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What It Means To Say Phoenix Arizona By Sherman Alexie

1021 Words5 Pages

Is Thomas crazy? With Victor being the protagonist that explains about Thomas behaviors, it may seem a reflection of this judgement shows otherwise. In the story “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, written by Sherman Alexie, Victor stands in the perspective of the modern generation, which helps people to relate to these characters. On the other hand, the antagonist, Thomas Builds-the-Fire, is demonstrated as an outcast, yet he resonate the history of Indian tradition and culture. What people consider as crazy when they sees a Thomas speaking to himself is: What is he saying? Alexie’s story mostly resonate irony for the Indian community and the modern society with stories that defy traditions. As my classmate, Ngan Phan, wrote …show more content…

In Indian traditions during the Colonial Period, storytelling is often associated with sitting around a campfire in the woods. It can also be interpreted as the story that will ignite or make people aware of Native Indians and Americans history. With the lack of recorded events with the use of traditional oral storytelling, such as passing down stories from generations to generations, the Native Indians has a sparse share within the history of America. The generation has changed along with its people; therefore, this type of practice soon dissipate along with the beholder of those …show more content…

He does closes his eyes to tells the stories like reading a book, for he is seeking his answers from the past to compare the modern society. When Victor is drunk, he beats Thomas up for no specific reason. If Victor represents the people, and Thomas stands for the traditions, it shows how people can argue that the Indian might had not fought the war for their own independence. The answers lie on the people who are willing to listen. As Alexie writes, “Thomas Builds-the-Fire told his stories to all those who would stop and listen. He kept telling them long after people had stopped listening” (Alexie 511). Nothing has changed throughout history until someone wanted to acknowledge the past. Otherwise, it will repeats itself. After Victor and Thomas came back from Arizona, he says, “It was the beginning of a new day on earth, but the same old shit on the reservation” (511). Nothing has

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But between those things, there are flashbacks to when Victor and Thomas were Kids and Victor 's father had left. Thomas came up to Victor and said did your dad leave because he hates you and Victor beats up Thomas because Thomas was Provoking him and Victors Mother had to get Victor off Thomas. This Part of the movie shows That Victor and Thomas had the falling out and weren’t friends. Then, theirs was the bus scene where Victor was telling Thomas that he should stop wearing the suit and that Indians have like mean face and he should make that face and let his hair flow since that’s how a typical Indian wears their hair. When they got off the next stop Thomas went change into a cooler outfit and let his hair flow out.

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This caused many conflicts, but in the end, it reflected who Tom was as a person. Beginning Thomas’s training in school, he did not enjoy it at all. The new Ute ways made him feel like a replica of an Indian. He tried running away multiple times, but his guardians would always somehow catch him, till one day where he had finally escaped.

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“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.

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Thomas is compelled to accompany him to Arizona, but Victor does’nt understand why until halfway through the journey when Thomas shares a story about many years ago. He had followed a dream to Spokane Falls, where he found Victor’s father, who told him there were no visions in Spokane and that he should quit waiting for one to appear. Thomas realized the actual vision that day was Victor’s father. His dreams were telling him “take care of each other.” When Victor discovered this encounter between Thomas and his father he decided that Spokane Falls was the place his father’s ashes should rest.

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