Pawnbroker

What You Pawn, I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie centers on the cultural background of Native Americans Indians and their struggles in society of homelessness in America. This is a self- journey where the protagonist does his best to reclaim his culture, traditions and identity. The character of Jackson Jackson demonstrates his cultural beliefs and pride, despite his current situation of homelessness and dependency with substance abuse of alcohol. Jackson shows that all forms of humanity are meaningful, culture and beliefs are important, a positive personality, compassionate and perseverance can redeem your spirit. My chosen prompt for the literary analysis is writing prompt number four and the first sentence is – “In some stories, characters come into conflict with the culture in which they live.” Remembering his heritage and culture without losing value in his life is an ongoing issue in the story. Jackson’s survival techniques of using his charisma, building relationships, and being resourceful helped him to make the connection to his past. Jackson begins and shares the history of Interior Salish Indians in the Spokane, Washington area and the length of time spent in the area, for at least ten thousand years within a hundred-mile radius, with him being homeless in this area for six years now (Alexie, 2003). This symbolized how his people were here first, but now, how they are disappearing piece by piece. Jackson states, “I am living proof of the horrible…

After a loved one has passed, many try to find the piece of them that is missing. In the short story "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie, Jackson Jackson attempts to earn over nine hundred dollars to "win" back the regalia from his grandmother at the pawn shop. Unfortunately the one day he has to earn the money for the regalia, he only comes back with five dollars, the amount he originally began with. Superficial readers would believe that Jackson goes on the journey to only win the…

On 04/01/2016, at approximately 1920 hours, Officer Bowman and your affiant were requested to respond to the Family Dollar to speak with an individual whose purse had been stolen. Officers arrived on scene and spoke with the 11 year old female victim. The victim placed her purse in a designated area for book bags which is a policy of the store to deter and lower the amount of thefts. The victim placed her purse there believing she was following the rules and proceeded to shop for diapers for…

One of the round and flat characters in “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is the Pawnbroker. The pawnbroker has internal conflict in the beginning of the story. “That would be the right thing to do,” the pawnbroker said. “But I can’t afford to do the right thing. I paid a thousand dollars for this. I can’t just give away a thousand dollars”(Alexie). He wants to give Jackson back his grandmother’s regalia, but at the same time he doesn’t want to lose the money he spent on the regalia . The…

In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment, the main character Raskolnikov speaks of a theory. This theory he calls the “extraordinary man”theory, and is his main justification for his actions in which the novel revolves around. The introduction of this theory in the novel by Raskolnikov gives the reader a more in depth evaluation of Raskolnikov's character because it reveals his justification for his murdering of the pawnbroker and her sister. Raskolnikov’s murder of the pawnbroker was…

Rodion Raskolnikov goes through life believing that crime can be justified if one is an “extraordinary person”, which is one who commits a crime without getting caught. He then is convinced that he is one of these “extraordinary” people and kills the pawnbroker because she is unjust and unfair. The purpose of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is no matter what someone has done or how a person feels about oneself, everyone is capable of happiness and redemption. Rodion is an example of a…

each of which has their own value that they contribute to the book’s theme. Each character has his or her own opinion which crimes are necessary and what deeds are evil. Some characters need to commit crimes just so they can survive in this harsh world, while others commit crimes because they think it will better the community in which they live. Within the crimes that unfold, the characters deal with inner conflict and use their crimes as answers to their problems, even if that crime is what…

Reading Response 3-30 Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky was the most challenging book that I have read this year, prose-wise. Dostoevsky tends to go on at great length with his descriptions of Raskolnikov’s thought processes, which tends to lead to great blocks of text that can wear on the eyes after too long. However, I didn’t find the book boring - it was simply laborious to read and had a tone that was a little too nihilistic for me to really be able to get into it. I found that I…

The Perfect Handgun for Carrying With all the talk of the United States government taking away our gun rights, it’s not at all shocking that more and more people are going out buying guns. “The president is the perfect gun sales rep.” said one Rocky Mount, NC pawnbroker. Gun sales have risen in the past few months and as long as the United States government keeps talking about stripping our gun rights. As more and more people go out and purchase, they may wonder what the perfect…

The paranoia that Raskolnikov experiences is incredibly strong and it causes him to do very irrational things, such as go back to the crime scene, tell Zametov that he killed the pawnbroker and then said it was a joke, and confessed to Sonia, who he had only known for a very short period of time. Directly after the murders, the paranoia is already deeply affecting Raskolnikov as he begins to imagine that he is covered in blood and that someone will find the things he stole from the pawnbroker…