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Who Is The Idea Of The Devil In Reservation Blues, By Sherman Alexie

2214 Words9 Pages

In America, the devil has come to take a place in the folklore. It has been said that the devil makes deals with musicians where they exchange their soul in order to become a better at their instrument. In Reservation Blues, Sherman Alexi introduces the idea of the devil, “The Gentleman”, with the legend of Robert Johnson, the mysterious blues musician. Throughout the book, Alexi makes a concentrated effort to make social commentary on cultural appropriation and the presence of the devil in the everyday life of the main characters by creating a comparison of the different cultures which he accomplishes through dream sequences, flashbacks, magical realism and his use of doppelgangers. Robert Johnson was a blues musician from the early twentieth …show more content…

This anger can be seen when Sheridan attacks Checkers in the hotel room, but speaks as if he is still in the nineteenth century during the war. “Sheridan kneeled down besides Checkers and tied her hands behind her back with his necktie…I killed this Indian woman…I rode up on her and ran my saber right through her heart…I was so angry that I threw her to the ground and stomped her to death” (Alexi, Loc 3336) Sheridan represents all bad things about white culture in the past and the present: oppression, abuse, and general disrespect. If the devil were to be in any one, white person, it would be in …show more content…

Chess and Checkers want to be like the white girls they saw growing up. Checkers even admitted that to Father Arnold. “I wanted to be just like them…I knew if I was like them, I wouldn’t have to be brown and dirty and live on the reservation and spill Communion wine. ‘I wanted to be as white as those little girls because Jesus was white and blond in all the pictures I ever saw of him’” (Alexi, Loc 1996). Both Chess and Checkers are highly interested in the Catholic Church and life off the reservation. “Chess departs from the music business and takes a ‘regular’ (i.e. non-reservation) job as a telephone operator; both sisters leave the reservation to live in the city” (Jorgensen). Just like Betty and Veronica covet parts of reservation life, Chess and Checkers covet all of life outside of the reservation. They want the privileges that Betty and Veronica take for granted so

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