#4

          While reading chapters 8-10 of Reservation Blues, I realized this book actually connected to my life and a book I have read this year in English class. When Chess and Thomas felt like their was nothing left they could do to save Junior and Victor they decide to call it quits. "Forget them, its all over now, anyways. Cant you feel it?" (p. 231) This quote reminds me of myself in a way. When things get tough I was always the first one to give up. It may just be me, but once a situation is no longer able to be fixed or just doesn't go my way I lose all motivation to try and fix it. Chess and Thomas also quit looking for their friends when they realized how hard it was going to be. Even though you shouldn't give up on anything before you try, sometimes people just cant resist it.
          This section of the book also reminded me of the Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. "I can't marry you. Lynn had said. You're an Indian, (p. 240). Lynn, a women Junior dated, and was in love with, announced that she could no longer be with him because he was an Indian. She had this perfect picture painted in her head that society had influenced of a white women and a white male happily together. Therefore, she couldn't try to change the perfect societal picture by marrying an Indian man. This chapter reminds me of Daisy and Gatsby in the Great Gatsby. Daisy was truly in love with Gatsby, but couldn't marry him because he was from new money instead of old money. Society has complete control over someone's love for one another. Just because society tells you what the norm is doesn't mean you have to follow it, be a conformist and stick up for something you want to.

Reservation Blues #4

In the beginning of the book, I didn't understand the significance of the horses in the book. Throughout the novel, the horses kept coming up, along with their "screaming" songs and the story of their passing. I never understood Alexi's reasoning behind until the very end of the last chapter of the book, when Thomas, Chess, and Checkers leave the Spokane Reservation for good. The horses are a symbol of the dreams and culture of Native Americans throughout the nation and how over the years, those dreams and that rich culture was slowly chipped away at by white men until there was nothing left but the ghosts of the past. The horses are now those ghosts and all that Thomas, Chess, and Checkers can  do now is hold,"tightly to the manes of those shadow horses," (Alexie 306) while they leave behind their former poverty in hopes of a new and brighter future.

Reservation Blues #4

After finishing Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie, I feel as though the story ended in a tragic state. For example, at the very start of chapter 9, one of our main characters dies. After stealing a rifle and climbing up the water tower, the author explains, "Junior unshouldered the rifle. He felt the smooth, cool wood of the stock, set the butt of the riddle against the metal grating of the floor, and placed his forehead against the mouth of the barrel... He flipped the safety off, held his thumb against the trigger, and felt the slight tension. Junior squeezed the trigger" (247). The fact that at almost the very end of the story Junior kills himself shows that the story is almost in complete tumult. They were given numerous death threats, the priest is resigning from his job, and Junior is now dead. Also, it is clear after finishing the book that whites have assumed many  racial stereotypes towards Native Americans. The record that Betty and Veronica send Thomas is used with stereotyped Indian images: Father Sky, Mother Earth, four directions, tobacco, pipe, sweetgrass, eagle, buffalo, etc. These traits are the ones that white people use to simulate authentic Indians.

"Can you hear the eagle crying?

Can you hear the eagle crying?

I look to the four directions

And try to find some connection

With Mother Earth, Mother Earth

I offer you tobacco and sweetgrass

I offer you tobacco and sweetgrass

I pray to the four directions

And try to find some connection

With Father Sky, Father Sky" (265).
These words indicate that American popular music prefers style and images rather then actual meaning.

Post #4 - From Dreams To Nightmares

The chain of events that happen upon arrival from New York to the end of the novel are disturbing.  To start, I believe it is very sad when Coyote Springs loses their chance at freedom.  They have just been brought New York, only to fail miserably under pressure.  Sheridan ends up saying that "'I tried to help these goddamn Indians.  But they don't want help.  They don't want anything'" (Alexie 229).  It saddens me because, unfortunately, that is the way things are in life.  Many people are given the chance to succeed but somehow pressure gets to them and ruins this chance.  It's unfortunate, but it's also life.  From that point forward, however, things just get worse.  The night before Coyote Springs leaves New York for home, Sheridan practically rapes Checkers.  In context, the author reveals that "Sheridan kissed Checkers, bit down hard on her lips.  He was pulling at her clothes" (Alexie 241).  Not only did Sheridan just fire the group, he also tries to rape one of the women.  If not for George Wright barging in when he did, Sheridan would have completed his evil deed.  Some of the events appall me, yet this scene has some symbolism behind it.  I feel as if the author is trying to portray the white man as believing to be inherently powerful, and that all other races are submissive to him.  This use of symbolism is very compelling.  Even further in the story, Junior ends up killing himself.  It saddens me when Junior's ghost talks with Victor, especially when he says "'Because when I closed m eyes like Thomas, I didn't see a damn thing.  Nothing.  Zilch.  No stories, no songs.  Nothing'" (Alexie 290).  Junior decides to kill himself because of the loss of his future.  He had dreamed of one day being at least a middle class citizen, however his dreams had been shattered and he has nothing to show for his hard work.  He can't see a future for himself anymore, so he kills himself.  It left me with goosebumps.