The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven: Essay A warrior is recognized as they battle for their beliefs. Even after receiving mortal wounds many times, such a person never leaves the battlefield. However, the inspiring and metaphorical idea of a warrior can certainly extend beyond the actual battlefield, and into the universal battle of living life. A woman must face this world like a warrior.
She must endure the pain of a past that oppressed her, the adversity of a present that is only beginning to understand her, and a future that will continuously test her. From the beginning of time, Native American women have been a driving force in their cultures, retaining their immense strength throughout centuries of exploitation. Mothers and grandmothers held the family together with their gentle power, and medicine women were the local psychologists, therapists, physicians, and marriage counselors to entire tribes. In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie’s short story collection about life on the Spokane Indian reservation, Alexie depicts characters that are world-wearied and heavy with 500 years worth of humiliation and rejection. They have lived their lives in the confines of the reservation, resorting to alcohol, depression, and frustration. However, these women seek to hold together, both spiritually and generative ly, the fabric of a culture that is assaulted on all sides.
They are warrior-like in their determination to battle the hardships of their lives, all while holding their families and their heritage together with great compassion and spirit. Although one may argue that many of these women were unable to avoid the inevitable feeling of hopelessness, one can see with a deeper look into the reservation that they firmly wrestle the battles that face them. The most immediate hardships that many of the women in Alexie’s stories face are the struggles to hold together their crumbling families. For example, Victor’s mother must endure the various ‘storms’; of her life: her husband’s alcoholism, the lack of basic necessities, her own depression, and the overall desperation of the household.
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However, she is able to give her family a sense of hope. ‘During all these kinds of tiny storms, Victor’s mother would rise with her medicine and magic… She would comb Victor’s braids into dreams.’ ; (p. 5) When her husband leaves her, overcome with lack of purpose and despair, and gets injured in a motorcycle accident, she is there by his side.
Despite the fact that he has left her in poverty to care for their son, her care for him is unyielding and willing to withstand the pain he brought onto her. ‘And even though my mother didn’t want to be married to him anymore and his wreck didn’t change her mind about that, she still came to see him every day. She sang Indian tunes under her breath… he tapped his fingers in rhythm.’ ; (p. 33) Victor’s mother faces depression and alcohol addiction herself, yet even in the midst of these faults, like many other women on the reservation, she painstakingly maintains the strength to try keeping her family together or at least show them her love. Like the mother in another one of Alexie’s stories who sings to her child; ‘ ‘I’m singing an its-a-good-day song.’ She smiles and I have to smile with her.’ ; (p.
144) This small act of making a child smile can be seen as part of the fight because it serves as an example to their families to continue in the battle of depression in the name of love, fighting off the surrender to desensitized detachment from the family. Even if the example isn’t always followed, as in the case of Victor’s fleeing father, it is certainly a noble endeavor. A warrior who fights bravely and loses a battle can still be a hero, as we have seen in the women’s efforts to hold their families together. Alexie’s women characters also extend their steadfast compassion towards their wounded community. Like the medicine women of the past, administering their wisdom and remedies, these women offer their love, concern, and fry bread to the disillusioned and disheartened people on the reservation. The character of Norma Many Horses displays this type of compassion for her people.
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For example, when she finds Victor beating on Thomas, she firmly steps in and breaks it up. ‘If it had been someone else, even another man, the Indian boys would ” ve just ignored the warnings. But Norma was a warrior. She was powerful.’ ; (p. 65) There seems to be something inspiring and heroic about her strong nature that cause the men to examine their own actions and search for a better way. ‘Norma was a warrior in every sense of the word.
She would drive a hundred miles round-trip to visit tribal elders in the nursing homes in Spokane. When one of those elders died, Norma would weep violently, throw books and furniture.’ ; (p. 167) Norma is rooted in her culture and her cause. Despite the sense of hopelessness and despair that one may feel on the reservation, women like Norma prove that hope is also alive and worth fighting for.
When her husband is diagnosed with cancer, she is at his side, saying, ‘maybe because making fry bread and helping people die are the last two things Indians are good at.’ ; (p. 170) Again, it is the little things that are some of the sincerest forms of bravery. She hasn’t completely surrendered herself to the grim reality of her situation, and she remains strong, knowing that even if their situation appears hopeless, a little comfort will ease pain of others. On the battlefield of life, these women also take the time to bend down and cleanse the wounds of their fellow warriors.
Perhaps the most internal conflict that Alexie’s women face is finding the courage to take pride in their heritage. Not only do they handle the problems with their families and their community, but they must also take on their entire race’s worth of suffering and rejection. Ever since the first settlers stepped onto the shoreline and pushed the natives off of their own land, the women have been there to bless the shields of fellow warriors, and to fight as well. However, the fight has grown heavy as they are pushed further into their designated ‘corners’; , or reservations.
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In the ‘Fun House’; story, the metaphor of the woman’s beaded dress symbolizes this struggle. She has made this intricate and traditional beaded dress that ends up being too heavy for anyone to wear. ‘It’s just like the sword in the stone… When a woman comes along who can carry the weight of this dress on her back, then we ” ll have found the one who will save us all.’ ; (p.
76) Many women attempt to wear this ‘dress’; in order to save their culture from despair and instill their people with strength. The woman in the story ends up putting on the dress; ‘She stood weakly. But she had the strength to take the first step, then another quick one. She heard drums, she heard singing, she danced.’ ; (p. 82) In the face of centuries worth of persecution and hatred, these women maintain the love and strength to step forward. Throughout Sherman Alexie’s short stories, the women face their opposition with a warrior’s strength; yet also with a maternal-like gentle compassion.
Whether it is picking up the pieces of a broken family, reaching out to a community, or having pride in one’s heritage and background, the women all show a sincere dedication that is truly admirable. A woman’s life is never easy, and the additional struggles of being a Native American make life on the Spokane reservation even harder. But these women bless the shields of their warriors as they face the unjust world, and they look towards the future with a warrior’s spirit themselves. Summary Paragraph: The women characters in Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven all show great compassion and warrior-like strength, despite the many trials that face them.
They are able to hold their families together and give them some sense of hope. These women also extend their dedication into their broken communities by offering kindness and refuge. However, the greatest internal conflict that they face with strength is taking pride in their own heritage and spreading this pride. They face all of the innumerable opponents in life with a warrior’s spirit.
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