I got into the class, and my professors, Alex Kwo, gave me an anthology of contemporary Native American poetry called Songs from this Earth on Turtle’s back. I opened it up and— oh gosh— I saw my life in poems and stories for the first time.” This book that Alexie cherishes so much is a book of poems by 52 renowned Native American writers, and the poems describe the life of a typical American Indian on the reservation, living a life full of prejudice, hate and inequality, but with all these flaws being echoed the authors did not fail to include joy and happiness, something that Sherman Alexie has replicated by integrating dark humor into his pieces. It was this book that prompted
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In the interview it is as quoted by Sherman Alexie, “Linda Hogan, Simon Ortiz, Joy Harjo, James Welch, Adrian Lewis. There were poems about reservation life: fry bread, bannock, 49’s, fried baloney, government food, and terrible housing. But there was also joy and happiness.” For me this quote really points out how Sherman Alexie has constructed his writing in such a way that he points out the prejudice and inequality that native Americans have to endure but never fails to leave out the joy and happiness in order to keep readers latched