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Tribal Identity In Sherman Alexie's Reservation Blues

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The novel Reservation Blues, written by Sherman Alexie reveals different struggles encountered by the Native Americans on the Spokane Indian Reservation through the use of history, traditions, and values. Thomas Builds-the-Fire, a pureblood Indian, forms a band with his childhood acquaintances Victor Joseph and Junior Polatkin called Coyote Springs. Alexie uses a variety of scenes and personal encounters between characters and their dialogue to portray the meaning of tribal identity throughout the novel. A cultures goal is to prove their identity and be superior to one another; The American culture has achieved dominance through white hegemony while the Spokane American Indian tribe is in a battle of oppression struggling to preserve their tribal identity. Spokane Native Americans are very passionate about their tribal identities yet are envious of the power that the white hegemony holds against them, leading them to their depression. The white population has power over the American Indians because they hold an entirely different economic status. The Spokane Indians interpret their passion towards their identities through prejudice towards the whites and the half-breed Indians. Alexie makes this apparent in the scene outside the Tipi Pole Tavern where Chess, Thomas Build-The-Fires …show more content…

Wax and Robert K. Thomas author of “American Indians and White People” wrote a paper to compare both cultures in effort to create a vivid image generalizing which is more superior. Wax and Thomas wrote, “The white man that finds himself in an unstructured… situation is trained to react with a great deal of activity… but the Indian, put in the same place is brought up to remain motionless and watch” (Wax and Thomas 306). It is self-evident that someone that is comfortable and feels dominant will not be afraid to stand up for something they believe in whereas the individual that has any regulations against him (like the commandments) is afraid to speak up and get in

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