Sherman Alexie’s Short Stories
What You Pawn I Will Redeem by Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is about a homeless Indian who attempts to reclaim his grandmother’s regalia. It is out of the goodness of the people he sees throughout the day the reader spends with the author that Jackson is able to accomplish his goal.
War Dances by Sherman Alexie
A Spokane Indian is told that he has a brain tumor. During his troubling time while adjusting to this shocking news, the narrator regales tales of his time with his dead father and learns more about his grandfather’s time in the war.
Smoke Signals screenplay by Sherman Alexie
The tale of an Indian whose father has recently passed away and he must come to terms with his loss while getting to know the father who was a drunk and an abuser.
1. What do you think about the kindness and generosity of the people in Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Redeem?” Do you think it possible for people today to be that kind to a homeless person or someone in general? Have you ever happened upon a person like the police officer or the pawnbroker?
2. In both of Alexie’s stories there are digressions which tell a tale about a past relative of the narrator. In “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” the tale is of Jackson’s grandmother and her dancing in the regalia; “War Dances” contains many digressions about the narrator’s father and the male members of the family’s war-heavy pasts. Do you think these add to or distract from the story as a whole? Is there one digression in particular that you feel helps or hurts the overall story?
3. In the movie Smoke Signals, Victor says, “like throwing things away when they have no more use.” He is referencing throwing his father’s ashes into a river in Spokane. Do you believe that this is a true statement, that people have no use after they have passed away?
I don’t think that people who are gone have no use as Victor stated near the end of Smoke Signals. If anything people are even more useful after death for the knowledge they have passed on to us and on to others. Abraham Lincoln for example, is still useful many decades after his death because of the influence he had over the change in United States. Our parents, no matter how good or bad will be useful after their deaths because they teach us and have taught us what we should and should not be and do. Without the life and sometimes the specific death of a person, the future can have no chance of being different from the past. Learning from those who have passed away is how we change the future and make it a future and not just a reoccurring event.
To find out more about Native American traditional dress visit: http://www.native-languages.org/clothing.htm
Responding to question number one... I think that in an all too perfect world, cops and pawn shop owners would give a homeless person the time of day.
ReplyDeleteThere is something to be said about the fact that Jackson points out his talent for "telling stories;" obviously it makes you wonder if his whole story has any merit whatsoever. It's hard to imagine an officer just handing a homeless person money whenever he knows they have a tendency to blow it on unnecessary items, but I suppose it's somewhat beside the point, since the money he gave him didn't go toward the ultimate goal of buying back Jackson's family heirloom anyway.
I find it difficult to believe that there are any pawn shop owners who would lose money in order to give something valuable to a homeless person (after refusing the day before), but I think it's nice that Alexie painted this picture of a homeless man's world where there were actually people better off than him who gave a hoot about his well being.
-Jessica
Jess,
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think that in the story world, these things can happen, but I don't think that real people in today's society are that nice. Think about how bad our economy is. Many people won't even spare lose change for a cause let alone hand out money or free newspapers to a homeless man with a drinking problem. Money is too important to people. I have to say that I don’t think he deserved much of the kindness he was given. I’m not saying we shouldn’t help drunks or the homeless, but I am saying that it is a responsibility of the receiver to “spend wisely” especially if it is a gift or an act of trust like in the cop’s case. He trusted Jackson, and Jackson took that trust for granted.
Responding to question number two…..
ReplyDeleteI loved the layering of stories. It gave a stream of consciousness feel to them; I liked that I could see what was in the character’s heads. I thought they added a lot to the stories. In particular, I liked the digression when he is sitting beside Junior and remembering his grandmother. It shows the entire purpose for his struggles to get his grandmother’s regalia back. Jackson tells us, “I wondered if my grandmother’s cancer started when somebody stole her powwow regalia. Maybe the cancer started in her broken heart and then leaked out into her breasts. I know it’s crazy, but I wondered whether I could bring my grandmother back to life if I bought back her regalia.” Otherwise without the digression the story would have lacked that key element and we would have been left wondering why he cared so much.
On question number 2, I think that the digressions helped the story, particularly War Dances. Each flashback gave us a little bit more information about the narrator and who he was. That way, by the end of the story, we knew him better and cared more about what happened to him. Like your friends might start telling one story, but they'll say something that will make them remember another story, so they'll get sidetracked (happens to me ALL of the time), it was the same way in War Dances, and that made it even more realistic.
ReplyDeleteGreat summary and your questions open up a lot of doors for a more in-depth understanding. I especially liked question 3. That is a deep question, I feel we can learn from people's lives whether they are still with us or not. Just because you can't communicate with someone anymore and they're not in your day to day life doesn't mean you can't learn from their victories and defeats throughout their lives. People don't become meaningless when they pass. Great, thought-provoking question!
ReplyDelete