Summary
Coulombe, Joseph. “The Approximate Size of His Favorite Humor: Sherman Alexie’s Comic Connections and Disconnections in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” American Indian Quarterly 26 (winter 2002) : p. 94-115. Project Muse. Ohio University Lib. Athens, OH.
Columbe's article is a good interpretation of the message I believe Alexie was trying to give to his readers. he discusses different topics that show up in the novel such as the different ways humor is used to construct different social behaviors and also show that sometimes that humor can used be positive and negative ways. Coulombe starts his essay looking at what other critics had to say about Alexie's writings. many think he is disrespectful to Indian's and are making fun of the stereotypical Indian. Coulmbe thinks this is not the case. he believes Alexie's humor is used as a cover for the Indian pain and suffering by the hands of whites. he says that Victor uses humor because he is confused about his identity as many Indian people are. he sees the way whites have divided Indian land and forcing them to disconnect them fro their heritage. He also laughs at the fact that the big companies give his friends money for using their land. this cuts both ways, Coulmbe says. Victor corrects this "problem" and somewhat uneasily accepts the importance of traditions. Story- telling is one of those traditions that are used to increase some understanging.
the next point he shows how humor is used to mask real threats that a person may go through. he gives the example from the story "The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor". the character in the story, Jimmy, finds out he has cancer and when he goes home to his wife, he cracks joke after joke about it. from reading the story we can see that Jimmy is a funny uy who is always telling a joke. Jimmie uses the humor as a coping mechanism to cover the fears and sadness he may feel from the notion that he will eventually die from this disease. Coulmbe also sees Jimmy's humor as a form of denial.
the most important point I believe Coulmbe makes is the use of humor that stems from hundreds of years of persicution by white society. His example is from "Amusements" the story where Victor and Sadie put a drunk bum named Dirty Joe on a rollercoaster. the people in the crowd, white people, see this cruel joke and laugh and some are disgusted. many critics view this chapter as the epitome of any stereotype because Indians looking stupid and being side shows is what white want. Victor soon realizes his mistake and immediately feels guilty because he knows that this is what whites want to see Indians doing.
Application
According to Coulombe, white culture has influenced the home setting of Indians. and example would be from the chapter titled, "The Fun House". the protagonist is a wife and mother who is tired of the misogynist joked her husband and son are directing toward her. this is one of Alexie's bigges issues according to Coulombe. the one thing Indians didn't resist assimilation to was sexism and misogyny.
"I bet when that mouse ran up your pant leg, he was thinking, What the hell kind of mousetraps do they got now?" her husband said. (77)
the narrators aunt, who is the protagonist, is so dissappointed in her family that she decides to take herself away from the family for a while. when she returns, she puts on the beaded dress that is extremely heavy and takes a few steps. earlier in the chapter, she makes the statement that the woman who is able to wear the dress will be the one to save them. the fact that she herself is that woman gives her hope for the future and the notion that things will change. Coulombe also discusses the bitterness the woman may feel becasue at one point the U.S. government enacted a sterilization program for them. the aunt was given a permission slip to sign thinking it was only a form that proved she was Indian when in actuallity it was to have her tubes tied. Alexie is just is literally pointin a finger a white society that cares nothing about the rights of Indian women and Indian people in general.
Sherman, Alexie. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Grove Press, 2005.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Alexie
Frank Ross asked Alexie about the political nature of his writing, quoting him as saying he does not like to beat readers over the head with it. Alexie replied: “I like to make them laugh first, then beat them over the head . . . when they are defenseless.” Describe some examples from the stories that demonstrate this tactic. Choose one example to focus on and explain how the humor and political point work together as in the above quote.
When Victor's father went to Woodstock, he said he was the only Indian to see Jimi Hendrix play "The Star Spangled Banner". His father had just gotten out of prison and made it just in time to see Jimi play. this probably wasn't the truth but im sure many Indian people who may have been ther believed that also. Jimi played his version right around the time of the Veitnam War and many of the concert- goers were upset about Americas involvement. ever since then Victor's father would get drunk and listen to the song. Victor says in the days after his father would tell him stories about his mother and the fact that he was conceived on a night of drunken sex. there is one part in the chapter where Victor's father get a motorcycle and eventually never came back. "On a reservation, indian men who abandoned their children are treadted worse than white fathers who have been doing that forever and Indian men have just learned how" (34).
