Phase 1, Prompt 3- Ciara Gaines

When Sherman Alexie says that he is “writing what may be called reservation realism” I believe that means he is writing from somewhat of a fictional standpoint, but incorporates real experiences and his perspectives to convey his point of reservation life.

During my freshman year at Tech, we had to read a book called “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” by Alexie for freshman seminar. And as I read it, I wondered to myself “Did (do) things like this really happen on reservations?” And after reading “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”, including the introduction by Alexie, I realized that some of it does. Many themes that occurred in this novel also occurred in “Part Time Indian”: the alcoholism, the poverty, even the notion that the narrator (Arnold “Junior” Spirit in “Part Time Indian, Victor in “Fistfight in Heaven”) leaves the reservation school and goes to a “white” school where the mascot is the Indians.

One of the stories that stood out to me was “Indian Education.” Victor talks about his experiences through each grade, and the transition from the reservation school to the farm high school in town. During second grade, Victor’s teacher Betty Towle basically tortured him and once told him to tell her that he was sorry.

“Sorry for what?” I asked.

“Everything.” she said. 

This relates to boarding schools that Native Americans were sent to beginning in the 1870’s during the war. According to the article “American Indian Boarding Schools Haunt Many” one of the founders of a school, army officer Richard Pratt, said that he did not whole heartedly agree with the sentiment that a “good Indian is a dead one”(www.npr.org), but that his philosophy was this: “All the in Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man” (www.npr.org). I believe this was the mentality of many people at this time. Native American children were sent to schools to be taught by many teachers who one, did not respect their culture, two, did not understand their culture, and three, did not care to understand. The article goes on to tell stories from Native Americans who were forced into boarding schools and had everything about themselves changed including their names and hair, to assimilate them into a white society. I think Alexie’s point of including “Indian Education” in the book was to add to the “reservation realism.”  The white teachers who came to work on the reservation did not necessarily care about educating the Native Americans, but they cared more about taking away their culture.

Alexie is also showing how life on the reservation differed from life outside the reservation. During eighth grade of “Indian Education” after Victor transferred to an outside school, he shows how life was for him in the “white world” versus how whites treated him in the “Indian world.” While he is in the bathroom he talks about how the girls are voluntarily vomiting and wanting to be skinny, while his family does not have food and grew skinny from self-pity (177). During ninth grade while he was at a dance he passed out (from diabetes) and a dark-skinned teacher asked “What’s that boy been drinking? I know all about these Indian kids. They start drinking real young (178) to which the narrator comments that “sharing dark skin doesn’t necessarily make two men brothers” (178). I think this goes into “reservation realism” because it’s the situation through his eyes.

Alexie wrote that many people were upset with how much drinking he included in the novel and how it made Indians look back to which he replied that it was his view of life on the reservation. As one character in the novel stated “Perception is everything.” Even Alexie said that much of the stories in the novel weren’t completely true, some made up, and exaggerated. But all experiences are what we make them, and many may not see a situation the same, but it all comes back to your perspective.

The point I am trying to make is that Alexie uses his own experiences to create a “fictional” work. In his introduction he says that “They [the stories] are the vision of one individual looking at the lives of his family and his entire tribe”(XXI). He’s not asking everyone to look at Indians nor reservations the same way he does. He’s just conveying his opinion on certain situations all while trying to entertain.

                                                                                                                                                                                             

Bear, Charla. “American Indian Boarding Schools Haunt Many” http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16516865