Sherman Alexie Indian Education

Improved Essays
Wendell Santiago
Showalter/Varley
DE English 112
07 March 2016
Sherman Alexie’s “Indian Education” The short story “Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie, contains multiple examples of racism and discrimination Victor faced over the course of his lifetime. Sherman Alexie uses the literary element of point of view to suggest Victor’s experiences of racism and discrimination growing up both on and away from the Indian reservation. The short story “Indian Education” is narrated by the author through first person depicting all of the experiences of the protagonist, Victor, growing up as a Native American. Through this, the narrator knows about what the protagonist is thinking and doing so that gives it a sense of understanding the feelings
…show more content…
While Victor’s white friends tried to revived him, his Chicano teacher didn’t bother to help him because he assumed Victor was drunk just like any other Native American kids, he said “I know all these Indian kids. They start drinking really young” (Alexie 233). That teacher off the reservation made assumptions that Victor was drunk because he was Native American or Indian, even though Victor was successful academically and in basketball at his school. Victor did not only faced setbacks at school, he also faced starvation, not literally starvation for food but just like the Indians back at the reservations, starving for true education, some dignity and for a much better quality in life. With all of this setbacks, Victor managed to be a star at basketball and his class’ valedictorian. He even stood as the “school-board chairman as he recites all of the scholarships, achievements, and awards” (Alexie 234). This characteristic of resilience when after all the hardships, was clearly described by Victor given he manages to be valedictorian of his grade. Whereas those who were left in the reservation were struggling just like Wally Jim, who took his own life from a car

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    We had abuse from Victor's dad and rowdy with his dad beating him as well, then we had poverty and effects that it brought on living and cars for the boys and how Junior couldn’t even afford a fried chicken meal. Finally we have discrimination from Junior getting picked on and called names to the boys almost getting arrested for something they did not do. The novel “ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” and the movie “Smoke Signals” covered topics that happen in everyday Indian…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Growing Tensions: Assimilation Within Modernity Much of American history glosses over the Indian experience; the European notion that indigenous peoples were inferior and “savage” reinforced their justification for years of conquest, killing, and destruction. The stories of two native boys reflect the pain of their ceaseless struggle and highlight the repressed suffering felt as they tried to progress in society, simultaneously inching further from their history. In his short story, and then I went to school, author Joe Suina is able to pinpoint the tension native millennials feel when they must give up parts of their culture to grow up. This pressure, to adopt more “whiteness,” was increasingly felt by Suina through his formative years as he attended traditional schools and was exposed to Western ideology. Comparatively, in Sherman Alexie’s, I Hated Tonto--Still Do, the native experience is better understood as it relates to the usage of stereotypes and generalizations in the media.…

    • 1790 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With a conflict of trying to overcome racism, a nation has the capability of helping an individual triumph from a deficit. Throughout Indian Horse Richard Wagamese invites us on how Saul manages discrimination. Saul deals with many challenges, however, from help of the Aboriginal community Saul gains success. While surrounding himself with Aboriginals who have faced the same experiences, Saul relies on bonding with people of his own culture to grow as a man. Saul’s forced isolation from the First Nation creates many personal conflicts and impacts his character.…

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These schools were not just designed to educate Native American children but to completely transform who they were. Indian children maintain aspects of their culture in the harsh environments of boarding school by engaging in acts of subversion and rebellion…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethos In Native Son

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In Native Son, by Richard Wright, the protagonist character learns that various factors, such as race and heritage, can greatly influence a person’s life. This is demonstrated through character motivation, conflict, ethos, and symbolism. These elements are illustrated by Wright’s indigent character, who is obstinate to reach his goal and persevere through any obstacles that he may face. Character motivation, conflict, and ethos are all illustrated through the protagonist character, Bigger Thomas, who is portrayed as a very motivated black man, who encounters a variety of problems in Chicago’s 1930s. On page 87, paragraph 3, Wright states, “She was dead and he had killed her.…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Cultural Identity is something that makes people who they are; it can deeply affect how you see the world because it shapes how you perceive new things. And as a child, many people do not realize the impact observed actions can have on someone when forming cultural identity. How a person grows up can really change who they are as a person, due to the great influence that parents and caregivers have on the children in their early years. Not only that but, when a child is exposed to a new environment or community they can begin to do things differently than their parents and that can begin to change them.…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Victor has disputes with his society because he had little money, and they weren’t willing to give him any. “... We do have some money available for the proper return of tribal members’ bodies. But I don’t think we have enough to bring your father all the way back from Phoenix” (Alexie 32). He had also recently lost his job at the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs). Julia, however, had problems fitting in with her newfound culture.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Smoke Signals

