Mosho 1

John Mosho

Professor Guarente

Writing for College

December 12, 2014

The Lone Conquest Towards Everlasting Happiness

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Each morning, every

high school student across the United States stands up and declares their everlasting love towards

their country. By implementing the Pledge of Allegiance in the early 20th century, the United

States set up moral codes for every individual in this “grand” nation to follow. However, through

historical records, many can argue that the United States is not the free thinking, righteous place

that it is made out to be.

From events such as the Trail of Tears to the Civil Rights movements that swept through

the 1960’s, there is a common theme of racism in our country towards those who do not fit in

with the theme of white supremacy. In, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven, Sher-

man Alexie enlightens the reader to the hardships that exist from being different than your aver-

age white American. Through a multitude of short stories, Alexie shows the reader the horrific

antics of oppression and conformism that white supremacists try to instill onto every Native

American; Indirectly stating that white supremacy is crippling the prosperity of the Native Amer-

icans and if the problem is not fixed soon, it could result in the loss of an entire culture.

Mosho 2

Alexie was born October 7th, 1966 on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit,

Washington (Poetry Foundation). He spent the early part of his youth having to battle through

Hydrocephalus, a disease that causes a large amount of cerebral fluid accumulates in your cranial

cavity (Poetry Foundation). After spending time in the hospital for his medical conditions, once

he came back to the reservation, the other kids picked on him, calling him names such as, “The

Globe,” due to the fact that his head was abnormally large (Cline, Lynn). But yet, for Alexie, the

troubles did not stop there.

Not only did Alexie have to deal with this friends making fun of him, but he also strug-

gled with not having the family support to coop with his issues. Alexie's father was a hardcore

alcoholic, who would leave his family for days at a time with no word of where he was going or

when he would be back (Cline, Lynn). Due to Alexie’s fathers inner turmoils, his mother had to

be responsible for not only the father, but for all six of their kids as well, sewing quilts and work-

ing as a clerk at the Wellpinit Trading Post to make enough money for a living (Cline, Lynn). It

was due to these reasons that Alexie found it tough to confide in his family about his emotional

issues as well, leading him to leave the reservation and enroll at Pembroke Academy (Cline,

Lynn).

Although he was the only Native American at Pembroke Academy, he was able to excel

at his new school, becoming the star basketball player, model student, and even the class presi-

dent (Cline, Lynn). After high school, Alexie received a large scholarship to Gonzaga University

for pre-med (Cline, Lynn). Yet quickly, Alexie found out that a future in science would not bode

well for him, due to his inability to dissect a living organism during anatomy class (Cline, Lynn).

He then proceeded to try and switch his major to law, but again, due to copious amounts of dis-

tress, found it impossible for him to continue on in this field (Cline, Lynn). Due to his inability

Mosho 3

of being able to put his life together, Alexie did the only thing that his father ever taught him to

do when things seemed to daunting to be able to control; He became an alcoholic (Cline, Lynn).

Yet even throughout his darkest of times, Alexie knew that he enjoyed his literature classes at

Gonzaga more than anything else, which lead him later transferred to the Washington State Uni-

versity and earned his bachelor degree in creative writing (Cline, Lynn).

It is prevalent through reading The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, that

Alexie uses his own experiences to express his messages to the general public. He has grown up

his whole life shrouded by the mockery and discontentment of his family and friends; making

him become slightly enraged by the world around him. It is clear to the reader that Alexie is writ-

ing from the heart, choosing stories that have impacted his life. Chapters such as “The Only Traf-

fic Signal On the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore” and “The Lone Ranger and Tonto

Fistfight In Heaven” are about Alexie trying to escape from the rest of the world, but never truly

being able to relinquish himself from the hardships of life. While other chapters such as “Every

Little Hurricane” and “A Drug Called Tradition” are all about the alcoholism that is to this day

still abundantly prevalent in the Native American societies.

