All I Wanted To Do Was Dance Analysis

Spirituality plays a subtle but major role in Alexie's stories. The characters in these stories seldom participate in any kind of religious practice, and spirituality is not explored as explicitly as some of the other themes in the book. Nonetheless, Alexie often describes his characters in religious terms. The collection contains countless references to both Christianity and traditional Spokane spirituality. For example, the refering to the Bible by way of a passing reference in “All I Wanted To Do Was Dance” shows Victor in a religious light, comparing him to a significant figure in the Bible. In the same way, Samuel Builds-the-Fire's story about the creator god Coyote tells a great deal about his approach towards white people in "A Train …show more content…
He is born in similar circumstances as Jesus Christ as “..it was nearly Christmas and she [Rosemary MorningDove] kept telling everyone she was still a virgin even though Frank Many Horses said it was his..”[110]. Here, Alexie is using the literary device allusion. He leaves it up to the reader to make the connection with the birth of James to the birth of Jesus Christ. This story follows the growth of both James and the narrator. In truth, the narrator seems to grow more over the course of the story than James does; he overcomes alcoholism and the stress of unexpectedly becoming a parent in order to supply James with a amorous environment. James, on the contrary, seems reserved from the world until he suddenly begins to speak intense truths. When an encounter with an insensitive white woman at a carnival makes seven year old James make a pretty insensitive comment himself, the narrator knows that
“this is how it will all begin and how the rest of my life will be. I know when I am old and sick and ready to die that James will wash my body and take care of my wastes. He’ll carry me from HUD house to sweathouse and he will clean my wounds. And he will talk and teach me something new every