Comparing The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven

In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie shows how many young Native Americans struggle to find their personal identity in relation White America and their own disappearing culture. Young Native American’s are given a choice between a dominant culture that ridicules and stereotypes them, and their rapidly disappearing culture that they cannot relate to. The struggle between these two cultures leaves them confused and unsure with themselves. When young Native American’s attempt to assimilate into mainstream culture, they are often ridiculed and stereotyped forcing them back to a culture that they can’t identify with. When Victor and Sadie go to the theme park, “white tourists watch us, laugh, point a finger, their faces twisted with hate and disgust” (Alexie 55). When attempting to integrate with mainstream White/Western culture, Sadie and Victor get laughed at forcing them to feel like outcasts. Although they came to the carnival for the same reasons as everyone else, Victor and Sadie are clearly minorities, which causes them to stand out. As a result, the setting suggests that the white people are merely spectators watching a show, using them as entertainment, which ultimately dehumanizes them and causes …show more content…
After Victor stormed out of a girl’s trailer he wished that, “he was Crazy Horse” (Alexie 42). Crazy Horse, a famous Native American hero, could be thought of as a stereotypical Indian; he rides horses and uses a bow and arrow, because this is how White culture portrays him. Victor does not fit this stereotypical narrative because he grew up in a different time and traditional culture is naturally dying. This leaves him with nowhere to gok, he isn’t accepted into White culture and can’t fully grasp Native American culture because it is disappearing so