In life, the greatest struggles are what motivates people the most. Despite the violence and discrimination that the speakers faced, they were able to find a moment of understanding within their lives. These two poems work together to help describe that no matter the hardships people face, people can still succeed. Within the poem, “I Go Back to May 1937”, the speaker goes back to the time when her parents were in college. She begins by describing what she sees, her father walking out from under the archway and her mother standing by the gate with books at her side. At this time her parents were about to graduate from college, they were also about to get married. The image of her parents at that moment is innocent and naive. They were in love,
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“Indian Education,” written by Sherman Alexie, is the story of Victor, a young Indian boy’s journey through life. His story begins in first grade, when the Indian boy of the poem is bullied. “They pushed me down, buried me in the snow until I couldn’t breathe” (lines 2-3). The people that bullied him were his other classmates on the reservation. These boys, whom were just like him, had never seen boys of other races. However, they still called him, “Cries-Like-a-White-Boy, even though none of us had seen a white boy cry” (line …show more content…
Many of the people and the teachers did not care much for Victor or his people, one of his teachers would call him, “She said it without capitalization. She called me “indian, indian, indian”” (line 29). The teacher calling him this without capitalization shows her lack of self-respect for him and his people. Along with the problems arising within the school, there was also problems arising within his household. His father is an alcoholic, as stated in the poem he, “Drinks a gallon of vodka a day” (line 42). His mother would quilt many different quilts that never seemed to get finished while his father drank. “They sat in separate, dark places in our HUD house and wept savagely” (line 43). It wasn’t until later in life that Victor was given positive attention. He believed that he could do more with his life than the reservation had to offer. Even though there are stereotypes about reservation children, Victor went on to disprove the stereotypes of being a heavy drinker and unintelligent. He defied these stereotypes by becoming the valedictorian of his
“Indian Education,” written by Sherman Alexie, is the story of Victor, a young Indian boy’s journey through life. His story begins in first grade, when the Indian boy of the poem is bullied. “They pushed me down, buried me in the snow until I couldn’t breathe” (lines 2-3). The people that bullied him were his other classmates on the reservation. These boys, whom were just like him, had never seen boys of other races. However, they still called him, “Cries-Like-a-White-Boy, even though none of us had seen a white boy cry” (line …show more content…
Many of the people and the teachers did not care much for Victor or his people, one of his teachers would call him, “She said it without capitalization. She called me “indian, indian, indian”” (line 29). The teacher calling him this without capitalization shows her lack of self-respect for him and his people. Along with the problems arising within the school, there was also problems arising within his household. His father is an alcoholic, as stated in the poem he, “Drinks a gallon of vodka a day” (line 42). His mother would quilt many different quilts that never seemed to get finished while his father drank. “They sat in separate, dark places in our HUD house and wept savagely” (line 43). It wasn’t until later in life that Victor was given positive attention. He believed that he could do more with his life than the reservation had to offer. Even though there are stereotypes about reservation children, Victor went on to disprove the stereotypes of being a heavy drinker and unintelligent. He defied these stereotypes by becoming the valedictorian of his