ipl-logo

Summary Of The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven

693 Words3 Pages

In the book “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” by Sherman Alexie the main character is an indian named Victor. And each chapter is a story that follows either Victor's life or relates to Victor in some way. The story “Jesus Christ’s Half Brother is Alive and Well on the Spokane Indian Reservation” focuses on Victor and a boy named James, that is forced into Victor’s care. Victor ends up believing that James is related to Jesus Christ. But James is just a kid, he is not related Jesus Christ. The narrator, Victor, idolized James to be similar to Jesus Christ, which is someone he is not, as a coping mechanism to deal with his addiction to alcohol, his loneliness, and low-self esteem. For the start of the story about James, Victor struggled with his addiction to alcohol or was surrounded by alcohol. Even though Victor does end up being sober by the end of the story about James, throughout the book you can clearly his need for alcohol and when he is drinking his dependence for it. When Victor is drinking, he uses alcohol to get through simple moments in his life, “I went down to the reservation hospital to see how James and Frank and Rosemary were doing and I got …show more content…

His low-self esteem caused him to have no motivation to do anything with his life to make it better. For example, when he broke his leg, “I have to have an operation and all but since I don’t have the money or the strength or the memory and it’s not covered by Indian Health I just get up and walk home almost crying because my leg and life hurt so bad.” (pg 118-119). He never talks about if he is bothered by the fact that he can’t afford an operation, he just says his leg and life hurt. So he uses James to distract himself from his problems. And while he struggles with his problems, he creates James to be something he is not, to further distract himself from his problems that he doesn’t want to

Show More
Related
324 Words | 2 Pages

James then meets Aubrey Rubenstien who was very kind and treated him as if he was just like him, in some way that was indeed true. Aubrey was really surprised to see him. He got on the phone with a family member to let him know that he was there. it only showed how surprised

Read More
1358 Words | 6 Pages

The perpetuation of the Lakota people reveals the American religious experiences through the stratification of social inequality through the eyes of Lame Deer. Lame Deer provides a personal narrative that landscapes native religion through social injustice inflicted on the Sioux nation. His stories provide a personal interpretation of what it is to be Native American or Indian living in the white man's world. Lame Deer Seeker of Visions, provides the context of religion from the journey of the Medicine Man. Being Indian embodies myth, ritual, and symbolism of religious tradition as a way of cultural and individual identity.

Read More
493 Words | 2 Pages

​“Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder,” the title of the novel says it all. Renowned author Kent Nerburn draws us deep into the world of a Lakota elder set in the majestic spaces of the western Dakotas. As the story unfolds, the elder known as only, Dan, speaks ardently about the power of silence and the difference between land and property. Dan speaks about the white people’s urge to claim the Indian heritage.

Read More
123 Words | 1 Pages

Other people’s harsh perspective of the McBride family affected how James viewed himself as well as others. James’ biracial ethnicity subjected himself and his family to the extreme persecution and racism of his peers. Growing up in New York, James faced a variety of negative opinions and judgements due to the racial prejudices of his neighbors, teachers, and peers. A prime example of said racism can be found on page 102 when James and his mother are returning spoiled milk, "The merchant looked at her, then at me. Then back at her.

Read More
860 Words | 4 Pages

On the other hand, James is anxious in a fearful way because although James is black, his mother is not, and he feared for her life during

Read More
739 Words | 3 Pages

From Lost to Found: The Transformation of Jim Nolan From the time he is introduced, to the moments shortly before his untimely death, Jim Nolan proves himself as the most dynamic character in In Dubious Battle. Troubled by a tragic past and a feeling of worthlessness, Nolan looked to find meaning in his life. The most important step that Nolan took to turn his life around was deciding to join the “Party.” After doing so, his life took a sharp turn in the right direction.

