This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona - Personal Statement Example

Part A “This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona” is a deceptively simple story that narrates the fragmentary life experiences of two native Indians, Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire, his childhood friend. Victor finds out that his father had died and is unable to procure the sufficient money needed to travel to Phoenix, Arizona to claim the body and cremate it. He is jobless and the Tribal Council offers him only a hundred dollars. Thomas Builds-the-Fire offers financial help and asks Victor to take him also to Phoenix as a favor in return. After some introspection, Victor decides to accept the offer and they go to Phoenix together, cremate Victor’s father, claims the three hundred dollars from the father’s account and takes his ashes back home in his pickup. The friendship between Thomas and Victor was lost some time when they were in their teens, and Thomas had been ostracized by the community since he was a story teller who kept on telling people the same stories repeatedly. Victor too had been avoiding him, and Thomas knew that the trip and their renewed companionship for a brief period will not change the situation. However, he requests Victor to stop by and listen to him once when he is telling a story somewhere, and Victor agrees to it. The story can be interpreted by a casual reader as an example of the strength of human relationships and community living. However, the story can be interpreted deeply, in terms of the complex psychological aspects that constitute the existence of individuals and communities. The first paragraph of the story itself introduces the paradoxes that the writer explores in detail. It is mentioned that Victor had been estranged from his father for a few years and had “only talked to on the telephone once or twice”. But when he heard about his father’s death “there still was a genetic pain” (Alexie). Victor’s experience at the Tribal Council makes clear how segregated and oppressed he and his community are by the mainstream society. This should ostensibly lead to a strong bond among his community, but it is revealed that they lack a camaraderie that is expected and contrary to the need of the hour, segregations among individuals exist. The fact that Thomas Builds-the Fire is ostracized shows the extent to which they lack a sense of togetherness. The story is also about racial memories, which are best expressed through the dreams and narratives of Thomas. Since no one listened to his stories, Thomas talked to himself, and listened to the wind, the birds and the sunlight. He had his visions of many things before they happened. The major aspect of his visions and the stories that come out of them are focused on the native Indian life. According to him, “Take care of each other is what my dreams were saying. Take care of each other” (Alexie). It is revealed that the vision Thomas had about Victor’s father leaving them comes from an experience where Thomas went on foot to Spokane on a instinctive urge and Victor’s father found him there all alone, “waiting for a vision” (Alexie). He bought Thomas a dinner and drove him back, and did possibly tell him about his own life and asked him to “watch out” for Victor. He stands by Victor in his time of trouble, expecting nothing in return, except to listen to him once. The racial memories of community living and taking care of each other trickle from Thomas’s stories and are capable of seeping to the mindscapes of native Indians, but no one takes heed to his visions and stories, except perhaps in their times of need. Another major aspect of the story is regarding the sense of loss that the tribal communities undergo in modern times where racial prejudices exist in the socio-cultural sphere. Victor’s experience at the Tribal Council and the meager amount that is allotted to him reveals this. When the two friends are in their flight, Thomas befriends a beautiful white woman who turned out to be a Olympic gymnast. She is very cordial to them during the flight and when Thomas says “she was really nice”, Victor remarks: “Yeah, but everybody talks to everybody on airplanes….It’s too bad we can’t always be that way” (Alexie). When they were children, Victor used to accuse Thomas that he thinks too much about things, and Thomas points out that it is Victor who thinks too much now. The sensitive child that Thomas used to be is transformed to a carefree individual who is sidelined from his own community, while Victor goes on to lead a life where he experiences more of racial prejudices, and this is perhaps the cause of the role-reversal. As a child, Thomas wanted to fly, and “he broke his wing” in one such attempt. But he was glad that “One of his dreams came true for just a second, just enough to make it real” (Alexie). Likewise, he is content with the experience of traveling to Phoenix with his old friend, as it fulfilled a vision he had as a child, and he does not bother that the experience was fragmentary. The slight change that he could effect on the conformist mindset of Victor is sufficient enough to make him feel useful. Even as he is in the process of fulfilling this vision, he is keen to identify the issues related to loneliness that is common to tribes of human beings and animals that are facing extinction. He interprets the death of the solitary long-eared jackrabbit at Nevada as a suicide, and he sadly observes: “You drive for a thousand miles and there ain’t even any bugs smashed on the windshield. I drive for ten seconds and kill the only living thing in Nevada” (Alexie). Thomas is a representative of total loss. His father died on Okinawa in World