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.