Cultural Hybrids
There are many people from different countries with different cultures who want to live the American Dream. They want the idea of freedom and they feel that United States is the only country in the world who can give the people the liberty it offers. The life of a person whom no one speaks with because of one’s difference can be quite miserable.
The story “This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona” by Sherman Alexie shows the audience how different the life of Native Americans are compared to modern day Americans. Throughout the story, details about events that happened in Victor and Thomas’s life which combines the Indian and American side of their heritage were given. Alexie was trying to tell the readers how the Indians in the reservations want to hybridize their Native American and modern American culture. Since Thomas and Victor both grew up in the reservation, they see a big difference their lives are compared to the modern day Americans.
The first detail that illustrates my thesis was the Fourth of July celebration when Victor and Thomas were kids. Thomas states, “It’s strange how us Indians celebrate the Fourth of July. It ain’t like it was our independence everybody was fighting for” (16). Alexie displays how Indians try to act more Americanized in order to fit in better with the modern American crowd. Back then, no one besides their own might have spoken to them because they were different so they want to be accepted. For example, the event when they were in the airport and had talked to the gymnast, Victor says, “Everybody talks to everybody on airplanes. It’s too bad we can’t always be that way” (19). Alexie sends the readers a message of how in their minds, the only way that they were going to be liked was by forgetting their Native American culture and acting more like the modern Americans.
Another factor the author provides the audience of this hybridization was through the remains of Victor’s father. Alexie writes, “They set him down
The story “This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona” by Sherman Alexie shows the audience how different the life of Native Americans are compared to modern day Americans. Throughout the story, details about events that happened in Victor and Thomas’s life which combines the Indian and American side of their heritage were given. Alexie was trying to tell the readers how the Indians in the reservations want to hybridize their Native American and modern American culture. Since Thomas and Victor both grew up in the reservation, they see a big difference their lives are compared to the modern day Americans.
The first detail that illustrates my thesis was the Fourth of July celebration when Victor and Thomas were kids. Thomas states, “It’s strange how us Indians celebrate the Fourth of July. It ain’t like it was our independence everybody was fighting for” (16). Alexie displays how Indians try to act more Americanized in order to fit in better with the modern American crowd. Back then, no one besides their own might have spoken to them because they were different so they want to be accepted. For example, the event when they were in the airport and had talked to the gymnast, Victor says, “Everybody talks to everybody on airplanes. It’s too bad we can’t always be that way” (19). Alexie sends the readers a message of how in their minds, the only way that they were going to be liked was by forgetting their Native American culture and acting more like the modern Americans.
Another factor the author provides the audience of this hybridization was through the remains of Victor’s father. Alexie writes, “They set him down