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Native Americans In Smoke Signals By Alexie Sherman

543 Words3 Pages

Alexie Sherman in “Smoke Signals” describes the way of living of Native Americans. He uses two characters in the movie as Native Americans Victor and Thomas. Thomas’s parents died in the accidental fire on Independence Day in 1976 in Coeur d’Alene, however, Arnold Joseph, Victor's father, saved Thomas from the fire. When Thomas was just blasted out of the window, Victor’s father miraculously caught Thomas before he landed on the ground. Thomas was a nerd who was smart, and he enjoyed telling stories to anyone. On the other hand, Victor was a tough Indian guy who was hard to handle, but he had a special attitude to his Mom. Victor never had a respect to his cousin Thomas although Thomas was educated and well-mannered. One day, Thomas said that “they were children born of flame and ash”. …show more content…

The dad was drinking every single day, and was satisfied with everything he had. However, Victor got angrier a lot more. One day, there was a party, and Victor’s drunk dad asked him “who was Victor’s favorite Indian?” where he got responded “nobody”. The responses of his son made him angrier, and he never stopped drinking. On the next day, Victor was smashing the beer bottles onto his truck which describes his hate to his father. That action led to his father’s leave from the reservation in Idaho. After ten years of suppressed anger, Victor’s mother received a phone call that Arnold Joseph had passed away in Phoenix, Arizona. Therefore, after discussion with his mother Victor decided to go there, and bring his ashes and remains back to Coeur d’Alene. Victor did not have money for the trip, but Thomas offered him a fund for the trip on the condition he goes with Victor. Arrangements were made, and Victor with his cousin set off to

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