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Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfights

559 Words3 Pages

Sherman Alexie was born October 7, 1966. Alexis was born with hydrocephalus, which is a disease that you can die from or suffer mental disorders. Sherman went to surgery at the age of six months. He survived and did not have mental problems, but he did suffer from other problems. Alexie’s father was an alcoholic. His father would leave the house, sometimes for days. Sherman had five siblings. His mother had to take care of them by herself. During high school Sherman figured out that he wanted to be a writer. Sherman Alexie promoted an understanding of Native Americans and how they live in poverty through his work The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfights in Heaven, Reservation Blues, and Indian Killer. Sherman Alexie’s text The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfights in Heaven impacts the way the society thinks about Native Americans. Everyone of his short stories talks a little about what life was like being an Indian in the 20th century. This includes life outside the Indian reservation, poverty, etc.… A quote from the book that helps explain that is, “Books and beer are the best and worst defense”. There are always books and beer to go to when things get rough, but that 's not …show more content…

This book is about a group of Native Americans that start a musical band. They are very good and have a lot of allies, but it is sometimes really hard for them to tell who wants to be their fans and who wants to steal from them. Alexie stated in his book, “Thomas repeated stories constantly. All the other Indians on the reservation heard those stories so often that the words crept into dreams. An Indian tells his friends about a dream he had and was halfway through the telling before everyone realized it was actually one of Thomas’s stealth stories.” This quote impacts society because it gives them something to think about. It gives the society a chance to think about who they really

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To my understanding the title of the short story “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” written by Sherman Alexie, was chosen for this particular story, because it is the underlying main idea in it. The story kinda rambles on about this guy, the main character, who doesn't know where his place on earth is. “I knew there were plenty of places I wanted to be, but nine where I was supposed to be”(403). I believe this lack center in his life doesn't come from lack of “home” in a sense but more because of his inability to expand and grow. For example, if we were to take apart the title the first half of it talks about a “lone ranger”, someone who by definition; has no companions and acts alone without consulting other for approval.

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Writer Sherman Alexie has a knack of intertwining his own problematic biographical experience with his unique stories and no more than “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” demonstrates that. Alexie laced a story about an Indian man living in Spokane who reflects back on his struggles in life from a previous relationship, alcoholism, racism and even the isolation he’s dealt with by living off the reservation. Alexie has the ability to use symbolism throughout his tale by associating the title’s infamy of two different ethnic characters and interlinking it with the narrator experience between trying to fit into a more society apart from his own cultural background. However, within the words themselves, Alexie has created themes that surround despair around his character however he illuminates on resilience and alcoholism throughout this tale.

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Sherman Alexie’s Survival Equation and the Resilience of Native American Culture Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven portrays the hardships faced by Native Americans at the hands of the overpowering force of mainstream American culture. Alexie uses multiple perspectives in his book to convey the complexity of the situation on the reservation. However, his recurring themes such as survival, tradition, and underlying cultural ties connect the stories together as does the overarching message about the resilience of Native American people and their culture. With these consistent themes, the multiple perspectives found in his stories prove the validity of his cultural points due to their repetition. In his composite novel, Alexie reveals the resilience of Native American culture by breaking it down into a mathematical equation

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