Victor's Relationship With Thomas

Victor is an Indian living on a reservation in the Northwestern Unites States, he just lost his job and receives the grave news of his father’s passing, and needs to get to Phoenix to get his father’s body back to the reservation. The tribal council is in a financial crisis and is only able to give one hundred dollars, as he waits in line to cash the check he happens to see his cousin Thomas, an usual fellow who is known for his stories that no one listens to. Thomas approaches Victor with the proposal of giving him the money he needs to get to Arizona, but on the terms he gets to join him on his journey. Victor’s feelings toward his own cousin are more noticeable when he does not accept the offer right away, showing how the cousin’s relationship

The two cousins’ friendship can be seen when looking back on a memory of when they were ten years old watching the fireworks together and Thomas was telling Victor a story that ended with “when they got back, all their friends cheered, and their parents’ eyes shown bright with pride, you were very brave everyone said to the two Indian boys [Alexie 4]”. Growing up on a small reservation it is safe to presume all the children around the same age grew up together, and knew one another, especially if the two children were related. Thomas is even including Victor in his fairy tale legend of two Indian boys wanting to be warriors, which shows at one time they were really close, and enjoyed each other’s company. As more memories are shared, and the two cousins get older, the distance between them starts to show. When they were fifteen, Victor was really drunk and beat Thomas for no reason at all, as all the other Indian boys stood around and watched [Alexia 4]. The beating of Thomas shows that they are growing apart and their friendship is distancing, however they are still family and both Indians growing up on a reservation, which might provide some insight for why Thomas feels the need to help his cousin out. Even though they might not be friends or even associate with one another, they are family and grew up with the same traditions and culture. Family ties along with their Native American roots makes Thomas feel obligated to help out his cousin, and put the past behind