Pawn/Redeem
Ellen Vorsatz
Professor Autumn Newman
English 100
13 March 2013
To Pawn or To Redeem
For hundreds of years, writers have fascinated the world with their talent of creating stories to entertain, inform, persuade and educate a specific audience. Two very popular fields represented in writing are societal and individual issues; these fields include the sub topics of depression, alcoholism, homelessness, etc. Writers who compose literature in the style of prose, short stories and other fiction based writings often incorporate serious matters to connect with their audience in an entertaining, yet informing, way. Realistically, any successful person tends to pass off taking any action to help alleviate societal issues such as homelessness because it is not their problem. A well-known poet and writer, Sherman Alexie, has portrayed the seriousness of homelessness and alcoholism through his short story What You Pawn, I Will Redeem. From his experience of growing up on a Spokane Indian reservation in Washington, he was able to create a short story about a homeless Native American man, Jackson Jackson, and his journey to reclaim his grandmother’s regalia. Moreover, by applying Barnode’s personality vocabulary from Making Sense of People, I was able to analyze Jackson’s actions, as well as his reactions to others and his surroundings, to define his personality. Despite his forlorn lifestyle, Jackson often takes advantage of the multiple opportunities to befriend a stranger through his outgoing and kind characteristics. When scratching a cheap lottery ticket, Jackson discovers he has won one hundred dollars to put towards his grandmother’s regalia. However, instead of saving all of the money Jackson gives the cashier twenty dollars back and explains, “It’s tribal…an Indian thing…when you win, you’re supposed to share with your family…” (9). Even though the cashier is neither a stranger nor a part of Jackson’s family, he extends his heritage’s
Professor Autumn Newman
English 100
13 March 2013
To Pawn or To Redeem
For hundreds of years, writers have fascinated the world with their talent of creating stories to entertain, inform, persuade and educate a specific audience. Two very popular fields represented in writing are societal and individual issues; these fields include the sub topics of depression, alcoholism, homelessness, etc. Writers who compose literature in the style of prose, short stories and other fiction based writings often incorporate serious matters to connect with their audience in an entertaining, yet informing, way. Realistically, any successful person tends to pass off taking any action to help alleviate societal issues such as homelessness because it is not their problem. A well-known poet and writer, Sherman Alexie, has portrayed the seriousness of homelessness and alcoholism through his short story What You Pawn, I Will Redeem. From his experience of growing up on a Spokane Indian reservation in Washington, he was able to create a short story about a homeless Native American man, Jackson Jackson, and his journey to reclaim his grandmother’s regalia. Moreover, by applying Barnode’s personality vocabulary from Making Sense of People, I was able to analyze Jackson’s actions, as well as his reactions to others and his surroundings, to define his personality. Despite his forlorn lifestyle, Jackson often takes advantage of the multiple opportunities to befriend a stranger through his outgoing and kind characteristics. When scratching a cheap lottery ticket, Jackson discovers he has won one hundred dollars to put towards his grandmother’s regalia. However, instead of saving all of the money Jackson gives the cashier twenty dollars back and explains, “It’s tribal…an Indian thing…when you win, you’re supposed to share with your family…” (9). Even though the cashier is neither a stranger nor a part of Jackson’s family, he extends his heritage’s