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The film also shows that these areas mostly have a low socioeconomic status, however, the people seem to remain in high spirits. However, it does portray some problematic and false ideals, like the party that started the fire, which was to celebrate Independence Day, which is a sensitive holiday for many Natives, as it is a reminder of white colonial success. Also, Victor’s poor childhood due to a negligent and an absent father may be stereotypically and problematically generalized onto all Native families, as many fathers of color are often accused of being unfit parents. Alcoholism is also heavily portrayed in this movie, not only onto Victor’s father, as one of the main reasons for his abandonment, but also onto many of the other reservation members, such as Victor’s mother and the two other girls that they meet up with while hitchhiking. The reservation is also depicted as lacking truth and fulfillment, and therefore residing elsewhere, which may have caused both Victor, Victor’s father, and Thomas to leave the reservation.…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When he was a student he would remind and encourage himself that he was smart, arrogant, and lucky. He exceeded the presumptions made by the non- Native American teachers that Native American children are stupid and did not suppress his intelligence. Many years later, as a teacher, he again has to remind himself of this after observing the students who refuse to learn due to the fact that they have been taught to believe that they are not capable of succeeding in school. This is an effective conclusion because the author shows the audience that he is using his authority to make up for the mistakes of his past teachers. He is using his passions for reading and writing and tries to inspire the younger generations, hoping to save, not only his, but now, the lives of those in the community as a…

    • 1042 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Robert Lake’s, “An Indian Father’s Plea,” the father also talks about incorporating his son’s heritage into the curriculum which might interest a secondary audience, the board of the education system. Robert Lake uses appeal to logos: inductive reasoning, to compare his son’s education thus far to that of other children in western society. The Indian father tells the teacher of his son’s experiences leading up to the age of five; this gives the reader logic behind why the father feels his son is not a “slow learner.” The father divulges to the teacher his son’s first introduction into the world in a traditional native childbirth ceremony. “At his first introduction into this world, he was bonded to his mother and to the Mother Earth in a traditional native childbirth ceremony.”…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Superman and Me” narrated by Sherman Alexie was published in the Los Angeles Times in 1998. Alexie narrates through two stories in his life. First he, talks about the stereotypical living on an Indian reservation and teaching himself to read. Second, he talks about when he becomes a teacher helping his students. Alexie’s purpose to his audience, the general public, but more specifically, the young Native American community,or Indians that he wants them to read and save their lives.…

    • 1087 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When Alexie chose to include the detail of how his father was “one of the few Indians who went to Catholic school on purpose,” it raises the question that if his father’s passion for reading and learning was uncommon, how much was literature valued on the reservation? It is evident through this unpromising detail that literacy on the reservation was not valued. Alexie’s father was one of the few on the reservation who realised he must leave the reservation in order to succeed in life. His father had an obsession with books that he passed along to Alexie through his incorporation of literature in everyday life. Alexie chose to include this in order to convey how reading was non-discriminatory and was an escape from pain.…

    • 1414 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article explains the various mistreat that Indians received from the Americans, at first Indians were considered to be “white” because they had a similar appearance to the Europeans. With time that idea had changed and instead reflected that they were defined as “children’’ or “savages”. The main fear that the country has always had is the fear of the unknown, “in 1892 ceremonial behavior was misunderstood and suppressed” (Rothenberg, 2014: 503). Indians were forcibly stripped from their origins and were being left with no land, no identity, and no respect. The documentary Race: The Power of an Illusion: The Story we Tell,…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This book is not a typical novel; it is a composition of many interconnected short stories that share the same characters. The short stories show different perspectives of life on the Spokane Indian Reservation, and each short story shows the struggle of the characters on the reservation in some way. The setting of this story, the Spokane Indian Reservation, shows us some of the plight that the modern Native American, born and raised on a reservation, faces. A majority of the short stories have a somber setting. For example, in the short story “Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock”, Alexie shows Victor’s experience in a hostile household.…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Part-Time Indian Imagery

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part -Time Indian, Sherman Alexie creates a text that easily explains Alexie’s own experiences. The use of images, the development of his protagonist’s friendships, and the depiction of tragic events all develop the identification of Arnold Spirit, in a unique and accessible manner. The style used by Alexie is used to brighten up the life of Arnold, and happenings that revolve around his community. Imagery helps us create an interpretation of how we should visualize the whole story.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays