ipl-logo

Sherman Alexie's Indian Education

433 Words2 Pages

In a few scenes of the the grades one through twelve the short story “Indian Education,” by the Native American author and filmmaker Sherman Alexie is able to show us what it is like growing up in the white, American culture. Sherman Alexie is able to give us a glimpse of the differences of what it means to be in a non-white student area that is struggling due to the effects of colonization. Even though it has been many years since the European explores “found” North America, the settlers and government continued to expand into Indian territories. The Native Americans gradually saw their land and culture diminishing as they were relocated to reservations. The feelings of oppression become obvious through the eyes of Victor, a young boy. The …show more content…

Cultural appropriation is a sociological concept that views the use or adoption of elements of one culture by members of a different culture as a negative phenomenon. This theme is something that is not only found in Sherman Alexie’s short essay, but is also found in our world today. For example, the school that Victor transfers to is an off reservation, all white school where the mascot is an Indian. This is a disrespect to the Indians, and Victor believes that he is “probably the only actual Indian ever to play for a team with such a mascot,” (line 68). There are many examples of schools having names and mascots based of different Native American tribes and symbols. These mascots are seen as racist imitations of the Native Americans. There are even football teams such as the “Redskins” team of Washington D.C. that in a way has a negative connotation. For the Native Americans, the term “redskin” is a slur and a generalization of the people and their skin color, basically a stereotype. Many of these mascots run around wearing headdresses, beating drums, and waving tomahawks. These images have led us to relate such things to the Native Americans and it continues to push the stereotype of a Native American. The separation of Native Americans from their heritage, lands, and culture have led to an even bigger divide between them and the white culture. All these things are still impacting the lives of the Native American people

Show More
Related

Analysis Of Drew Hayden Taylor's Searching For Winnetou

807 Words | 4 Pages

Additionally, Drew comments, "I feel like thousands of fans here cheering for white people dressed as Apache warriors see this as good family fun" (Searching for Winnetou 12 8:19–8:27 | CBC Docs POV | CBC Gem). White individuals are impersonating Indigenous people's lifestyle and presence. These spectators are applauding folks who are adopting Native American attire solely to amuse others for a display. Indigenous cultures are disrespected by this certain behavior, which reduces the principles to costumes for entertainment. It is important to recognize the origins of cultural practices instead of adopting them for trendy

Read More

Metepenagiag Mi Kmaq Nation By Noah Augustine

733 Words | 3 Pages

Noah Augustine, former chief of Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq Nation, delivered a great essay on how culturally and morally ridiculous, it is to use Native symbols for sports team logos. He effectively talked about how offensive it really is to make ridicule of cultural symbols by using facts and real-life events. He is also helped by the use of analogy, diction and rhetorical questions to achieve this. Augustine, impressively used an analogy to persuade a wide range of readers as he makes a connection between other cultures and how they would feel if they were put in the same shoes as the Natives were in. He goes on to say, “Nonetheless, for me, as an Aboriginal person, the use of these religious symbols and caricatures of Indian chiefs or spiritual

Read More

Analysis Of Indian Mascots You Re Out

523 Words | 3 Pages

His problem is not with the use of the name like Indian or Brave, but with the way that the mascot of the team will act or look. He uses the mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa as an example because the team has him run out doing war dances and act like “the village idiot”(Shakely 647). The team eventually retired these mascots because of all the criticism the team was receiving for it. Shakely also refers to another team that had to retire their old mascot, which was the University of Illinois fighting Illini. Once the stereotypical mascot was replaced, the connection with the team name even being Indian was

Read More

Appropriating Native American Imagery Honors No One But The Prejudice Summary

423 Words | 2 Pages

"Appropriating Native American Imagery Honors No One but the Prejudice" by Amy Stretten shows the art of a woman who honored her culture and race and refused to continue being offended by a mascot. The essay is to target those in the community that feels offended of what may be occurring in their school also. Student's in the community are the ones who mostly have an opinion in what is hurting them and causing distress at school. This essay uses various techniques to prove its opinions towards how offensive a person may feel toward a mascot. Examples of these type of various techniques come out as ethos, pathos, and logos.

Read More

Tex G. Hall's Argument

326 Words | 2 Pages

The author Tex G. Hall is explaining Native American team sports mascots are racist. He is testifying for many other people as well. He makes a very sensible are you and uses the motion and great facts facts. The way his argument is structured is very engaging. He first off thanks many people for bringing this controversy to everyone 's attention.

