In his short story “Indian Education,” Sherman Alexie uses character to suggest that even though the world is seen to be equal, but bigotry and discrimination still exists. Alexie uses the stories of his main character, Victor, to express the constant prejudice in the world. In first grade, Victor was teased and called names by other little boys in his class. The little boys called Victor names, such as Bloody Nose, Steal-His-Lunch, and Cries-Like-A-White-Boy. The boys that teased Victor lived on the same reservation as him, but still teased him. Victor and the other little boys came from the same place, but they still treated him badly. Victor also was beat up by a little boy named, Frenchy Sijohn. One day, Victor beat Sijohn up and chanted “it’s a good day to die, it’s a good day to die” all the way down to the principal’s office. Victor stood up to Sijohn and referred to himself as the warrior. Victor was proud that he was able to finally defend himself against someone who treated him badly. Victor was being discriminated against by his own peers. By Victor saying that he was a warrior, he is embracing where he came from. …show more content…
The name of the basketball team was the “Indians”. Victor was probably the only actual Indian that played for the team. After a game, where Victor scored twenty-seven points, he went to the high school dance. At the dance, Victor passed out. A teacher assumes that Victor passed out because he is drunk. The teacher says “I know about all these Indian kids. They start drinking real young.” Victor is discriminated against because of a stereotype that all Native Americans drink. Victor was later diagnosed with diabetes. Victor responds to the teacher’s stereotype by saying “Sharing dark skin doesn’t necessarily make two men brothers.” Victor is expressing that just because someone looks like you or share the same ethnic group as you, does not mean they will be a support
When they get on the bus, Thomas talks to a girl but then Victor intrudes rudely so she changes her seat. He tells Thomas that he needs to toughen up, change his style, look meaner or else he will be walked over. Thomas takes his advice and begins to take out his braids, wears more casual clothes and tries to look more like a “warrior”. He isn’t being true to himself though so he goes back to his nerdy, friendly, eccentric self. Victor is a skeptical, pessimistic person.
The novel Reservation Blues, written by Sherman Alexie reveals different struggles encountered by the Native Americans on the Spokane Indian Reservation through the use of history, traditions, and values. Thomas Builds-the-Fire, a pureblood Indian, forms a band with his childhood acquaintances Victor Joseph and Junior Polatkin called Coyote Springs. Alexie uses a variety of scenes and personal encounters between characters and their dialogue to portray the meaning of tribal identity throughout the novel. A cultures goal is to prove their identity and be superior to one another; The American culture has achieved dominance through white hegemony while the Spokane American Indian tribe is in a battle of oppression struggling to preserve their tribal identity. Spokane Native Americans are very passionate about their tribal identities yet are envious of the power that the white hegemony holds against them, leading them to their depression.
( Ellison 16). The protagonist was of African descent. His grandfather explained to the protagonist to appease the people of higher class, which were mainly white individuals who had more rights than blacks at the time. The grandfather had hoped for the protagonist to be kind to whites to the point of their frustration.
At St. Jerome’s Indian Residential School, Saul see’s the lonely world, which crams on him like a black hole with no light, however creates a determination for him to stay strong. As he is expeditiously thrown in to the vast world of a different religion he quickly realizes, “They called it a school, but it was never that” (79) … “There were no grades or examinations. The only test was our ability to endure” (79). The emotions and perspectives present in each quote signify the feelings of Saul towards the school and define the school to be unnerving and painful for the Indians living there, however they also show that Saul knows his expectations and is strong enough to tolerate the torture.
He cannot get over the creature’s ugly physical attributes in order to listen to the struggles that the creature faces while adapting to society. Just like how a patient wants to be heard by his or her own doctor, the creature just wants Victor to listen to him once and hear his story. The creature considers Victor to be “his creator” and hopes that by telling him about his thoughts and experience that he can make some sense about why he feels as such and can offer guidance and consolation to
Further, this loss of family and friends causes Victor to lose his attachment to the world. Secrecy ultimately brings about his inability to save himself. In this paragraph I will show
In Indian Horse, Saul encounters racism both within and outside the residential school, facing discrimination and prejudice due to his Indigenous heritage. “They took to more insulting name-calling and swearing at me. Even when they took to pushing me and tripping me and swiping at me when I passed, I'd just level a blank look at the offender and keep on with the work” (Wagamese 174). The novel underscores the dehumanizing effects of racism and its profound impact on an individual's self-worth. Similarly, Sufferance confronts the issue of racism through the characters, particularly First Nations individuals, who are constantly subjected to discrimination and prejudice.
Victor grew up to become a very loving, affectionate and humane individual, due to the love and
They then must then go on a life threatening journey to try to save Konrad’s life. Victor is not effectively able to deal with conflict due to his main character traits: Jealous, arrogant, and deceitful. Describing Victor as the jealous type is simple. This is clearly visible when Victor and his twin brother,
When his second grade teacher calls him “indian, indian, indian,” Victor says, “Yes, I am. I am Indian. Indian, I am” (Alexei 173). The conversation portrays parallelism in that Victor’s repetition echoes the way his teacher repeats “Indian”. Alexei’s use of a capitalization change portrays Victor’s desire to identify as Indian while the white community tries to assimilate him.
Sherman Alexie’s text, “Superman and Me”, is an inspiring passage about Alexie himself. Within the text, Alexie has a few quotes that help the development of the main claim, or main idea, of the text. One of such quotes is “ I throw my weight against their locked doors. The doors hold. I am smart.
Sherman Alexie writes the story “Indian Education” using a deadpan tone to build and connect the years of the narrator 's life together in an ironic way. Alexie is able to utilize irony through the use of separate, short sections within the story. The rapid presentation of events, simple thoughts, and poetic points made within the story enable the reader to make quick connections about the narrator’s life to draw more complex realizations. The art that Alexie uses to write this very short story is poetic in nature through the meaning and structure of his writing. By the fact that the reader can draw deeper conclusions about the narrator 's life from Alexie’s writing is evident that his writing is poetic.
Amara Crook Harmon—L202 Major Paper 3 Clever Title Countee Cullen’s “Incident” explores the concept of unprovoked and unwarranted racism through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy. In his short yet powerful poem, Cullen uses a single incident in which a young boy “riding through old Baltimore” (1) is singled out and called the N-word by another very small child, despite having done or said nothing to offend the boy. Although this incident is clearly hurtful, why is this incident in particular so important?
The death of his mother leads Victor into denial. As a result of his mother 's death, Victor’s emotions falsely lead him to believe that he could have some control over the fate of peoples lives. Thus, Victor’s beliefs soon equated to a set of rules that he himself must follow. Consequently,
Due to his emotional confinement, Victor feels that he cannot trust even his wife with the knowledge of the horrible creature in which he has created. This sense of being an