In The Lone
Ranger and Tonto Fist fight in Heaven, Sherman Alexia, uses storytelling as a
key a survival skill for the characters in the book. The importance of
storytelling in this reservation is demonstrated by Alexia in many different
ways. Storytelling is used to find closure, to lessen pain and hunger, to keep
a history of the community and the people that have passed (and slowly fade)
through the years, and to tell the truth, to help someone simply become better
person. When everything else is taken away, imagination, dreams, and storytelling
are the only weapons we have left against the evils in life.
When it comes to
the history of the Spokane Indians on the reservation, the importance of
storytelling from generation to generation is an obvious one. Without storytelling
there would be no history to pass down. These people never believed in written
documents, but instead relied on storytelling for their history to be told.
Great native history has been passed down from generation to generation simply
through word of mouth, and that’s amazing, but it makes you question the
accuracy of such tales, and efficiency of the process. Eventually people will
tire of the same stories and the people telling them will fade, so what happens
then? The history is gone. When a tribe
elder would die it was a great tragedy to some because with him died the history
that he carried in his stories and knowledge. Norma was especially aware of
this, as it shows on page 167. It explains how she would mourn and “freak out”
every time an elder died because, “Every one of our elders that dies takes a
piece of our past away.” (Alexie 167) The survival of these peoples history
depends solely on storytelling.
Through storytelling
they are able to keep the memories of important people that have impacted the
community or just oneself. When you compare it to modern news and current
events, the book makes a really good point. On page 48 it explains how the rest
of the world will forget a hero almost overnight, but within the tribe a hero
was known and talked about for generations. “A reservation hero is a hero
forever. In fact their status grows over the years as the stories are told, and
retold. “ (Alexie 48)
Survival
sometimes is simply being optimistic when things seem the worst. On page 151,
it explains how they would use only their imagination to fight hunger and
remain optimistic. He would picture the potatoes bigger than they actually were
so that they would fill him up more, while his sisters would dye the potatoes
different colors, to give the illusion of variety and ignore the fact that they
were only eating potatoes. This is how they used imagination as a weapon, their
only weapon. Survival= Anger x Imagination, because they had nothing else.
Storytelling did
not only help history and the people physically survive, I think it also helped
them survive emotionally. Victor was having a hard time coping with his dad’s
death, until Thomas told him a story on page 74, where he pictures his dad as a
salmon jumping over him after releasing his ashes. In my opinion this is a very
beautiful story, and is the moment that victor comes to terms with his dad’s
death and his friendship with Thomas. I think, emotionally it was a very
impacting moment for victor, and really changed him. Thomas does this a couple
of times throughout the book, he tells people the truth through his stories,
helping them realize something about themselves, even if the truth isn’t what
people always want to hear. (Alexie 61) Thomas knows about victor’s dads
problems before anyone else does, and he tries to help victor come to a
realization of it early on. He even helps himself out through his stories. (Alexie
72) This helps him accept who he is.
Samuel, Thomas’s
grandfather, explains it perfectly, “He knew his stories had the power to
teach, to show how this life should be lived. He would often tell his children
and their friends, and then his grandchildren and their friends, those stories
which could make their worlds into something better.” In this story stories are
definitely used as a survival technique, but I also think it was a way for them
to escape reality as well. The truth is that their reality was not a pleasant
one, full of loneliness, heartbreak, and poverty. All the stories told within
the community serve the bigger purpose of taking them away from it all, and
allowing them to write their own history, erasing the pain from the truth.
I really enjoyed your post, especially where you speak about the uses and importance of storytelling. You said it was to “find closure, to lessen pain and hunger, to keep a history...and to tell the truth.” Do you believe that these could be reason behind Sherman Alexia’s writing? In his introduction, he says that most of his stories are autobiographical, not fictional. He also apologizes for his lack of description, but legends and stories passed down usually contain very little description and focus more on action and moral. The definition for legend is a traditional story sometimes regarded as historical but unauthenticated. Do you think that Alexia sees himself as a storyteller like his characters?
