Traffic Signal

In the short story “The only traffic signal on the reservation doesn’t flash red anymore”, Sherman Alexie uses the broken traffic signal as a symbol to allude to what life is like for Native Americans on the reservation. If the function of a traffic signal is to create system in an otherwise chaotic society, its brokenness reflects the intrinsic defeat Native Americans face on a daily basis, leads to eventual destruction of potential heroes and suggests that if not fixed, success will never be an option.

In the most simple sense, the broken traffic signal refers to the discouraging society and brokenness of life on the reservation for the modern Native Americans. The protagonists of this story, Victor and Adrian, are sitting around

This puts forward the idea that life on the reservation for the Native Americans will similarly not be fixed. “But what’s the point of fixing it in a place where the stop signs are just suggestions?” Alexie says (52). And indeed, what is the point in fixing life when to stop drinking, or to prevent damage is simply an option, not a requirement? For the Native Americans, the narrator talks about how it’s the little things, rather than the “big stuff” that hurt them the most. The broken traffic signal is one of these little things, highlighting the fact that their lives are stripped even of the most basic option of success. “It’s hard to be optimistic on the reservation...but it’s almost like Indians can easily survive the big stuff...And just like everybody else, Indians need heroes to help them learn how to survive. But what happens when our heroes don’t even know how to pay their bills?” (49). When they witnessed Julius Windmaker’s eventual downfall, after hoping he would be different than the rest, this, like the broken traffic light, hurt them. “I just can’t explain how much losing Julius Windmaker hurt us all” (52). Although Victor and Adrian are immensely disappointed at Julius, but they don’t hold the alcoholism against him. They both recognized his defeat is represented by many others within their community, and, therefore, chose not to judge him. This culture of understanding and faith is also interpreted by Victor

Life on the reservation runs on a vicious cycle, where eventually everyone loses control of their dreams, and falls into ruin. “And we both watched it with all of our eyes, while the sun rose straight up above us and settled down behind the house, watched that cup revolve, revolve, until it came down whole to the ground.”(53) Victor and Adrian constantly look up to the heroes or potential heroes from the reservation, and when Julius Windmaker is no longer a hero, they notice Lucy, “a little warrior” who they hope “will make it all the way.” For Native Americans, “a reservation hero is a hero forever. In fact, their status grows over the years as stories are told and retold.”