The Pawn

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…

“What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is the story of financially strapped Spokane Indian man named Jackson faced with the task of coming up with nearly one thousand dollars in twenty-four hours in order to reclaim his grandmother’s stolen regalia from a pawn shop. On the way to raise money, he met all kinds of generosity, compassion, kindness, goodwill. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is a story of generosity. At the beginning of the story, Jackson passes by a pawn shop and sees a regalia that belonged…

In the short story “What You Pawn, I Will Redeem”, Sherman Alexie argues that people want to fit in and belong in society because all humans have the drive to be a part of something. There are many ways that people try to fit in the world, but Jackson Jackson has a strange technique. Jackson is on a quest to find $999 to buy back a regalia that was stolen from his grandmother fifty years ago. He goes on an adventure that is like a roller coaster, Jackson continuously gets sums of money and then…

In the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”, author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Jackson Jackson, a homeless Spokane Indian who leaves on the streets of Seattle. When it comes to discussing the American Dream, this would be the last narrative one would think of in that Native Americans aren’t thought of as living the American Dream. Everyone else who isn’t actually native to North America is considered to in some way be pursuing the American Dream; however Alexie depicts an…

In What You Pawn, I Will Redeem, Jackson squared, as his family nicknamed him, is a homeless, young adult who was walking by a pawn shop when he realizes that his grandmother, Agnes’, powwow regalia was hanging in the window. When he entered the store, the storekeeper made a deal with him, that if he could come up with one thousand dollars in twenty-four hours, he would sell it back to him considering it was stolen from his family in the first place. Jackson’s friend, Rose of Sharon, told him…

What is your best accomplishment? In Sherman Alexie’s story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” Jackson is the main character in this story who is static and the protagonist. The story is in first-person because it comes from his point of view. Jackson strives to overcome his alcoholism to achieve his goal. He comes across people with similar difficulties and learns how they have given up their goals which encourages him to pursue his. Jackson is a sympathetic character who struggles with an internal…

What you Pawn I Will Redeem, is a story that starts off showing a Native American by the name of Jackson Jackson who has been homeless for the last six years in Seattle. Jackson Jackson illustrates the struggle of being homeless alcoholic, an addiction that gets the best of him, who seems destined to fail on his journey to get his grandmothers regalia back in his family’s possession. The author, Sherman Alexie, uses Jackson Jackson’s character development and his internal conflict with…

My choice of story for literary analysis is “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie. It’s a story of culture, spirituality, and humor all woven together about a man who has lost a link to his past and the struggle he’ll have to face with his demons in order for him to reconnect with his history. There are two paths found in this story, the responsible adult side that shows maturity which ultimately are undone by the character’s struggle with depression, substance abuse which is the…

The Pursuit for Identity In his short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” Sherman Alexie seeks for his uniqueness as being a homeless, alcoholic Indian man. The author is a Spokane Indian conceived in 1966 on the Spokane Reservation in WellPoint, Washington. He is an artist, author, and movie producer. A great deal of his written work draws on his encounters as a Native American experiencing childhood with the Spokane Reservation. As a Native American, Alexie’s fundamental concern is…

“What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is an interpretive short story about Jackson Jackson. In this story, Jackson Jackson has found himself in a situation where he struggles with many conflicts to recover his grandmother’s stolen regalia. He becomes very persistent in fulfilling this mission on his own despite the adverse circumstances he has to deal with. The author of this story, Sherman Alexie, created the character of Jackson Jackson with a few similarities between them. They are both Spokane…