Indian Education Sherman Alexie Summary

“Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie was a short story that really captures whomever reads it. The structure of the short story is quite a unique one. I had never seen a story told this way, which is one of the reasons it compelled me to read it. It’s told as episodes, from first grade all the way to postscript: class reunion. Each episode further tells the reader about the narrator’s Indian background and how each important event in life and in his education that happened that year, shaped his identity. The structure also developed the theme more. The details that are used makes readers feel as if they are growing up with him. The way Alexie tells the story pulls the reader in and really leaves an impression that I thought about even a week …show more content…
Standing from a biographical perspective, knowing Alexie’s background, helps readers understand his literary works better. Like with many authors, life experience has influenced Alexie’s writing. In ninth grade, the narrator fainted, later finding out due to diabetes. Alexie suffered from seizures due to be diagnosed with hydrocephalus. Even though it’s slightly different in the story, I believe that he drew from his own experiences as a child. He also attended a public high school that was off the reservation, like the narrator did in seventh grade. Another connection that was made was both the narrator and Alexie both came basketball stars at their schools. As mentioned, there are some parallels between Alexie’s life and the narrator in the story. “Indian Education” was a one of the many short stories from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, released in 1993. Alexie, with having published over two hundred poems, short stories, books, and translations, has given Native Americans someone to look up to. He tells his stories that help see into the life and background of Native Americans. In fact, “in a 1995 interview he [Alexie] told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he cherishes the difference his stories and poems have made in the lives of reservation Indians and he continues to write for this audience” (Gale). Many of Alexie’s published work are about Indians including, Reservation Blues, Indian Killer, and The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. His writings not only gives Indians an accomplished writer to tell their stories, but also gives some insight into the reservation life for those who don’t come from a Native American