The humor is the fact that he calls himself a "goofy reservation mixed drink" but the reality is that this might really be how many reservation kids were born. they may have had hippie parents who listened to Jimi Hendrix and bought motorcycles and marriages ended. he tries to poke a little fun at the harsh reality that many reservation kids had to face on a daily basis.
On whiteness, Indian identity and colonialism, Alexie says, “What is colonialism but the breeding out of existence of the colonized? The most dangerous thing for Indians, then, now and forever is that we love our colonizers. And we do.” He goes on to say, and I paraphrase, that Indian identity now is mostly a matter of cultural difference; that culture is received knowledge, because the authentic practitioners are gone. The culture is all adopted culture, not innate. Colonization is complete. Think about how what he is discussing plays out in his stories. Choose one (a different one than for the first question) and discuss how a story represents the characters' relationship to the tribe's past and to the colonizing culture.
In the chapter where Victor, Thomas, and Junior are taking the mushrooms, they start haveing the psychedelic hallucinations. at one point Thomas sees Victor dancing naked. he describes the tribe as they are exposed to foreign diseases and the fact that the are killing everyone. he begins dancing a Ghost Dance and when he does this the people who have died come back. the connection to the tribe's past is that he is recollecting what has happened to American Indians in thier history since Europeans. the colonizing future comes in the form of the joke that Victor says. "Hey," I said. "Jump in with us. we're going out to Benjamin Lake to do this new drug i got. It'll be very fucking Indian. Spiritual shit, you know?" (14). I dont really believe that this drug does anything but give you an unbelieveable high and is in no way "spiritual" but they seem to poke fun at the fact that they are who they are.
When Victor's father went to Woodstock, he said he was the only Indian to see Jimi Hendrix play "The Star Spangled Banner". His father had just gotten out of prison and made it just in time to see Jimi play. this probably wasn't the truth but im sure many Indian people who may have been ther believed that also. Jimi played his version right around the time of the Veitnam War and many of the concert- goers were upset about Americas involvement. ever since then Victor's father would get drunk and listen to the song. Victor says in the days after his father would tell him stories about his mother and the fact that he was conceived on a night of drunken sex. there is one part in the chapter where Victor's father get a motorcycle and eventually never came back. "On a reservation, indian men who abandoned their children are treadted worse than white fathers who have been doing that forever and Indian men have just learned how" (34).
The humor is the fact that he calls himself a "goofy reservation mixed drink" but the reality is that this might really be how many reservation kids were born. they may have had hippie parents who listened to Jimi Hendrix and bought motorcycles and marriages ended. he tries to poke a little fun at the harsh reality that many reservation kids had to face on a daily basis.
On whiteness, Indian identity and colonialism, Alexie says, “What is colonialism but the breeding out of existence of the colonized? The most dangerous thing for Indians, then, now and forever is that we love our colonizers. And we do.” He goes on to say, and I paraphrase, that Indian identity now is mostly a matter of cultural difference; that culture is received knowledge, because the authentic practitioners are gone. The culture is all adopted culture, not innate. Colonization is complete. Think about how what he is discussing plays out in his stories. Choose one (a different one than for the first question) and discuss how a story represents the characters' relationship to the tribe's past and to the colonizing culture.
In the chapter where Victor, Thomas, and Junior are taking the mushrooms, they start haveing the psychedelic hallucinations. at one point Thomas sees Victor dancing naked. he describes the tribe as they are exposed to foreign diseases and the fact that the are killing everyone. he begins dancing a Ghost Dance and when he does this the people who have died come back. the connection to the tribe's past is that he is recollecting what has happened to American Indians in thier history since Europeans. the colonizing future comes in the form of the joke that Victor says. "Hey," I said. "Jump in with us. we're going out to Benjamin Lake to do this new drug i got. It'll be very fucking Indian. Spiritual shit, you know?" (14). I dont really believe that this drug does anything but give you an unbelieveable high and is in no way "spiritual" but they seem to poke fun at the fact that they are who they are.
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