Native Americans live in a separate microcosm of society, one defined by their lost heritage, land, and resilience. The harsh realities of reservation life leads many to turn to anything that will allow them to temporarily escape such as alcohol, gasoline, narcotics, even inhaling kitchen cleaner. The characters Aristotle and Mouse in The Business of Fancydancing exemplify the desperate reality of those Native Americans. This paper is about alcoholism among modern Native Americans. Specifically it is about how the characters in the film utilize alcohol as a self-medicated defense against the outer world and the interplay of historical trauma and substance abuse.
The future seems unbounded for Seymour and Aristotle, the co-valedictiorians of …show more content…
Unfortunately, there are many alcoholic Native Americans, represented by Mouse and Aristotle. They often utilize various substances and drink throughout the film in order to get through their problems. Mouse’s abuse problems may stem from anger, depression, or both. Aristotle certainly is angry, and he seems to have an inability to articulate how he feels and takes out his feelings with a random act of senseless violence directed at a stranded white male. Though Seymour is not an alcoholic he is also impacted by some of the same problems in the harsh reality of reservation life. Perhaps one message of The Business of Fancydancing is to urge other Native American’s to make the same decision to stay away from alcohol. Alcoholism and drug abuse relates to numerous other problems that disproportionately affect Native Americans such as violence, clinical depression, post traumatic stress disorder, and suicide (Gone, …show more content…
Lost among the dark painful history of the United States and unknown future that seems to be out of their control, Native Americans may choose to use substances in an attempt to escape their present circumstances. Aristotle may have chosen to drop out of university after feeling isolated and discriminated against in vestiges left by Native American oppression by Europeans and white culture in general. When he returns to the reservation, he joins his friend Mouse in multiple instances of drinking, inhaling fumes from gasoline, and other ways to get high. Contemporary Native American society is still haunted by the forced relocation of native youth to boarding school, genocide, and violent ethnic cleansing. The violent and painful history of Native American oppression is still felt by current generations and manifests in poor mental and physical health for the descents of those that survived the systematic attempts to destroy Native American culture and kill Indians. (Whitbeck, 2004). The American past may be so difficult for Native Americans to come to terms with, that they must be under the influence of drugs to continue living as they
The future seems unbounded for Seymour and Aristotle, the co-valedictiorians of …show more content…
Unfortunately, there are many alcoholic Native Americans, represented by Mouse and Aristotle. They often utilize various substances and drink throughout the film in order to get through their problems. Mouse’s abuse problems may stem from anger, depression, or both. Aristotle certainly is angry, and he seems to have an inability to articulate how he feels and takes out his feelings with a random act of senseless violence directed at a stranded white male. Though Seymour is not an alcoholic he is also impacted by some of the same problems in the harsh reality of reservation life. Perhaps one message of The Business of Fancydancing is to urge other Native American’s to make the same decision to stay away from alcohol. Alcoholism and drug abuse relates to numerous other problems that disproportionately affect Native Americans such as violence, clinical depression, post traumatic stress disorder, and suicide (Gone, …show more content…
Lost among the dark painful history of the United States and unknown future that seems to be out of their control, Native Americans may choose to use substances in an attempt to escape their present circumstances. Aristotle may have chosen to drop out of university after feeling isolated and discriminated against in vestiges left by Native American oppression by Europeans and white culture in general. When he returns to the reservation, he joins his friend Mouse in multiple instances of drinking, inhaling fumes from gasoline, and other ways to get high. Contemporary Native American society is still haunted by the forced relocation of native youth to boarding school, genocide, and violent ethnic cleansing. The violent and painful history of Native American oppression is still felt by current generations and manifests in poor mental and physical health for the descents of those that survived the systematic attempts to destroy Native American culture and kill Indians. (Whitbeck, 2004). The American past may be so difficult for Native Americans to come to terms with, that they must be under the influence of drugs to continue living as they