Sherman Alexie’s “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is a 1993 short story that looks into the life of a Native American man who is depressed after a failed relationship with a white woman in Seattle, now living alone in the Spokane Indian Reservation and feels haunted by his past. Sherman Alexie characterizes the narrator with point of view—the narrator’s perception of others and their own onto his perception of self, character—through the narrator’s identity as a Native American man separate from the nation, and style—going through the majority of the narrator’s own thoughts being mostly negative but still looking for a light for himself in order to understand who the narrator is and why the narrator is depressed in the story.
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At the 7/11, the narrator comments on how the store clerk is judging him as a thief by face value from his “dark skin and long, black hair” and in return he judges the store clerk by “acne scars and a bad haircut” (403). However, after a bit more time he realizes he sees himself in the store clerk being “misplaced and marked by loneliness. If he wasn’t working there that night, he’d be at home alone, flipping through channels” that mirrors the narrator after his breakup being home watching television for several weeks and even says that he grows to like him even if “it was three in the morning and he was white” (403). The narrator changes his perspective on the store clerk because despite the tense emotions the store clerk places on the narrator, he still wants to bring in a light hearted relief by joking around and eventually succeeds at easing that stress. Asking the man about The Brady Bunch theme song is what really destroys the uneasiness the store clerk once had about the narrator. The narrator’s character is aware of the judgment placed on him and Native American stereotypes but does try to relate to others with similar experiences in a human way that readers also can relate to; Alexie uses point of view to his advantage to help destroy stereotypes by his character being aloof and friendly to the white store …show more content…
Although the narrator himself does not explicitly admit that he is depressed, readers can look at the text as a whole to see that the narrator’s drinking and unemployment for months are signs of being defeated. When arriving home from the convenience store, the narrator focuses his attention on the negative events happening in the newspaper one after the other, but near the very end there is a small bit of positivity from a spelling bee that gives the narrator some hope in good (405). Alexie uses style to have a strong contrast between negative events and one positive event to show the readers that the majority of the narrator’s views are negative but still finds some positivity. Even in the past when the narrator wants to do more basketball it is overshadowed by another better player for the majority of the memory and overshadowed by the narrator’s his own self being out of shape, yet there is still a small amount of hope for the narrator hidden with “Still, I liked the way the ball felt in my hands and the way my feet felt inside my shoes” (406). The author uses these style techniques of a majority of negativity with a hint of hope in the text that matches how the narrator himself perceives the world, seeing the majority as negative but still having a bit of
At the 7/11, the narrator comments on how the store clerk is judging him as a thief by face value from his “dark skin and long, black hair” and in return he judges the store clerk by “acne scars and a bad haircut” (403). However, after a bit more time he realizes he sees himself in the store clerk being “misplaced and marked by loneliness. If he wasn’t working there that night, he’d be at home alone, flipping through channels” that mirrors the narrator after his breakup being home watching television for several weeks and even says that he grows to like him even if “it was three in the morning and he was white” (403). The narrator changes his perspective on the store clerk because despite the tense emotions the store clerk places on the narrator, he still wants to bring in a light hearted relief by joking around and eventually succeeds at easing that stress. Asking the man about The Brady Bunch theme song is what really destroys the uneasiness the store clerk once had about the narrator. The narrator’s character is aware of the judgment placed on him and Native American stereotypes but does try to relate to others with similar experiences in a human way that readers also can relate to; Alexie uses point of view to his advantage to help destroy stereotypes by his character being aloof and friendly to the white store …show more content…
Although the narrator himself does not explicitly admit that he is depressed, readers can look at the text as a whole to see that the narrator’s drinking and unemployment for months are signs of being defeated. When arriving home from the convenience store, the narrator focuses his attention on the negative events happening in the newspaper one after the other, but near the very end there is a small bit of positivity from a spelling bee that gives the narrator some hope in good (405). Alexie uses style to have a strong contrast between negative events and one positive event to show the readers that the majority of the narrator’s views are negative but still finds some positivity. Even in the past when the narrator wants to do more basketball it is overshadowed by another better player for the majority of the memory and overshadowed by the narrator’s his own self being out of shape, yet there is still a small amount of hope for the narrator hidden with “Still, I liked the way the ball felt in my hands and the way my feet felt inside my shoes” (406). The author uses these style techniques of a majority of negativity with a hint of hope in the text that matches how the narrator himself perceives the world, seeing the majority as negative but still having a bit of