Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven Analysis

What separates an individual from others is their past, their history, and their experiences. So, while other people can have similar experiences or pasts, what makes them unique is how they let what happened to them shape their beliefs and view of the world. In his short stories “The Drug Called Tradition” and “Crazy Horse Dreams” within the novel The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven, Alexie explores the idea of how a person's past influences them. Victor, the narrator in both short stories, is a Spokane Indian living on the Spokane reservation. Throughout the novel, readers are shown how Victor’s experiences on the reservation impact him and how he develops and grows from these experiences. For his whole life, Victor has had to …show more content…
The article explores the idea of self-acceptance and how to reach self-acceptance. Self-esteem and self-acceptance are not the same but are connected in the way that more self-acceptance generally means a higher self-esteem. So more self-acceptance can also mean more happiness. In general, as children, we are only able to accept ourselves as much as we felt accepted by our parents. Studies show that before the age of eight we are unable to form a clear, separate self other than the self we transmit from our caretakers. So, if our parents were unable to communicate that we were okay and acceptable, we would view ourselves as lesser and that ,in turn, would lead to self-criticism. Furthermore, we tend to treat ourselves the same way our parents did so if our caretakers dealt with us in a hurtful manner, as adults we will find all kinds of ways to perpetuate that unresolved pain onto ourselves. Our view of ourselves is also shaped by the disapproval and criticism we received from siblings, other relatives, teachers and especially our peers. Cultivating self-acceptance requires more self-compassion; we must understand and forgive each part that we do not accept about ourselves. The more we can understand our past and our previous self-actions the more we will be able to excuse ourselves of our behavior. We must forgive ourselves and others because self-acceptance involves and requires our willingness to recognize and make peace with the parts of ourselves we denied, shunned or repudiated. As long as we refuse the darker, recessive parts of ourself we will never reach full and unconditional self-acceptance. This article connects with other portions of this essay through the idea of accepting a part of yourself that you do not want to accept and through that acceptance you will be a better, happier person. The idea that if you