Preview

Critical Analysis of A&P and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1677 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Critical Analysis of A&P and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Jesse BurnsProfessor, WolfeEnglish 102Essay 220 October 2014
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Trading Company
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven written by Sherman Alexie and A&P written by John Updike are stories that represent the social constraint’s felt by each of the protagonists. Alexie’s story and Updike’s story complement each other in their context and have a very similar theme. Alexie’s story is about a young man who is held down by the racial indifferences he has encountered throughout his life. In turn, these indifferences have caused distrust and a subtle hatred towards whites and authority figures. Victor, the protagonist of the story, makes references to the indifferences felt through the allusion and symbolism in the story. The representation of the symbolism and the interpretation used shows that Sherman himself is using his writing as a means to come to terms with these deep-rooted feelings. In Updike’s story, the tone is not as dark and dismal as Alexie’s, though there is a similarity in the context. A&P represents a young man who is tired of being oppressed by the mundane routines of life. The protagonist in this story sees his life passing him by as he works at a grocery market. The epiphany is realized and comes to light when three young women come into the store wearing nothing but bathing suits. The symbolism and allusion the writer uses in this story also signifies the repressed emotions of feeling trapped by the pressures that society has placed on him. Both stories connect on a thematic level which is the feeling of being held back by social constraints. However, these stories side by side each delivers different messages to the reader, and the allegory message of each story differs.
The theme of A&P is cultivated and developed throughout the story. Updike’s use of allusive symbols helps deliver his message. The story may seem as a pivotal work of fiction and at first glance can appear to be straight forward.



Bibliography: Alexie, Sherman. "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven." Gardner, Lawn, Ridl, Schakel. Literature (A Portable Anthology). Boston: Bedford St.Martins, 2013. 402-407. Print. James, Kevin. "Social structure and the effects of conformity." Zollman, Kevin James and Spears. Synthese. Dordrecht: Springer Science & Business Media, 2010. 317-340. Print. <http://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2048/login?url=http://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2125/docview/807427937?accountid=38295>. Updike, John. "A&P." Gardner, Lawn, Ridl, Schakel. Literature (A Portable Anthology). Boston: Bedford St.Martins, 2013. 294-299. Print.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    in Sherman Alexie’s article entitled “The lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” he walks down at the 7-eleven late at night to buy a creamsicle since it was too hot to sleep. the graveyard-shift cashier thought he was a robber. He did not mind the cashier’s attitude. the author understands his fear since he was once robbed while working at a 7-Eleven. Moreover, at the beginning of the story, the author lived in Seattle with his girlfriend who is actually white. however, they break up and he move back home to Spokane Indian reservation.…

    • 95 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Opening illustration about being loyal: ‘The Lone Ranger and Tonto were being chased and had…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Sherman Alexie’s fiction, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” Alexie narrates some story presented by some unreal events that happened in the reservation, but he conveyed these stories with real elements such as emotions, facts from history, or even what he remembers from his memory as to what he claims as “reservation realism”.…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dippie, Brian W. Custer 's Last Stand: The Anatomy of an American Myth. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1994.…

    • 3297 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sherman Alexie’s, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is a combination of short stories that highlight the many struggles that Native Americans faced within their culture as well as trying to fit in with the “American” culture. Throughout the story, we see Alexie help the reader understand the challenges that were being faced by all the American Indian characters in the book through ideas or thoughts that infuses the everyday culture of white society and show the contrast that the Native American characters faced trying to blend in with that society.…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Sherman Alexie 's "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven", the past is never really past. The aftershocks of 500 years of Native American persecution, oppression, and neglect continue to haunt the world of the reservation, in the form of alcoholism, poverty, and familial dysfunction. In spite of all this-or perhaps because of it-ancient tribal tradition/ritual lives on, if in a modified, more contemporary version. Throughout the story, the old ways-whether they be storytelling or vision seeking-serve to renew hope, and strengthen the bonds of the community. Thus, the past is both a destructive and a redemptive force within the novel. It is at once a source of continuing suffering and an antidote to that suffering.…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie expresses the modern Native American experience throughout a series of short stories. Throughout these stories Alexie portrays the lives of Native Americans in a dismal and melancholic way. Most of his characters have failed or forgotten their dreams due to their problems with alcohol. Sherman Alexie’s emphasis on Native American’s issues with alcohol gives us insight into how alcohol has destructive effects on Native American society and culture.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Anthology of American Literature. Ed. McMichael et al. 9th ed. Vol 1. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2007. 281- 298.…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fistfight In Heaven

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Nobody can give everything away. It ain’t healthy,” (Alexie 33). Sherman Alexie’s book of short stories, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, focuses on the life of Native Americans on the Spokane Reservation, specifically focusing on Victor, the main character. In the collection of stories, Victor learns about the damage caused by letting anyone other than himself control his life.…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    References: Sherman, A. (1993). The Lone Ranger and Tonto FistFight in Heaven. New York, NY: Grove Press. 93 – 103.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: Updike, John. A & P. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 560-64.…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Essay On Conformity

    • 1492 Words
    • 6 Pages

    An important concept in the sociocultural level of analysis is conformity. Psychologist Baron (2008) defines conformity as a ‘type of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes or behavior to adhere to existing social norms’ (Baron). Social norms are the guiding principles pertaining to the appropriate behaviors, attitudes, and traditions that should be followed by individuals of the relevant society and or culture. Social norms are the concepts which cause an individual to conform often because of a desire to be accepted and liked by others - also known as the normative influence. To research conformity to a group norms, Sherif (1935) and Asch (1951) both conducted valuable…

    • 1492 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Gilded Six-Bits

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cited: "Bedford/St. Martin 's: The Bedford Anthology of American Literature, Volume Two First Edition by Susan Belasco; Linck Johnson." Bedford/St. Martin 's. Web. 12 Feb. 2012.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Oral presentation and Paper: Each student will be assigned a topic to supplement the discussion on each piece of literature we will be looking at this semester. I will assign the topics. Each student will research the topic, write a two-page paper on that topic and present the paper to the class on the date it is due. The paper will be in the MLA format (which includes citing your sources and having a works cited page) and the discussion will last approximately five to ten minutes. At least two sources are required. The paper and discussion will be graded on the thoroughness of the research and the ability of the student to articulate that student’s findings to the class. This assignment cannot be made up. Also, failure to staple pages and to number them will result in a loss of points. This project is worth up to ten points.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sherman Alexie 's novel The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven depicts how reservation Indian 's survive their hardships that mainstream society has put on them, with the use of emotion and imagination. Survival for Alexie 's Indians is, "not to slow dance with [their] skeletons (21)." The reservation skeletons are the anger of the past and the dreams of the future that each Indian needs to combine to survive in the present. Alexie 's novel shows these different phases through his characters that are trying to find the combination to survival.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays