Mimeomia—as defined by The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is "the frustration of knowing how easily you fit into a stereotype, even if you never intended to, even if it’s unfair, even if everyone else feels the same way" (Koeing). Often individuals grow a sense of shame towards their culture. Said individuals will try to minimize or shield their cultural involvement to hide what they are so humiliated by—their bones, their blood. In the short story, “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Victor, a Native American who has recently found out his father has passed away and how he must journey with his cousin, Thomas Builds-the-Fire, to collect his father’s remains and property. By navigating through
In the story “What it means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” by Sherman Alexie, two young Native American men living on the Coeur D 'Alene Indian Reservation in Plummer, Idaho, named Victor Joseph and Thomas Builds-the-Fire travel to Arizona to retrieve Victor’s absent father’s ashes. Victor’s father, Arnold, saved Thomas from a house fire when he was a baby, where both of Thomas’s parents died. This tragic event caused Arnold’s alcoholism to spiral into an extreme state, making him an abusive drunk. He abandons Victor and his mother when Victor is a young boy, and leaves the reservation for good.
This story is written by Sherman Alexie and is a story of hope for the children of different ethnicity. Hope for them to merge in the American society. The author in the story presents himself as a child having a dream to blend in the American society and by sticking to his dream he grew among the children of his same background. Sherman is a Native American Indian and is expected to be slow and “stupid”. The story is interesting.
Indigenous culture has been unknown for many decades in Canada. Storytelling in Indigenous communities is especially important, but often the most ignored. The short story “This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona” by Sherman Alexie demonstrates the different kinds of criticism of Indigenous storytelling. The story follows a man, Victor, collecting his father’s ashes with his estranged childhood friend Thomas. Furthermore, it explores the importance of stories and how it can change perspectives of people.
Sherman Alexie’s “Indian Education” describes his personal experience as a Native American in the American school system while growing up in the 1970s. In this historical period, many white Americans discriminated against those of different races and ethnicities. In this short story, Alexie attempts to open the eyes of white Americans who do not realize what Native Americans and other groups go through to inform them of the hardships he encountered all his life by utilizing stereotyping and the organization of his writing. The intended audience of "Indian Education" is white Americans who either did not realize or were negligent of the troubles Native Americans were enduring.
“Sherman Alexie is a preeminent Native American poet, novelist, performer and filmmaker. He has garnered high praise for his poems and short stories of contemporary Native American reservation life, among them The Business of Fancydancing (1992), The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven (1993),” (“Sherman Alexie”). In “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” Alexie specifically uses the plot structure to emphasize the storyline and thoroughly applies The Hero’s Journey analysis strategy model to dictate Victor and Thomas’ journey to retrieve Victor’s dad’s belongings. In the beginning, Alexie conforms the plot by opening with the introduction of the characters and their objective(s) to the point of which the hero and mentor reach the sought-after location.
Ted Bundy was a serial killer, rapist and a necrophiliac and knew to have murdered at least twenty women during the 1970s and admitting killing thirty six. People to this day think he murdered around 100, He was finally arrested for good in February 1978. Bundy received three different sentencings for the murders of two Chu Omega sorority members and a 12-year-old girl in Florida. During all of that, he had somehow become a celebrity and that inspired many novels and films. Ted Bundy was born on November 24, 1946, in Burlington, Vermont.
Writer Sherman Alexie has a knack of intertwining his own problematic biographical experience with his unique stories and no more than “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” demonstrates that. Alexie laced a story about an Indian man living in Spokane who reflects back on his struggles in life from a previous relationship, alcoholism, racism and even the isolation he’s dealt with by living off the reservation. Alexie has the ability to use symbolism throughout his tale by associating the title’s infamy of two different ethnic characters and interlinking it with the narrator experience between trying to fit into a more society apart from his own cultural background. However, within the words themselves, Alexie has created themes that surround despair around his character however he illuminates on resilience and alcoholism throughout this tale.
The novel Reservation Blues, written by Sherman Alexie reveals different struggles encountered by the Native Americans on the Spokane Indian Reservation through the use of history, traditions, and values. Thomas Builds-the-Fire, a pureblood Indian, forms a band with his childhood acquaintances Victor Joseph and Junior Polatkin called Coyote Springs. Alexie uses a variety of scenes and personal encounters between characters and their dialogue to portray the meaning of tribal identity throughout the novel. A cultures goal is to prove their identity and be superior to one another; The American culture has achieved dominance through white hegemony while the Spokane American Indian tribe is in a battle of oppression struggling to preserve their tribal identity. Spokane Native Americans are very passionate about their tribal identities yet are envious of the power that the white hegemony holds against them, leading them to their depression.
They are trying to save their lives.” Although Sherman Alexie’s success seems as if it has only opened up doors for himself it did not, it opened up doors for other Indian kids that are still on the reservation. When Sherman Alexie wrote his books and poems the kids on the reservation read them. They gave them hope, he gave them a reason to fight for their lives the way he did. Those kids too started to write their own short stories and found the same joy in learning that Sherman Alexie did.
Unraveling The Mystery By reading “ And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie, I noticed how the author used subtle clues to point out the killer in the novel. This story started off with a description of a a mysterious island called Indian Island. The main characters traveled to the island by ferry per an invitation from a Mr. or Mrs. U.N. Owen. The main characters, Vera Claybourne, Emily Brent, Philip Lombard, General Macarthur, Dr. Armstrong, Mr. Blore, Anthony Marston, and Justice Wargrave all thought they were heading on an exciting getaway.
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.
In Sherman Alexie’s short stories (and poems), there usually three central themes that the story rotates. In this paper, I will be exploring how he (Alexie) explores the themes losing culture, a cycle of regret, and using drugs (mainly alcohol) to escape. In Indian Education, the short story, Alexie seems to show that whenever young Victor tries to express himself through his culture, he is punished. Take the section “First Grade” for example. In first grade, Junior (the main character and narrator) says that “The little warrior in me roared to life that day..” and makes comparisons to traditional Native American warriors, such as describing the brusies on the other boy’s face as “war paint” or how Junior chants “it’s a good day to die”, which is phrase typically associated with Crazy Horse, who was a Native American chief.
Despite the negative stereotype of American Indians, the objections and disapproval of fellow Natives, and the criticism of others, Sherman Alexie went on to become a successful writer that has inspired many. Alexie overcame many obstacles that would have deterred him from his goal, but he was able to remain steadfast and continue on in his pursuit of writing. As a result, he has published many literary works that include several short stories, poems, and a variety of novels. He allows his culture to seep into his writing, and continues to inspire young American Indians who also desire the path of knowledge.
He has to in any way help out or reach for help. It also shows how he fights for what is right and creates connections just to prove his point rights. Based on the quote and the incident that occured, Thomas has affected and created the theme of friendship at that moment. If Thomas just let those two individuals
