What You Pawn I Will Redeem By Sherman Alexie

Jackson Jackson, an American native, is a character in "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie. Though he might seem to be a traditional literary hero, after analyzing him more thoroughly on how he makes his own decisions and acts, will lead us to how he actually is a character. Perhaps we should define what is a traditional literary hero? A traditional literary hero is a character who is a perfect character with little or no imperfections. Some examples of literary heroes are Superman, Captain America, and Harry Potter. However, there is another type of hero: an anti-hero. An anti-hero is a character with imperfections and is much more of a sinner than an angel, but yet still tries to do good in many ways he can when they he has …show more content…
Although Jackson might not be a traditional literary hero, he does accomplish his quest. Not in the best way, but he gets it done. By doing so not only does he redeem his grandmothers regalia, but also redeems himself. Why? Because in the very beginning of the story Jackson sees the regalia at the pawn shop, but did not want to call the cops and make it easy to obtain it. No, he wants to make it a quest. However, he did not win it back the regalia with money. The pawn shop knows that the right thing to do is to give it back to him. (This seems a good explanation for the pawn shop owner giving it back to him and why Jackson was able to get it back.) His human imperfections got in the way a lot, but look at our human imperfections they get in the way of our goals sometimes as well making it sometimes almost impossible to reach our quest. Jackson redeemed himself, because after he finally got his regalia back after he stated "I took my grandmother's regalia and walked outside. I knew I was that solitary yellow bead was part of me." (pg.28) he started dancing and he said "Cars stopped. The city stopped. They all watched me dance with my grandmother." (pg.29) It is almost as if the pawn shop owner gives back his soul. Plus, he also feels like he is his grandmother as well while he is dancing. Jackson, a drunk homeless man, redeems himself and his heart, his pride, and courage after completing his quest. We as humans redeem ourselves every time we accomplish a quest similar to Jackson redeeming his grandmother's regalia. Thus, it is our human imperfections that make us redeem ourselves every time we complete a quest. We also feel like we redeem our hearts, pride, and courage after completing a quest similar to what Jackson was feeling. But at the end, our human imperfections are what make us unique and make it a quest in completing a