Indian Education Sherman Alexie

“Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie is a short story that really captures whomever reads it. The structure of the short story is quite a unique one. I have 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 tells the reader more about the narrator’s Indian background and how each important event in life and education that happened that year, shaped his identity. The structure also helps develop 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 after …show more content…
The narrator mentions a girl he knew that lived on the reservation in seventh grade, “I learned through the basement window of the HUD house and kissed the white girl who would later be raped by her foster-parent father, who was also white. They both lived on the reservation, though, and when the headlines and stories filled the papers later, not one word was made of their color. Just Indians being Indians, someone must have said somewhere and they were wrong” (231). This was a prime example of how people expected the worst from Indians without giving a second thought. Looking back into America’s history, we see how mistreated Indians were treated then as well. Even though conditions have improved, they still have to deal with the low expectations others assign to them. Throughout the episodes, there are many instances where we see the discrimination towards the narrator from his own teachers as well. One of them was in second grade from a missionary teacher, “She sent a letter home with me that told my parents to either cut my braids or keep me home from class. My parents came in the next day and dragged their braids across Betty Towle’s desk” (231). This was a prime example of the discrimination the narrator faced at such a young age even while living on the reservation. There’s a prominent theme of racism throughout the story, and I believe the story …show more content…
From grades 1st to 12th, the narrator faced bullying, cruel teachers, and prejudice all at one point. However, there was a time that a teacher had encouraged him to become a doctor in fourth grade. In the same grade, coming home to an alcoholic father and broken home pushed him to strive for a better life. Teachers that those have at a young age heavily influence a person’s life considering they are part of who influence young minds. Later on, he then graduated as valedictorian from the “farm town high school” while his former classmates on the reservations struggled to succeed in their education (234). Each event that occurred throughout his grades put him onto the path of where he ended up at the end of the story. However, after high school he falls into alcoholism, possibly because that’s what everyone expected of him anyway. In the beginning, he isn’t knocked down by the unpleasant events he experiences, and actually somewhat strives because of it, but the postscript suggests that he, like former classmates, also “looks back toward tradition” (234). Throughout the story there is a serious, with a hint of bitterness, tone while the narrator describes the events in his life. While reading the story, it’s observed that the narrator becomes increasingly weary of white world due to his experiences up until he graduates from the 12th grade. The weariness is being felt in