From an interview with Joelle Fraser, we are able to pick up on some of the condescend-

ing traits of white society and his overall uncomfortableness with having to deal with questions

based on being an “elite Native American.” Right from the start of the interview when called,

“the future of American fiction,” he states, “It’s because they needed a brown guy,” (Alexie and

Fraser, “An Interview With Sherman Alexie”). This quote describes the inner turmoil that every

Native American has faced at one point in their life since they have been emotionally degraded

to a point where their importance and achievements don’t compare to anything a white man does,

simply because they is not white. Alexie struggles to coop with thoughts about him succeeding in

Mosho 4

life because he knows that in reality, his success only comes from sharing the stories of those

who have struggled for their entire lives. In Alexie’s eyes, the achievements of his people will

never truly be seen as achievements because white hegemony will ultimately be supreme within

the situation.

In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, he goes so far as to state that the

white supremacy is destroying the culture and livelihood that these once dominant Native Ameri-

can reservations had. In “Imagining the Reservation” Alexie states, “How can we imagine a new

language when the language of the enemy keeps our dismembered tongues tied to his belt?”

(Alexie, 152). The carnal symbolism behind, “...dismembered tongues tied to his belt,” is that no

matter what the Native Americans would do to try and save their culture, they could not stop the

industrialization of their homeland. Hypothetically, even if they attempted to put a stop to it, in

the eyes of Alexie, they would be beaten and killed by the white people, so why risk unparalleled

danger (Alexie, 152). Through this dark and grotesque humor, we see the fear that is brought

upon the Native Americans by white culture and how they will forever be uncomfortable with

assimilating themselves into this new wave of industrialization.

Alexie believes that the Native American nation has been subjected to, as some would

put it, “historical trauma.” This was a theory created by Brave Heart and Debruyn who were ex-

perts on Jewish literature after the holocaust, who described historical trauma as, “a legacy of

chronic trauma and unresolved grief across generations enacted on them by the European [or in

the case of Alexie, an American] dominant culture,” (Brave Heart & DeBruyn). Through biologi-

cal, psychological, environmental, and other social traumas, Alexie thought that Native Ameri-

cans were never able to get over all of the issues brought upon them by the white people of

America. Over time, these issues have spiraled into effecting not only those generations that

Mosho 5

were effected by the hardships of the Americans taking control of their land, but also for the gen-

erations succeeding this initial one, since these new generations grew up in inhospitable environ-

ments. For this reason, Alexie argues that Native Americans were having tough times while try-

ing to finding success within their lives due to the fact that they did not live a healthy lifestyle

where one could thrive in.

As white tyrannical reign continues to control the core emotions of the Native Americans

lifestyles, it has impaired their abilities to live their lives to the fullest, creating unhappy and un-

healthy lifestyles on the reservations. Today across the United states, due to scarcity of jobs and

a lack of economic opportunity, around 53% of Native Americans living on reservations make

earnings below poverty wages (Native American Aid). Due to this lack of opportunity of making

money, there are over 90,000 Native Americans who find themselves homeless (Native Ameri-

can Aid). Yet those who do have homes are not living in too much comfort either, seeing as

though in 2003, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a statement saying that over 40%

of on-reservation housing is considered in adequate to live in (Native American Aid). Since these

families do not have any money to achieve a higher status, they become overwhelmed with their

everyday lives, resorting to drugs and alcohol as means of cooping with their issues. Studies

have shown that over 12% of deaths on Native American reservations are due to alcohol related

issues and that if one lives on a reservation, they have an 82% higher risk of committing suicide

during their lifetime (Native American Aid).