Read More
382 Words | 2 Pages

In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven Sherman Alexie displays many stereotypes about Native Americans through different short stories throughout the book. Native Americans are constantly being defined by these stereotypes whether there negative ones or positive ones. In the story The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore Alexie uses the stereotype of Native Americans being mother-earthly as in worshipping the sun, known as sun-worshipping. This stereotype came from early European settlers in America who observed the Native Americans raising their hands up in the air in the form of praying. The Europeans misinterpreted this as worshiping the sun or sun-worshipping.

Read More
491 Words | 2 Pages

How would it feel to be a Native American residing in a time where the Native Americans are heavily discriminated against? How is it to have constant nightmares about how White people would kill Native Americans. In the “Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” by Sherman Alexie, the speaker is a Native American and tells the reader about his dream and shows a daily life of him as well. In the excerpt, he had a dream about how he dies and a war breaks out against the Whites and the Native Americans. What would be the psychic space of this dream?

Read More
571 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1595 Words | 7 Pages

He uses alcohol to save himself from his prior wars; such as the racism he encounters in and out of prison, and even his unforgiving latch to his past. It allows him to travel back in time to where he was happier, to where he was with Jimi Hendrix. Victor describes the connection that Victor’s father felt he had with Hendrix as a relationship in which, “He'd sit by the stereo with a cooler of beer beside him and cry, laugh, call me over and hold me tight in his arms, his bad breath and body odor covering me like a blanket” (Alexie 26). Victor’s father’s battle with alcoholism affects not only his life, but his son’s as well. By portraying him as an alcoholic, Alexie is able to show not only the battle that Victor’s father has with his addiction, but also how those around him have to battle it as well.

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

Once European men stepped foot onto what is now known as North America, the lives of the Native Americans were forever changed. The Indians suffered centuries of torment and ridicule from the settlers in America. Despite the reservations made for the Natives, there are still cultural issues occurring within America. In Sherman Alexie’s, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the tragic lives of Native Americans in modern society are depicted in a collection of short stories taking place in the Spokane Reservation in Washington state. Throughout the collection, a prominent and reoccurring melancholic theme of racism against Native Americans and their struggle to cope with such behavior from their counterpart in this modern day and age is shown.

Read More
462 Words | 2 Pages

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is a book written by Sherman Alexie depicting many stories regarding life on the Spokane Indian Reservation. These stories tell of many serious problems the modern Native Americans are faced with today. Problems like poverty, racism, limited education opportunities, and alcoholism just to name a few. The book incorporates many different characters, including Victor Joseph, Thomas Builds-the-Fire, and Norma Many-Horses. These characters along with many other characters show what life was and still is like on some Indian Reservations.

Read More
1020 Words | 5 Pages

Sherman Alexie’s Survival Equation and the Resilience of Native American Culture Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven portrays the hardships faced by Native Americans at the hands of the overpowering force of mainstream American culture. Alexie uses multiple perspectives in his book to convey the complexity of the situation on the reservation. However, his recurring themes such as survival, tradition, and underlying cultural ties connect the stories together as does the overarching message about the resilience of Native American people and their culture. With these consistent themes, the multiple perspectives found in his stories prove the validity of his cultural points due to their repetition. In his composite novel, Alexie reveals the resilience of Native American culture by breaking it down into a mathematical equation

Read More
2152 Words | 9 Pages

The movie "The Lone Ranger" is an American western action film that tells the story of a two men subduing local villainy and bringing justice to the American Old West. The story centers on the recollections of a Comanche Native American Tonto and the adventures that found lawman John Reid transform into the Lone Ranger, a legendary hero of the Old West. Tonto and John both have a common enemy, Butch Cavendish, an outlaw who killed their families and tribes. The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad played an important role in this movie. A railroad tycoon, Latham Cole, wanted to take complete control over the railroad company and used mined silver to gain power.

Read More
948 Words | 4 Pages

This proves that although James is trying to or into his family, his emotion(s) put a major roadblock in his path. Another reason that supports this idea is on page 4. While and after the kitten is dying, he lets his emotions pour over and doesn’t care what his family sees of him, only about the dead kitten.

Read More

More about Summary Of The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven

Related Topics

Open Document