Native American Culture

1st Draft

Red vs. White

Estrangement is the state of being withdrawn or isolated from the objective world, as through indifference or disaffection. Ill-advisedly, the protagonist from “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is forever bound in this state of mind. His internal conflicts enthrall between fighting for his Native American ethnicity, and, finding his purpose to this world. This link between the two becomes a challenge due to his pessimistic, and protective attitude for his race. The narrator’s volatile actions imply his frustration towards the discrimination against his native Spokane reservation heritage. The protagonists’ Native American upbringing intertwined with White culture challenges his Red and White thinking. The protagonists’ family style upbringing has distilled values that are outlived in his Native American identity. Unfortunately, the protagonist is quite protective of his Native American descent. In fact, his view of people is quite pessimistic towards the Native American race. This rigidness to his ethnicity is foretold in two parts. As humans, we are first born with an identity that is kept close to us, such as Native American, African American, or Grecian. Although we are born with uniqueness; the values we instill to our race are brought about through parent’s effort in raising their children. For Sherman Alexie, he’d developed a cynical character who bares strong connections to his Native American race. The protagonist’s existence and demeanor is uncanny because he’d been destined for a life of prosperity through public schooling and a college education. Found here, “But I was special, a former college student, a smart kid. I was one of those Indians who was supposed to make it. I was a new kind of warrior.” This quote reveals his sense of insecurity concerning his life thus far and how he has not lived up to his expectations. “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” exposes a few scenes where the main character is fighting for ethical freedom outside of Spokane. The protagonist’s discriminative experiences begin at a convenience store in Seattle where he feels like a predator lurking amongst his preys. As stated, “He looked me over so he could describe me to the police later.” The protagonist was familiar with this wicked look; as he’d lost a close relationship to its devilish hands once before. His loss began like this, “When one person starts to look at another like a criminal, then the love is over.” As Native American, these adverse impressions occur randomly as seen through the Police incident. In this scene, the protagonist had been pulled over in a wealthy neighborhood by the police officer, “You’re making people nervous. You don’t fit the profile of the neighborhood.” This was a friendly way of saying; you are not wanted in this area, please leave. These occurrences are upsetting to the narrator as they have affected his view of Whites. As the protagonist becomes disgusted with life, he packs his belongings and heads home to Spokane in Washington State. While home, he realizes that connecting to his family and finding peace is not easy. His weak-minded thinking is foreseen here,” They’d been expecting me back the day I left for Seattle. There’s an old Indian poet who said that Indians can reside in the city, but they can never live there.” In fact, while living in Seattle, his dreams became nightmares of a vivid war scene between the Red’s and Whites. The Indians became slaughtered by the Whites and at one point, “Three mounted soldiers played polo with a dead Indian woman’s head.” This graphic image stays with him as he found accounts of this madness occurred in the old west and in parts of the world today. The protagonist’s dreams and Native American ethnicity have instilled protective beliefs to his ethnicity and real life demeanor towards others.
Although he’s strong-willed concerning his background, insecurity remains present. One instance occurs where he starts a job in Spokane at the local high school exchange program. He answers phone calls and asks himself, “Sometimes I wonder if the people on the other end of the line know that I’m Indian and if their voices would change if they did know.” His insecurity exponentially evolves to every facet in his life and only exacerbates his pessimistic attitude.
The cynical behavior by the protagonist has incurred due to several discriminatory experiences. One being, the protagonist’s cup is full; which allows him to believe this Red vs. White rivalry will never change. Because of his ignorance, he leaves no trust to anyone and is forced to run when he encounters discrimination. One situation that symbolizes the protagonist’s doubtful thoughts is encountered at his hometown basketball court. He comes home to find the new BIA chief’s White kid named Jimmy Seyler who can play ball. “And he could play. He played Indian ball, fast and loose, better than all the Indians there.” That night, Jimmy whooped on every Indian who played Basketball. I recognize this as a change of tone and direction in the protagonist’s life. At this point in time, he realizes that he must submit to his Red vs. White rivalry in order to move forward in his life. Just as Jimmy will advance and become an NBA star, the gap between the two races, White and Indian will only become larger. Indian’s will control the small reservation plains out West while the White culture advances to become a powerhouse figure in the United States of America. Hereafter this epiphany, the protagonist’s life begins to move forward as he starts a new job and connects with his ex-girlfriend once again.

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