Due to immense amounts of social discomfort weighing down upon Native Americans,

many have had to witness their friends, family, and community struggle daily through the serious

issues of addictions, currency, real estate, and stereotypes. All of this discomfort causes depres-

sion and social outrage, which leads to the radical comments made in the chapter, “Jesus Christ’s

Mosho 6

Half-Brother is Alive and Well on the Spokane Indian Reservation” when Alexie states, “He's

going to dynamite Mount Rushmore or hijack a plane and make it land on the reservation high-

way" (Alexie, 120) By showing frustration through an aggressive manner, we are able to catch a

glimpse of the anger going on within the mind of a Native American as they are trying to reject

the new ideologies of Westernized culture and stick to their traditional means of living. By tak-

ing an extreme measure, Alexie is showing the decolonization and the unfamiliarity with Native

American traditions that is currently happening within the these tribes as they are trying to piece

together a better life for themselves.

Later in the chapter, to show how the Native American tribes are slowly defamiliarizing

themselves from their past, he states, “He says so many things and the only thing that matters is

that he says he and I don’t have the right to die for each other and that we should be living for

each other instead. He says the world hurts. He says the first thing he wanted after he was born

was a shot of whiskey. He says all that and more. He tells me to get a job and to grow my braids.

He says I better learn how to shoot left-handed if I’m going to keep playing basketball. He says

to open a fireworks stand.” (128) By accepting the pain brought forth in their world, he is stating

that the Native Americans are accepting defeat after their immense battle against oppression. By

choosing to embrace the stereotypes that are already around them, the Native Americans have of-

ficially admitted defeat and have accepted the fact that white supremacy has taken over their

lives.

Joseph Coulombe shared his opinions on the the Native Americans accepting defeat

against their white counterparts in his article, "The Approximate Size of His Favorite Humor:

Sherman Alexie's Comic Connections and Disconnections in the Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist-

fight in Heaven,” by stating, “Such images disallow readers from feigning ignorance. Pretending

Mosho 7

to believe in a supposedly innocent America (a strangely recurring trend over the past two-plus

centuries) is impossible. Alexie makes clear that America was never innocent, something any

person familiar with white/Indian relations has long known,” (Coulombe 111). Coulombe here

shares his opinion on how although America tries to mask there evils behind the ideology that

they are innocent, Alexie makes sure to point out that America was never truly the innocent na-

tion that they play themselves out to be. Rather, they are a nation of corruption, inequality, and

ruthlessness. Coulombe helps put together the pieces that Alexie laid out for us, guiding the

reader to a conclusion that white America has never had any interest in helping the Native Amer-

icans, but instead have always tried to capitalize on the “obscure and irrational” ways of the Na-

tive American culture.

White sovereignty is able to occur so easily throughout the Native American reservations

because the white people found a way through marketing, technology, and external relations to

emotionally tamper and take advantage of their depressed lifestyle. By not interacting in an ap-

propriate manner and by subtly insulting the Native Americans culture, they have created innu-

merable tribulations in their lives. “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash

Red Anymore” really emphasizes the cultural mayhem between these two social classes by stat-

ing, “It’s hard to be optimistic on the reservation... But it’s almost like Indians can easily survive

the big stuff. Mass murder, loss of language and land rights. It’s the small things that hurt the

most. The white waitress who wouldn’t take an order, Tonto, the Washington Redskins,” (Alexie,

49). Not only did white supremacists deny equal rights to the Native Americans, but by being

chauvinistic towards these their cultures and by being disrespectful towards their lives they have

created tensions that will never be resolved.

Mosho 8

In Sherman Alexie: A Collection of Critical Essays, James Cox shares his opinions on

this part of the story by stating, “Images and stories of archetypal Tonto’s colonize the reserva-

tion and the imaginations of its residents. Those residents who are dominated by these images

and stories have great difficulty imagining and then creating a world different from the one

where they live,” (Cox, 76). Cox here is stating that the stories of the stereotypical Native Ameri-

can are entering the minds of the youth currently living on the reservations, causing them to lose

hope in living a successful life. These negative ideologies are therefore preventing the youth

from having the emotional stability needed to progress in life and ultimately leading them into a

life of poverty and emotional trauma.

