In Sherman Alexie’s “This is what it means to say Phoenix‚ Arizona” a man named Victor finds out that his father has passed away. Being next of kin‚ Victor is responsible for gathering his father’s assets together‚ which requires him to make an out of town trip. In order to accomplish this Victor needs help. This help comes from the town outcast‚ Thomas Builds-the Fire. Victor and Thomas were childhood best friends but as they grew older‚ Victor turned his back on the one that always looked out
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Victor In the very first sentence of Sherman Alexie ’s "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix‚ Arizona‚" you can assume that the main character‚ Victor‚ is facing a hard life. Not only did he lose his job‚ he also lost his father to a heart attack the same day. The story tells the journey of Victor and an old friend‚ Thomas Builds-the-Fire‚ traveling to Phoenix to pick up his father ’s ashes‚ pickup truck‚ and money from his savings account. Victor did not have any money and neither did anyone else
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Sherman Alexie is an American poet‚ writer‚ and filmmaker‚ which was raised on the Spokane Indian Reservations. Alexie’s literary work shows the reality of how modern Native Americans faced poverty‚ alcoholism‚ and violence on and off the reservations. In addition‚ unlike many authors Alexie uses gallows humor to lighten the darkness in some of his stories. Most of Alexie’s stories do not deal with life on the reservations; most of his stories are life experiences that can influence readers to overcome
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couple that give up their greatest belongings in order to buy something special for each other. However‚ they can not make use of their gifts‚ because what they gave up‚ relates to their possessions they gave up. In Sherman Alexie’s “This is What It Means to Say Phoenix‚ Arizona”‚ the protagonist Victor travels with his childhood friend Thomas to Phoenix to get the remains of his dead father. Thomas tells him the story of Victors dad telling him to “Take care of each other” (156). Through out these two
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forgetting history of themselves becoming people living in the present as well as writing their own history‚ while others bass in the pass‚ never forgetting where they came from and who they are. The same happened in “This is What it means to say Phoenix Arizona”‚ by Sherman Alexie‚ the story followed two men who traveled to retrieve the remains of a deceased one while learning more about themselves and their culture. Victor and Thomas Builds-The-Fire are the two main characters that are both Native
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Lorisa Qumawunu June 7‚ 2013 English 102 Essay #1(revision) “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix‚ Arizona” In the short story‚ “This is What It Means to Say Phoenix‚ Arizona”‚ by Sherman Alexie‚ I looked at two characters: Thomas and Victor. Thomas Builds-the-Fire is a storyteller on a reservation who everyone ignores because they think he is crazy. Victor on the other hand is a guy who would not dare be seen talking to Thomas. Thomas knows that Victor is in
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and contempt towards Thomas. Almost at the finish of the story “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix‚ Arizona”‚ Sherman Alexie portrays Victor as being kind and friendly to Thomas. Victor feels the urge that he owes something to Thomas and ends up offering to Mr. Builds-the-Fire the precious ash remains of his recently deceased father. As kind as he was to do that‚ Victor immediately afterwards talks to Thomas in an underlying mean way. Thomas graciously turns down Victor’s offer‚ and in the process
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“This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix‚ Arizona‚ is a story that focuses on the relationship between two Native American men‚ Victor and Thomas Builds-The-Fire‚ who have grown up together one the Spokane Indian Reservation. The leading cause of the central action of the story was the death of Victor’s father in Phoenix‚ Arizona. Having just lost his job and unable to financially travel alone with the one hundred dollars given to him by the Tribal Council‚ Victor happens to run into Thomas Builds-The-Fire
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Sherman J. Alexie‚ is a short story written in the first person focusing on two Native American Men who grew up together on a Reservation for Native Americans but have been estranged from each other since they were teenagers. Victor who is the narrator of this story is a young man who lost faith in his culture and its traditions‚ while Thomas our second main character is a deeply rooted traditional storyteller. In the beginning of the story Victor‚ our Native American narrator learns the death of
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Angela Smith Mrs. Black Engl. 1102 January 31 2014 Plot “This is what it means to say Phoenix‚Arizona” “This is what it means to say Phoenix‚ Arizona” by Sherman Alexie is about the life struggles of two American Indians named Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire. Victor‚the protagonist‚ has not only lost his job but his father as well. With the aid of Thomas he will travel to collect his father’s remains and estate. This story is neatly structured in a standard plot line format‚ built around
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