What You Pawn I Will Redeem

Life is full of challenging situations, holes, and wounds that people must overcome to achieve what they thought was impossible. Therefore, they strive to fill the inherent void within them with relationships with things such as money, wine, and whatever they feel will enhance their lives. This is the case in Sherman Alexie’s short story, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem.” The narrator is faced with what seems to be an impossible situation, Jackson. He is the protagonist in this story. Alexie tends to present Native Americans as denied and marginalized people in their own homeland. He also presents this story as a quest for self-discovery where the protagonist does his best to reclaim his identity through culture and traditions

Culture helps us recognize how our identity is lost. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” displays this happening through the central character’s story, which begins with his feelings of lost identity. At the beginning of Jackson’s narrative, his absent culture left a part of him missing. He explains why his crazy actions make him sound like “a serial killer” (Alexie, 164). Indeed, his crazy actions seems to lean toward a “mental problem” (164). Jackson knows that something within him is not right.

So, they try to retain their own tradition even though they live far from their homeland. However, people also must work hard to keep their own traditions because society has many temptations and challenges waiting for them. For example, in Alexie’s story, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem.” The story is told through the character of Jackson. He is a homeless alcoholic of Spokane Indian descent who finds his grandmother's regalia at a pawn shop. To gain back this family heirloom, Jackson has a quest to raise up nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars in, “twenty-four-hours” (167). The story focuses on the obstacles Jackson faces and the humor when he uses to get through his difficult circumstance as a homeless