Analysis of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Prajakta Kanegaonkar - Essay Example

?Short Story Analysis – The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven --- Prajakta Kanegaonkar Introduction: It is very rare that we come across gifted writers like Sherman Alexie who interweaves the short stories to make it a one big story in his short story collection, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. As a reader when one reads these stories, one can’t help getting mesmerised by the beautiful weaving of metaphors, humour, history and reality in these stories. Writers like Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez write in magical realism style. Their examples and magical realism often is satirical to the reality and political scene they are hinting to. However Sherman Alexie doesn’t get satirical at all. He in his simple tones and simple style puts across the reader as what happened in the lives of his people. His metaphors although strong don’t overwhelm the reader. These metaphors come from his background, the culture he has been brought up in and the traditions and stories passed on from one generation to another. The thesis for analysis for this essay is the style of Sherman Alexie’s writing style which is literal and metaphorical, human and natural with a mix of reality and fantasy. The powerful use of metaphors and subtle hint towards magical realism gives a very special effect to the art of Sherman Alexie’s story telling. From the perspective of literature, they present many stories under one title. Some stories are kept in the background but their effects are seen on the characters and stories on the foreground, while some stories may go hand in hand in one story presented. Although the reader is reading many stories in one story, the main thread is not lost, which is what makes Sherman Alexie’s writing style unique and captivating. Use of metaphors in various stories: We are going to look into the fine blending of metaphors and reality in Sherman Alexie’s writing style in stories such as, ‘A drug called tradition’, ‘This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona’, and ‘Every little hurricane’. The year 1976 in Spokane left a mark on every native Indian. In the story Victor is thinking about a hurricane which is the New Year’s Eve. He doesn’t think about it philosophically. Sherman Alexie has manages to dodge the adult viewpoint by stating Victor’s age as nine. The party that is going on in the house is a vain attempt to fill the house with colours and laughter. In the same story Victor also states about the abject poverty during the festival time and his father being penniless to buy gifts for the family and the friends. The scene when Victor sees his father pulling out his wallet continuously, examining it as if there is miraculously going to be some money inside and keeping it back in the pocket touches every reader. It gives a very powerful picture in a very simple language. During other hurricanes broadcast on the news, Victor had seen crazy people tie themselves to trees on the beach. Those people wanted to feel the force of the hurricane first hand, wanted it to be like an amusement ride, but the thin ropes were broken and the people were broken. Sometimes the trees themselves were pulled from the ground and both the trees and the people tied to the trees were carried away. (Every Little Hurricane) Victor sees people hanging on, thinking that the hurricane will pass. He also talks about the people who were not party to the war, maybe by their own will or by situation, but they were affected alike by the war. He talks about people who tie themselves to trees to watch the hurricane, to feel it. Not all people participating in the action had a high end motive like sacrifice for the people and all, but they did participate in what was going on. Pulling out of trees indicates that whatever we stick to as a solid ground or possibly fundamental also gets shaken from the roots. The events and occurrences around you are so strong that they uproot you and change your direction altogether. One big hurricane in the story gives way to other little hurricanes in Victor’s life. He talks about unemployment and poverty, flash foods, community foods and there is still hope. During all these kinds of tiny storms, Victor's mother would rise with her medicine and magic. She would pull air down from empty cupboards and make fry bread. She would shake thick blankets free from old bandanas. She would comb Victor's braids into dreams. (Every Little Hurricane) The hurricanes which Victor faced were not one big hurricane. He faced going to bed empty stomach, acute poverty and most of all great despair and hopeless situations. Sherman Alexie terms all these as ‘little storms or tiny storms’. The words contradict the magnitude of the situation. Even though all others who were willingly or unwillingly a sufferer of the big hurricane, Victor’s mother knew how to circumvent it or turn it into a positive situation. The book ‘The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven’ opens with this story. The book depicts the dark side of the life native Indians face on reservations. One big fight against whites for their rights and life of respect left them facing the consequences for years. One big decision to fight an external fight gave rise to small every day battles for them. For a young boy that is described in the story, the everyday fights for livelihood, happiness, survival and food were not easy ones to fight for. His life indeed became topsy-turvy coming to terms with it, just as when hurricane leaves. Hence his small little fights also carried the magnitude of hurricane for him. All this time the description of the party goes on. Alexie skilfully mixes the past and the present. At one time he states about Victor’s father being penniless and not being able to look after his family properly. On the other hand he also describes people getting drunk and losing themselves on alcohol. The instance he quotes is that of a man falling in a mud puddle because of getting drunk. Victor is a young child of five, unable to understand full implication of the instance, but he still understands the extent of the consequences of deprivation and struggle. Alexie blends reality, the spirit of survival and metaphors very skilfully. But it was over. Victor closed his eyes, fell asleep. It was over. The hurricane that fell out of the sky in 1976 left before sunrise, and all the Indians, the eternal survivors, gathered to count their losses. (Every Little Hurricane) The people gathered in the party, the survivors of the war and the battle of life come together in camaraderie, fight with each other and come together to understand and weep about the beautiful past and unpredictable future. Harold Bloom, in his book, ‘Native American Writers’, says the every little hurricane highlights the larger cultural context that causes the characters to drink too much and fight with each other. These personal ‘storms’ result from ‘a specific, painful memory’ of racism for each individual Indian. (Page 98) In the story, ‘This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona’, Thomas