The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight In Heaven Essay

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight In Heaven Defining exactly what shapes ethnic identity in the United States is the hardest question I can imagine being asked. As a child born in the United States, I find this question so difficult because I have been exposed to a large variety of cultures within the small boundaries of my own family. This makes it very difficult to determine one, or even a few characteristics that define ethnic identity. In the case of many of these novels, the task of defining ethnic identity is not so complicated. The list of determinants that I believe to define ethnic identity includes language, geographic location, and tradition. Language is the most obvious determinant of ethnic identity, especially†¦show more content†¦In the book that I chose to read, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, by Sherman Alexie, this was the chief determinant of ethnicity. In this novel, the main character spends much of his life on an Indian Reservation. The Reservation facilitates only Indians, and each inhabitant of the Reservation seems to know what the others are thinking. They all seem to accept the fact that the entire Reservation suffers with alcoholism, which was a burdening theme of the entire novel. The fact that all of the Indians live in the same area, with limited interaction involving non-Indian people, defines them as an ethnic race. In the case of this novel, they may have been poorly defined as alcoholics, but the Reservation defined them, nonetheless. Part of the definition of ethnic identity can often times be the common rejection of other ethnic values for a specific reason. This rejection of influence from other ethnicities seemed to be quite a common theme in all of the novels reviewed in our selection, but most abundant in Coming of Age in Mississippi, by Anne Moody. In this novel there was consistent conflict among black slaves due to the turmoil endured throughout lives in which rich, white plantation owners were served. Many slaves, and freed slaves that maintained the same duties with pay when awarded their freedom, were fed up with working for men that had treated them so poorly in the past. Lack of employment optionsShow MoreRelated Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven956 Words   |  4 Pagesa person tried to be unique, the society would try to drag that person down to society’s hopeless status. Personally, I couldn’t stand a minute in a world like that. Unfortunate ly, worlds like these exist. In Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, Alexie writes about a typical Indian reservation in the United States without hope, diversity, uniqueness, heroes and role models. A large majority of the Native American population are hopelessly drinking their lives away withRead More Comparing Black Elk Speaks and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven1679 Words   |  7 PagesComparing Black Elk Speaks and The Lone Ranger and Tonto FistFight in Heaven      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Traditionally, Native American Literature has been an oral genre. Although Native American Literature was the first American literature created, it has been the last to be recognized -and, to some extent, is still waiting for full recognition (www.usc.edu). With the Indian being forced to assimilate, their literature was forced to take on a written form. Although the traditional way of storytelling has changedRead MoreThe Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven Analysis993 Words   |  4 PagesThe Wrong American Dream: Struggling to Assimilate in â€Å"The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven† â€Å"Kill the Indian and save the Man,† sounds more like something out of a dystopian novel than an educational campaign slogan, but in 1887 those were the words chosen by Army Lt. Richard Henry Pratt to garner public support for government’s attempt to forcefully â€Å"Americanize† Native Americans. Native Americans that survived violence were coerced into wearing white man’s clothes, cutting their hairRead MoreSherman Alexie s The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fight984 Words   |  4 Pages In Sherman Alexie’s, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven the author grabs the attention of the reader when he focuses on moments of racism and discrimination of Indian characters, these situations can be applicable to modern day American society. In the collection, Alexie depicts the life of several Indian’s lives, living on the Spokane Indian reservation many of whom face discrimination on a daily basis. The ideas behind the bigotry in the assortment of stories are backed by Alexie’sRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Lone Ranger And Tonto Heaven 804 Words   |  4 PagesWithin â€Å"The Lone Ranger and Tonto in Heaven†, Victor is the main character of the stories in the book. Though his character, Victor was the young teenager who grows up in the Indian Reservation, and he is observing his society and struggle of the Indian Identity, alcoholic behavior, and family relationships. Sherman Alexie is the author s of the book, and he grows up in t he Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington. He also wrote books, poems, and movie scripts. In his writing, he is rememberingRead MoreAnalysis Of Sherman Alexie s The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight 1233 Words   |  5 Pages Throughout â€Å"The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven† the theme of resilience is deliberately presented. Native Americans past and present continue to face stifling issues such as racism, alcoholism, isolation and suicide. Sherman Alexie makes it his obligation in his stories and poems to show Native American resiliency through humor. By using his characters to show resiliency through humor Alexie presents humor as an integral part of Native American survival. In Sherman Alexie’sRead MoreEssay Sherman Alexie1140 Words   |  5 Pagesgraduated in American Studies from Washington State. He then received two consecutive Fellowships in 1991 and 1992, and shortly thereafter wrote six poetry and poem/short story books. Two of these, The Business of Fancy Dancing and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, earned him literary awards (What 1). By 1998, his list of accomplishments grew to include Reservation Blues (1995), which earned him Granta’s Best of Young Novelists, the Before Columbus Foundations Book Award, and the Murray MorganRead MoreSpecial Talents: Story Telling and Imagination 568 Words   |  2 Pagesthe same as imagination in that it again is a debatable topic. Some people think it is useful and entertaining, while some people believe otherwise and think it is ignorant and a waste of time. But to Sherman Alexie author of, â€Å"The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, â€Å" it was much more than tha t. It was perhaps more like a lifestyle or something that has been passed down for centuries like Thomas Builds-The-Fire and his family. Imagination creates storytellers who then tell stories which isRead MoreThe Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight Essay1521 Words   |  7 PagesThe Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is a book written by; Sherman Alexie. In this book, Alexie writes about a group of Native Americans who live on the Spokane Indian Reservation. As this novel may be fiction, some of the stories that are portrayed in the text have some very real meaning the them. These Native Americans endure lots of heartache and tragedy in this book as they are faced with problems like alcoholism, car accidents, loss of loved one and houses burning. In the face of adversityRead MoreAn Analysis Of Sherman Alexie s The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fight Heaven 1119 Words   |  5 PagesMake It Out Alive In Sherman Alexie’s ‘The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven’ (2005 edition) alcoholism plays a huge role throughout the book. Particularly in the short stories ‘Amusement’, ‘The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore’ and ‘A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result’. Kids on the reservation always start off good with school and sports keeping them busy, but somewhere along the way they always seem to fall off track. That is