Summary:
Sherman Alexie's novels examine the relationships between whites and American Indians. He uses subtle sarcasm and sly humor to make his points about racism and the mistreatment of American Indians, such as setting "The Lone Ranger" and "Tonto" against each other to dispel their Hollywood hero myths.
Sherman Alexie illustrates a subtle sarcasm that is very consistent among his stories. He conveys many of the current social issues that seem to be constant among those of Indian heritage. His main characters all have very similar characteristics: very lay back and socially conscious. An important characteristic that his characters share is a sense of wit and cynicism which helps conveys Alexie's ideals in many regards.
The first rhetorical device Alexie utilizes is his methophorical use of his titles. In the piece The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven he uses two characters from a movie that was very popular at the time. However he puts the two characters against each other despite them being allies in the movie. The Lone Ranger symbolizes the stereotypical attributes of white's ideal hero while Tonto symbolizes the Native Americans ideal hero. The fistfight in heaven could possibly symbolize the struggle over land. This sets an atmosphere for reader that places Native Americans and the Whites as rivals despite the current overview or veil that shrouds the situation like the false friendship. Alexie is keen on the implements that his title will suggest. This is also apparent with The toughest Indian in the world which also sets a concise point of view of which to begin his story.
Alexie does not attempt to disguise the racial unrest that is present among his pieces. The only description of the character's girlfriend in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is that she is white. He does not go into any dept about any of her characteristics. In his pieces he creates generics characters like this in many different fashions. He states that the clerk in the store looks like they all do and he then puts himself into this category.
His distrust of whites and authority is made immediately in the story. The character is content with the notion that the clerk is observing him simple because he is Native American despite the clerk also being Native American. He then also states a few sentences later: that he also gives his girlfriend the same look that the clerk gives to him which seems to show that he thinks that authority is corrupt. He shows his contempt for the clerk buy buying a creamsicle, which is an ice-cream bar that is orange flavored with a creamy white center, implying that the clerk is attempting to be white. This way he ties the corruptness of authority with being white. He also shows that this contempt of white authority is consistent among his people by telling the story of the two boys who steal the car in This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona. The two are cheered for their crime by the Native Americans in the reservation.
Alexie also illustrates throughout his stories the lack of community among his people. In This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona he illustrates his opinion of the tribal council. In this case he shows the robotic attributes of the council through the use of repetition when he asks the council for assistance. Though his father is dead and the urgency of the matter the council still offers minimal help. Alexie is also ardent in showing the hypocrisy that surrounds most of the situations in his stories, such as the character that looks at his white girlfriend the same way the store clerk looks at him, in the store in beginning of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven this character has abandoned his old friend Thomas Builds-the-Fire.
Alexie has an ideal of what he thinks a Native American should be. He makes this most apparent in The toughest Indian in the world. The hitch hiker that the speaker of the story picks up encompasses this ideal: a strong warrior nomad. He also generically describes the hitchhiker by stating that he looks the way they all do. I believe that characters that Alexie create are an extension of his self. This is conveyed is this story in which the character seems to try to make him self believe that he has a sense of community by picking up Native American hitchhikers. In all actuality this act is not integral to establishing community among his people. The character seems to realize this. This accounts for the intimacy that the character lets the hitchhiker invoke. This act by any means is not an implication of sexuality but instead an effort to be a close to this stereotypical ideal of a Native American that he has concocted.
Another ideal that Alexie explores is the distrust of the more charitable acts of the whites. In the scene in the store in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven even after the clerk reveals his reasons for observing the speaker and attempting small talk, the speaker still suspects these act to be counterfeit. He also states that he knows the price of the item that was given to him free as if he thought that item was an unfair trade. Alexie also illustrates this in This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona when he doubts the sincerity of the conversations that Thomas and a woman on the plane undertakes and the witty responses he adds in the conversations on the plane.
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