Sherman Alexie outlines the struggles of several characters in his novel The Toughest Indian in the World. Many of his protagonists suffer from the same quandary related to their Indian heritage, and all of them go to great and unexpected lengths to cure the dissatisfaction they feel with certain aspects of their lives. The narrator Alexie writes about in his short story by the same name, “The Toughest Indian in the World,” encounters an Indian hitchhiker with whom he attempts to combat the destructive beliefs that his father instilled in him as he grew up. The narrator’s only source of cultural identity derives from a father severely lacking in the belief that “the salmon” still exist. Determined to abolish this belief from his own mind, the narrator entrusts the Indian fighter he picks up to show him that there is still hope.
The narrator’s father taught him many lessons that he carried with him to adulthood. From the dangerous nature of white people, to the idea that hope no longer exists for Indians, the narrator makes his assumptions about life based on the negative teachings of his father. The narrator explains that his father told him “that our salmon– our hope– would never come back” (Alexie 21), and it was only through picking up Indian hitchhikers that the narrator might be able to find that hope again. …show more content…
However, his attraction to the Indian is immediate when he notices his physique and his imperfections, which he notices are as a result of his tough reputation as a prizefighter – something, or someone that the narrator is not. He even admits that he speaks in reservation colloquialisms, his attempt to speak more Indian in the presence of the fighter to, somehow, prove something to
The narrator’s father taught him many lessons that he carried with him to adulthood. From the dangerous nature of white people, to the idea that hope no longer exists for Indians, the narrator makes his assumptions about life based on the negative teachings of his father. The narrator explains that his father told him “that our salmon– our hope– would never come back” (Alexie 21), and it was only through picking up Indian hitchhikers that the narrator might be able to find that hope again. …show more content…
However, his attraction to the Indian is immediate when he notices his physique and his imperfections, which he notices are as a result of his tough reputation as a prizefighter – something, or someone that the narrator is not. He even admits that he speaks in reservation colloquialisms, his attempt to speak more Indian in the presence of the fighter to, somehow, prove something to