By brainwashing the Native Americans through forms of social media and by devaluing

their culture as a whole, they have created a large mass of people who can no longer embrace

who they once were. In the chapter “Family Portrait,” Alexie writes, “The television was always

loud, too loud, until every emotion was measured by the half hour. We hid our faces behind

masks that suggested other histories; we touched hands accidentally and our skin sparked like a

personal revolution,” (Alexie, 198). This passage shows us the impact that this new wave of

technology had on the lives of the Native Americans. As these new forms of technology and in-

novations came into the reservation, one started to see less of a need for the Native Americans

cultures or history to be prevalent, so it started to become less prevalent. With less overall inter-

est in the Native American culture, they lost their Native American heritage and instead were

hiding behind, “masks,” of their former selves (Alexie, 198). From white civilization being able

to implement these new social tactics to taint the minds of the Native Americans, they were able

to seize much of the land and opportunities that the Native Americans might have been able to

obtain if they had not been corrupted.

Mosho 9

In order to make an impact on the ideologies of the Native Americans, white civilizations

choose control of the Native American youth by instilling them with the concepts of a white

western civilization, instead of learning the ways of their prior culture. By controlling the educa-

tional systems in place and their forms of amusement, they are able to brainwash many Native

Americans into thinking a certain away about many of the issues at hand within their own com-

munities. The white people prevented the Native Americans from becoming a strong, united

group of individuals. Instead, they have forced them to live in small, desolate areas as he white

supremacist continue to utilize their former land for their own capitalist beliefs.

By taking control of their lands, it is become easier for the white people to infiltrate the

Native Americans educational systems and teach the Native Americans what they feel is most

beneficial for their usage. In the chapter “Indian Education,” it states, “She sent a letter home with

me that told my parents to either cut my braids or keep me home from class. My parents came in

the next day and dragged their braids across Betty Towle’s desk.” (Alexie, 173) Although it

shows some resistance by the Native Americans to give into the white culture, over time the

amount of resistance to these ideas starts to dissolve, and eventually, the effort becomes so

deflated that they are forced to give up and accept that their cultures and identities have faded

away into their forgotten history. These everlasting feelings of despair and loss of hope are de-

picted in “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” when Alexie states, “The only real

thing...shared with anybody was a bottle and broken dreams,” (Alexie, 78). As all hope starts to

fade away, the only thing that they can do is try to move on with their miserable lives and hope

for maybe someday for things to turn around, even if they know that that will not happen.

Alexie shares these fictional stories to try and describe to the white citizens the troubles

that they created in the lives of the Native American people. Alexie’s goal is that if he brought up

Mosho 10

the difficult topic having to do with the troubles going on within Native American territories

right now, that maybe things would become better for his people, helping them ultimately live

happier lifestyles. However, you can see through the way that Alexie delivers his words that he

never truly believed that his works would create a difference for his people. With white

supremacy dominating the way Native Americans act and control themselves, it is clear that for

Alexie and many other Native Americans, the past history of their culture and ancestry is truly

gone as they have deepened their way into the core of westernized civilization.

Works Cited

• Alexie, Sherman. Interview by Joelle Fraser. Modern American Poetry. Iowa Review, 2001.

Web. 6 Dec. 2014.

• Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven. New York: Grove Press,

1993. Print.

• Brave Heart, M. Y. H., & DeBruyn, L. M. (1998). The American Indian holocaust: Healing

historical unresolved grief. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 8(2),

60–82.

• Cline, Lynn. About Sherman Alexie: A Profile. Ploughshares. Web. 6 Dec. 2014.

Mosho 11

• Coulombe, Joseph. "The Approximate Size of His Favorite Humor: Sherman Alexie's Comic

Connections and Disconnections in the Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven." JSTOR.

94-113. U of NE P, n.d. Web. 20 Dec 2013.

• "Living Conditions." Native American Aid. National Relief Charities. Web. 6 Dec. 2014.

• Sherman Alexie. Poetry Foundation. 1996. 6 Dec. 2014.