and Victor are driving through the desert and long stretches of land where there is no life to be seen. Thomas is driving the pick-up truck and Victor is seated next to him. They discuss the vast lifeless land between them and suddenly they see a rabbit running through the road. The only form of life they see in the area that gets crushed under the tyres of their own pick-up truck. This is a very stunning instance for a reader. Alexie puts a very gigantic principle of survival and life through this simple yet cruel instance. Small and weak always gets crushed by big and powerful. Would the instance be a picture of what happened to his people and reservation at the hands of whites? For years people would have searched for meaning of their lives and existences only to get an answer at the time of their deaths. The choice of the animal is also very intimidating for a reader. He could have chosen any other desert creature, or any other powerful creature or at least some creature which is bigger in size. However the animal here is a rabbit. It is the most timid and frightened creature who can run for its life albeit in an opposite direction. Not knowing where to go the tribes may have been crushed by the big white government machineries in a similar way. This metaphor leaves a very deep and sad impression on the reader. In the same story we read that Victor is struggling with his identity. He shuns away Thomas Builds-the fire because he is moved away from his tribe and his culture. Michael D Sharp in his book, ‘Popular Contemporary writers: Douglas Adams – Russell Banks, states that while Alexie’s themes are wide ranging, identity, popular culture and subversion remain both predominant and interconnected. Victor both rejects and embraces the very culture that stereotypes him. (Page 57) When Indians make lots of money from corporations that way, we can all hear our ancestors laughing in the trees. But we never can tell whether they're laughing at the Indians or the whites. I think they're laughing at pretty much everybody. (A Drug called Tradition). This is a very typical native Indian concept of being surrounded by ancestors and they are watching every move of the present generation. In the example quoted above, whom are they laughing at? Are they happy that one of the Indians is making money? They are laughing at everybody because they realised irony of life after they died. This is an excellent example of weary humour combined with naturalistic metaphors sprinkled throughout this short story. Perhaps the best metaphor that is natural, human and blends very well in all the stories is the character of Thomas Builds-the-Fire. He is real and unreal both for the reader. He warns about the future, tells stories of traditions and history passing them from one generation to another. He is always there in the background but impacts seriously the characters in the foreground. Daniel Grassian states in his book, “At the end of the story, Victor agrees to listen to one of Thomas’s stories, which makes a connection forged between two individuals, showing that Alexie does not believe that community on the reservation or traditional Indian culture has disintegrated beyond a point. (Page 63) Metaphors are not easy to use. There is always a danger of metaphors becoming larger than life for the content to be written and the point to be conveyed. Every writer should understand the limitation of the technique else it backfires on the intention of writing. Sherman Alexie balances his metaphorical and natural writing very well. He keeps changing tracks but the reader in fact keeps visualising the life as it is through the screen of metaphors and examples he cites. Another danger to use of metaphors is that the common reader may not actually understand the context and the content of the metaphor. However in spite of the fine blending of natural and metaphorical mix of storytelling Alexie never manages to let of of his reader. His stories leave a powerful impact. His anger provokes you to think and his characters stay with you for long even after you close the book. References: 1. www.novelguide.com 2. www.wmich.edu 3. https://sites.google.com/site/alexiewebsite/davidmoore 4. https://sites.google.com/site/alexiewebsite/josephcoulombe 5. In His Own Literary World, a Native Son Without Borders - Erick Konigsberg http://www.nytimes.com Annotated References: 1. Understanding Sherman Alexie (Understanding contemporary American Culture) -By Daniel Grassian, ISBN 978-1570035715, University of South Carolina Press. Sherman Alexie is one of the most widely read authors in America today. He is an accomplished story teller, film maker and poet. Daniel Grassian has very objectively reviewed Sherman Alexie’s art of storytelling through this book. He has analysed Alexie’s poetry, short stories and other literary work. He gives an excellent insight into various metaphors and cultural ingredients Alexie so liberally uses in his literature. 2. Native American writers - By Harold Bloom, ISBN 978-0791047859, Chelsea House Publications (January 1998). Harold Bloom works as Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. This book reviews work of contemporary Native American writers. There are short essays on each Author’s life and it makes the book more interesting. Most often if we come to know about the author’s life then it becomes very interesting as reader to read the work of the concerned author. The book balances this personal touch along with the full length critical essays on each author. 3. Popular Contemporary Writers: Douglas Adams-Russell Banks -Michael D. Sharp, Marshall Cavendish Reference This edition is extremely enjoyable and readable. It is very colourful with the pictures and a little bigger font size than normal. However it gives a very insightful view about the lives and thinking styles of the contemporary writers. Suitably quoting writer’s work Michael sharp highlights the significant feature of the writing to generate enough interest for the reader to pick the original work and read it. 4. Sherman Alexie’s Polemical stories – Ron McFarland, Studies in American Indian Literatures, University of Nebraska Press, Series 2, Vol. 9, No. 4, Sherman Alexie (Winter 1997) Ron McFarland is an accomplished writer himself. He also teaches creative writing and literature at University of Idaho. Sherman Alexie is one of the contemporary writers he has chosen to talk about in this book. Although he appreciates Alexie’s viewpoint he is critical about his writing style. All in all he provides a fresh view point to the study of literature by Sherman Alexie 5. Newton John – Sherman Alexie’s Auto ethnography, University of Wisconsin Press, Vol. 42, No. 2, Special Issue: American Poetry of the 1990s (Summer, 2001) Like McFarland Newton John offers a fresh perspective of Alexie’s writing. What is more interesting for a reader the most while reading his review is that he connects the dots and presents a picture of the author in discussion through his contemporaries. Alexie has picked his narration style from the real tradition in his tribe and Newton John has been prompt to point it out. Read More