War II, and his mother gave birth to him with her last breath. He remains on the outskirts of his community and weaves the complex threads of dream and reality in his stories. The story can be interpreted on many levels, depending on the life experiences of the readers. A few such interpretations can be made with reference to the strong psychological aspects of individual and community existence, racial memories that are expressed best through dreams and narratives, and the fear of extinction by small communities when faced by the threats from the racist elements that still exist in today’s world. Part B My mother was critically ill and was admitted in a hospital for emergency treatment. I lost my father a few years back, and my sister was at that time appearing for her exams in the University far away from our home. My High School exams were over and I was awaiting my results. Though our financial situation was reasonably safe, I could not arrange enough funds for an emergency surgery that the doctors suggested. My mother was suffering a lot and I needed to alleviate the pain in every way possible. I tried to reason with the hospital management regarding the possibility of paying the fees once the surgery was over. But they did not budge. I was walking out of their office with a heavy heart when someone called me from behind: “Hey Joe, what are you doing here?” I looked back in surprise to find Mr. George, my English teacher at school. I had not been good student in his area (Creative Writing), and he had scolded me many times for the bad quality assignments I had submitted. I was embarrassed to see him at the moment of my personal grief. However, I tried to make a move to communicate. “Sir, my mother is admitted here in a critical condition, and she needs an emergency surgery, but…” I told him about the situation, and he listened to me attentively, asking for even the minute details. Finally, he said: “Joe, I am a member of the management advisory committee here, and I can convince them that you will be able to pay the money as soon as the surgery is over.” “But will not that be a risk for you, personally?” “Listen Joe, I like to take some risks in life, especially when it is for a good cause.” My eyes welled up with tears as I realized how things were going to change for the better, quite unexpectedly. It was just a matter of seconds to get the consent from hospital management, and the surgery went on well. Mr. George was by my side when I saw my mother coming to consciousness and the first thing that I did was to introduce him to her. “Mom, this is Mr.George, my English teacher. He helped us a lot through this” And the first words from my mother were to Mr.George. “Thank you very much Mr.George, I was worried that my son was alone at this difficult time, and now I am sure that we are never alone.” “You are absolutely right. We are never alone. We are here for each other.” I just talked a lot to Mr. George in the succeeding days. He used to visit the hospital in the evenings, and my mother needed a week’s rest at the hospital. I did promptly make the payment, and she recovered fast. One day, I told Mr.George: “Sir, I am so sorry that I did not pay much attention to your advice regarding my writing. Now I realize how well-intentioned you were. I used to mistake your harsh words as a sign of dislike towards me.” “How could you think so Joe?” He smiled. “However, there is no need to feel sorry about it, as I knew that you will one day be able to write very well. I don’t usually scold those students who are incapable of developing language skills beyond a limit. But I am keen on bringing the best out of students like you, who can improve a lot if you pay some attention to what you do. And you seemed to take your experiences of life very seriously, from what I could see from your writing.” I felt so happy to hear these words, and was convinced that he meant them. Otherwise, he would not even have remembered me. And I felt so grateful to him for all his timely help, that I found it difficult to express it through words. Realizing my trauma, he looked into my eyes and reassured me: “Joe, I understand what you feel now. But I have not done anything more than what is expected of me. We may not always be in a position to change things. But our sincere efforts to be useful to others are what make life meaningful. I was trying to do the same for your studies. But some things take time to find its true meaning, it seems.” “I feel the meanings are reaching me now”, I said with a smile, and he nodded his reassurance once more. “Joe, I just like to do what I need to do, and that’s not a big deal. I am happy if at least some of my intentions are fulfilled, as life is never perfect.” When my mother recovered, the doctors told us that she will need bed rest for a week, and she was not supposed to exert much physically. Her health was satisfactory otherwise, thanks to the timely surgery. I was about to fetch a taxi for her when Mr. George appeared on the scene again. “I can take you home in my car, and you can’t say no.” We had no other way but to accept this generous offer rendered in an assertive manner. All through the drive home, he was extremely careful, and we reached home safely. He visited my mother occasionally and she developed a fondness and trust towards him, which she said was ‘much stronger than the bonds of blood’. This remained an experience so deeply engraved in my mind for the years to come, and it was incidental in shaping my attitudes to education, the general condition of human existence, and most of all, the need to care for each other. References Alexie, Sherman. “This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona”. Esquire, 1994 Read More