ReplyDeleteEfrain, I really enjoyed your post. I agreed with most of your views and opinions on how storytelling relates to history. My favorite part about your post is when you state,"Great native history has been passed down from generation to generation simply through word of mouth, and that’s amazing, but it makes you question the accuracy of such tales, and efficiency of the process". This quote reminds me a lot of the game we played as kids called telephone. The first person would share a statement with the person next to them. Then that person would share what he THOUGHT he heard with the next person. This process would continue until the last person reveals what her was told. A lot of times, the ending statement is completely different than the first statement. This makes you wonder how much of our history has been altered or completely forgotten. To answer Erik's question. I do think that Alexia sees himself as a storyteller. But because so much of the details in the history have been lost of changed, he if forced to come up with alternate solutions to create a strong storyline. So yes he is telling a story, but that does not mean it is all completely true. Do you think that Alexia told mostly truthful stories or had to make up most of them?
ReplyDeleteYour discussion dealing with storytelling really fascinated me. The quote by Thomas's grandfather, "He knew his stories had the power to teach, to show how life should be lived." I believe in our generation stories are important to bridge the gaps between the old and the new. I remember growing up as a kid I would live and die by the stories my father told me about his childhood, and I still apply those stories to my own life.
ReplyDeleteEfrain I totally agree that their stories helptled them survive emotionally to keep them sane. I like how u said their imagination allowed "them to write their own history, erasing the pain from the truth". You quoted Norma when she said that everytime an elder dies a little part of their history dies along with them, this goes along with Brandi's comment about the game Telephone. Because there were no history books they had to go by word of mouth which can change over time with everyone's twist on it, like the game. So it does make your question whether what part of the stories are true or if they're even true at all. I think Alexies stories were true to a certain extent, he insinuated that all Indians on a reservation are failures and drunks, but that's coming from what he saw. I would like to read a book from a different perspective about Indians to compare the two. At the end Junior quit school and went back to the reservation, what was Alexei trying to say about Indians there?
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Efrain. You made some really great points. In response to Brandi's question, I think that Alexie took mostly truthful or partially true stories and embellished on them. As Efrain pointed out the significance in regards to the storytelling and imagination, it seems that Alexie uses the very same principles in his own collection of stories. As Alexie states in his introduction, many of the stories have some truth to them. A great example of Alexie's embellishment would be in "The Fun House" (76) where Alexie's aunt has the mouse run up her pant leg. Alexie states in his introduction that this actually did happen to his aunt, but she did not get so angry at her son and husband that she went swimming in the creek and was offended that Alexie implied she would divorce her husband and leave them. I believe Alexie used this story as a representation of the last straw for a woman who goes unappreciated by her family and empowers her through the story. Alexie gives her strength and the power of change with his imagination and storytelling which shows the strength of the women on the reservation. This could also represent hope for such women in a similar situation and show that they are stronger than they may believe as when Alexie's aunt masters wearing the heavy beaded dress. By combining storytelling with his imagination mixed with real truth, Alexie connects his modern day personal experiences with the stories of his culture's history. Do you think that this connection helps carry the tradition of keeping the stories alive for his culture in a modern day world or distorts them too much with his own interpretations?
ReplyDeleteStorytelling throughout this novel serves many purposes. It helps the Indians escape their current reality, remember loved ones, and prepare themselves for the future with past experiences. Stories are served to entertain, to warn, or to prepare members of the reservation about all aspects of life.I think that stories will always be slightly modified as they are passed from generation to generation. I feel that the storyteller only modifies the stories though to help strength the main lesson and impact the listener deeper. Marilyn- I think that distorting the stories is part of the Indian culture to begin with. I think that Alexie did a very good job of turning his modern day experiences into more traditional stories that can still honor Indian culture in generations to come.
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