Analysis Of Alexie Sherman's 'Ten Little Indian'

Superior Essays
In Alexie Sherman’s book “Ten Little Indians”, each short story was about multiple sides of living here in America through the eyes of Indian Americans. There were multiple characters within this book that had different lives and scenarios but they all had some correlation to the main point of this book which was to show the struggles, pain, and heartbreak that happens in each of their stories. Two characters that I was intrigued by were in the first two stories in the book. Corliss is a nineteen year old Spokane Indian who had a strong love for books and poetry whereas, Richard was an executive liaison for the majority of Indian tribes in Seattle. Both characters have different stories, traits, and actions that affected their outlook after …show more content…
Growing up with no sense of self or belonging can really affect a person and how they want to live out their lives. Corliss helped Harlan Atwater come to terms with who he really was and to be proud of his work even if he never had his own copy of the book. She had felt as if she had done her job and finished her quest by placing the book “with it’s front cover facing outward for the whole world to see” (Sherman 52). Once Corliss listened to Harlan’s story about why he lied about being a real Spokane Indian, it gave the reader a better understanding of how identity is very important to finding happiness within yourself. This is what was inferred after reading the story The Search Engine, about Corliss’s traits, why these traits made the character very likable, and how their actions can change or affect the readers mindset from beginning to …show more content…
We have Corliss who is a smart adolescent who is brave enough to come face to face with someone she never met before and learning about their story. Whereas, Richard is a politician who struggles with the actions he ended up taking when faced with conflict. Both characters have a different dynamic to them and how they discovered this but never the less I chose these characters because of their traits, how I as the reader interpreted who they are, and how it affected their outlook

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