In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie expresses the modern Native American experience throughout a series of short stories. Throughout these stories Alexie portrays the lives of Native Americans in a dismal and melancholic way. Most of his characters have failed or forgotten their dreams due to their problems with alcohol. Sherman Alexie’s emphasis on Native American’s issues with alcohol gives us insight into how alcohol has destructive effects on Native American society and culture.
Alcoholism is a common theme within Native American society. Some characters became so infatuated with the sensation of being intoxicated that they actually believe being drunk solves all of their problems. Natives think that, “one more beer could save the world. One more beer and every chair would be comfortable. One more beer and the light bulb in the bathroom would never burn out. One more beer and he would love her forever. One more beer and he would sign any treaty for her (Alexie 88).” Alcohol creates a fake reality in the minds of the natives. It makes them believe that they are no longer responsible for their affairs, and dealing with their problems. However, alcohol only serves to make their lives worse.
Alcohol was the root cause of the separation between Native Americans and mainstream America. The interactions the average American has with Natives is simply seeing them stagger around public spaces, because they are drunk. It is not surprising that whites dislike Natives, they are always causing problems because of their love of alcohol. This is exemplified by Dirty Joe, who is belittled and degraded because of his actions in public: “I watched her move against the crowd, the only person not running to see the drunk Indian riding the Stallion. I turned back in time to watch Dirty Joe stumble from the roller coaster and empty his stomach on the platform (Alexie 57).” The continuous sights or stories of drunken Indians form stereotypes, which make Native Americans seem like a culture of alcoholics and slackers.
The Essay on The Native American Experience
Life on the Spokane Indian Reservation is filled with shattered dreams and lost Indian souls drowning the sorrows of their people in alcohol. Reservation Blues, a novel by Sherman Alexie, depicts the story of an unlikely group of Indians coming together to chase their dreams with the help of a magic guitar, Big Mom, and their Indian blood as they struggle with the realities of being Indian in a ...
Throughout, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, one sees how destructive alcohol is and how Native Americans have adopted the notion that alcohol is okay. For example, in the novel each of the characters throw their lives away due to alcohol abuse and they could not escape the harsh reality of life on a reservation. Even though they have free will, there does not appear to be another outlet for them. It appears that in each of the short stories, alcohol is their outlet. When they do interact with mainstream white America, the negative “drunkard” stereotype prevails. The Native American community presented primarily through Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire convey an underlying issue of inequality and lack of opportunity.