Read More

Reel Injun Analysis

1043 Words | 5 Pages

“Redskin” is an extremely derogatory term used to describe the reputed color of a Native American 's skin tone. Along with the simply disrespectful terminology, the phrase has a history of being used alongside bounty for the scalping of Native Americans, so it is without a doubt offensive to many people. Washington 's choice to continue using the word as a name for their popular sports team has been the cause of much controversy. Despite the pleas of millions of people, advocacy groups and even government officials to change the name, the sports team remains unchanged. Even the United States Patent and Trademark Office has refused the renewal of their name, logo and likeness, citing the combination as “disparaging to Native Americans" National public opinion polls have found that 60 to 83 percent of the general public supports the teams ' decision to continue using the name, yet only a small majority of fans think the term is offensive to Native

Read More

Stereotypes Of Team Mascots

293 Words | 2 Pages

Sports team’s mascots have been known to have the most stereotypical features. These mascots are offensive towards Native Americans, because mascots have feathers, headdresses, and even braids and mohawks. Mascots in the past have made it look as if them and their teams have no respect or common decency for Native Americans. Some of the most offensive features of these mascots are the mascots having weird, and misshapened faces. For example the mascot for the Cleveland indians.

Read More

Summary Of Sherman Alexe's Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

835 Words | 4 Pages

Students have learned that years ago, the government had abused their power over Native Americans. However, teachers rarely cover the modern day, real life issue of lives on Indian Reservations. Native Americans were given land by the US government, such as the Navajos who were given 27,000 square miles of land that stretches through the states of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico (Discover Navajo). However, other than giving them land, the government does little else for the Navajo people on the reservation. In the novel Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie gives the reader a great representation of what life is like on these reservations.

Read More

Essay On Indian Boarding School

587 Words | 3 Pages

“Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”, said Richard Henry Pratt. This belief is redolent of the treatment of Native Americans within indian schools. Indian Schools used gentrification as their method of eliminating Native American culture. “ ...long braids worn by indian boys were cut off ... the children were given new ‘white names’...traditional native foods abandoned...forbidden to speak their native languages…”, all aspects that indicated any native american culture were abandoned.

Read More

The Progressive Movement: The Ultimate Failure Of Native American Education

779 Words | 4 Pages

The attempts to assimilate the Indians did not work separation of the Indian people contributed to loss of culture and

Read More

Native American Logos

983 Words | 4 Pages

I decided to start a conversation about the use of Native Americans as logos for sports teams. I have always had strong opinions on this topic because, even as I child, I could see that this practice was offensive. My first memory of this topic was in middle school when another team in our area used American Indians as their mascot, and my sister and I thought it was weird that they’d use people instead of animals. As I have come to read more and more about this topic, I find it hard to believe some people would actually be okay with using an entire culture for the purpose of making a joke of them.

Read More

The Impact Of Westward Expansion On Native Americans

847 Words | 4 Pages

Native Americans flourished in North America, but over time white settlers came and started invading their territory. Native Americans were constantly being thrown and pushed off their land. Sorrowfully this continued as the Americans looked for new opportunities and land in the West. When the whites came to the west, it changed the Native American’s lives forever. The Native Americans had to adapt to the whites, which was difficult for them.

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Mascots

1269 Words | 6 Pages

The Indian mascot was originally designed to render tribute to Native Americans, not as a racial symbol. In the past forty years, changing the name backfired, and citizens began taking offense to the name because they felt like the name represented the color of Native American’s skin. Nevertheless, many fans, including Native Americans, do not consider the name or the mascot to be degrading or racial. Fans of the Washington Redskins participated in a poll that reveals, “77 percent reject changing the name” while in another poll “71 percent of NFL fans did not find the Redskins name offensive” (Lingebach 2). Clearly, from the results of the two polls, many fans would be unhappy if the Redskins’ name were to be changed.

Read More

Indian Education Sherman Alexie Analysis

929 Words | 4 Pages

Being a writer of many different styles, Sherman Alexie started off as a poet before writing novels and short stories. His poetic manner continues in the story “Indian Education”. He has a wide array of dry statements mixed with metaphors and statements that are not meant to be taken literally. The trend for each years is that he starts off dry and literal and ends poetic and metaphorical. His description of his interactions with the “white girl” in seventh grade is a great example.

Read More

Indian Education Sherman Alexie Summary

490 Words | 2 Pages

Expectations often impose an inescapable reality. In the short story “Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie, Victor often struggles with Indian and American expectations during school. Alexie utilizes parallelism in the construction of each vignette, introducing a memoir of tension and concluding with a statement about Victor’s difficulties, to explore the conflict between cultures’ expectations and realities. Alexei initially uses parallelism to commence each vignette with cultural tension. In second grade, Victor undergoes a conflict with his missionary teacher, who coerced Victor into taking an advanced spelling test and cutting his braids.

Read More

More about Sherman Alexie's Indian Education

Related Topics

Open Document