1. The narrator of Sherman Alexie's short story affirms: “we Indians are great storytellers and liars and mythmakers.” Support this affirmation with literary devices/strategies found in the short story.
2. What do you think is the symbolism of the three Aleut Indians in the narrative?
3. Euphoric and dysphoric elements in the short story: how do they balance each other? Justify with evidence.
4. Do you think Jackson Jackson is a round character or a flat character? Try to justify with textual evidence of his psychological traits throughout the story.
3. There's a balance between dysphoria and euphoric ideas in the text. Every time Jackson Jackson meets an unfortunate event there is a good one to balance it out.
ReplyDeleteWhen he feels bad because of his grandmother passing while having been passed out on the railroads (dysphoric element - "She died... 1972... And you're killing yourself now?") he meets Officer Williams who genuinely tries to help him. He tries to convince Jackson to go to detox and eventually says "... I'd give you a thousand dollars if I knew you'd straighten up your life. ". When he says this there's an euphoric moment that can be justified when Jackson calls him a good cop ("You're a good cop.")
Another moment that can be viewed as balanced is when he meets the three Aleuts. Even though "They were lonely..." (dysphoric), they still wanted to help Jackson. They did this by singing "their strange and beautiful songs" (euphoric) about their grandmothers.
The last dysphoric/euphoric moment is when Jackson goes back to the pawnshop. On their first encounter he only had five dollars to regain his grandmother's regalia and because this the pawnbroker does not give it to him. "We've got five dollars total. That's too bad." is the dysphoria moment. However, when they meet again, even though Jackson still only had five dollars, the pawnbroker asks "Did you work hard for this money?"; to which Jackson says "Yes.". When Jackson says this, the pawnbroker gives him his grandmother's regalia without taking his money. This is the biggest euphoric moment.
4. In my opinion, Jackson Jackson is a round character. I think he's a round character because he's got both characteristics of what's considered normal and what's considered different by society. When he first describes himself, he describes what's different about him. He's an Indian and he's homeless ("...I'm not going to tell you my particular reasons for being homeless... I'm a Spokane Indian..."). These characteristics don't make him sound like a flat character, at all. Other characteristics that make his personality are mentioned later in the text. He never mentions it directly but he's probably an alcoholic. When Officer Williams found he had been drinking, he offered to take him to detox ("I'm taking you over to detox."). Other psychological characteristics mentioned in the text describe Indians, and therefore himself, as "great storytellers and liars and mythmakers".
The characteristics that make him sound like what's considered normal are facts that he tried going to to college, worked various jobs, had been married and had kids ("... moved to Seattle...for college, flunked out within two semesters, worked various blue- and bluer-collar jobs..., married two or three times, fathered two or three kid...".
When taking all of these characteristics into consideration, I think he's a very round character.
Joana Pereira
152077
2. The Aleut Indians mentioned serve, in my opinion, how closely connected but also detached the tribes are from each other. Most of the Aleut came to Seattle by boat, as Jackson tells it, which Jackson can’t personally connect to but he sympathizes with their feeling of dislocation. The moment when the Aleut sing Indian songs also shows this as Jackson says “The Aleuts sang their strange and beautiful songs. I listened. They sang about my grandmother and their grandmothers.”. Jackson himself, mentions this separation briefly, sounding almost condescending when he says: “’We aren’t like those crazy Sioux or Apache or any of those other warrior tribes.’”. They also serve to represent the hopeful yet desperate spirit of Indians: ‘”How long has your boat been gone?” I asked. “Eleven years,” the elder Aleut said. I cried with them for a while.’
ReplyDelete4. It’s not a coincidence that this short story starts with a description of the main character’s familial background. In the first paragraph Jackson Jackson makes a jab at white people and their tendency to steal POC’s (people of color) personal stories for their own benefit. Clearly, he’s distrustful and quite critical of the white dominated world he lives in. He’s justified in having this mistrust but it does make him a very naïve and cynical character; a flat character. However, by the time the story ends, Jackson Jackson grows becoming complex and evolving as a literary character; resulting in a round character.
Throughout the story we see how Jackson makes fun of stereotypes white people make for Indians (“We’re common and boring, and you walk right by us, with maybe a look of anger or disgust or even sadness at the terrible fate of the noble savage.”) and calls out the entitlement they show towards their own lifestyles (“Maybe you don’t understand the value of a clean bathroom, but I do.”). But after the encounter with Officer Williams, a police officer who Jackson has known for years, his perspective changed. Officer Williams was one of the few people who tried to genuinely help Jackson and wished he would get better. Finally, the final episode with the pawnbroker gave him a new found hope; despite Jackson not having the money he asked for, the pawnbroker gave him his grandmother’s regalia. Before going out into the streets to celebrate his new acquisition, Jackson claims excitedly “Do you know how many good men live in this world? Too many to count!”
- Ana Narciso nº150886
1) One of the generalist statements made about Native Americans (Indians) in this short story is that they are good at telling stories. The narrator in "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" is an Indian man luring us into his own world and proving that this statement is true, or that at least it applies to him.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most interesting aspects of this story is how it is told. There is one main narrative (the buying back of the powwow regalia) and several side narratives woven into this main one (story of Jackson Jackson's family, his trips to the bars, meetings with the Aleuts, and so on). This makes the story more dynamic and better holds the attention of the audience.
On top of that, the fact that the narrator addresses the reader directly using the pronoun "you" further contributes to this. Jackson Jackson gets the attention of the reader and makes him an active participant in the hearing of the story.
Another interesting aspect is the lack of temporal markers for most part of the short story. We are introduced to the main events when Jackson Jackson says "This whole story started at lunchtime..." (3973). To me, this sentence evokes the traditional ways of telling a story in the West, starting with "Once upon a time." The fact that this introduction makes no mention of dates gives the story a more mythical and mysterious feel.
2)
The three Aleut Indians are introduced as the narrator's cousins. This is more of an affectionate bond than a genetic one, given that the Aleuts come from Alaska and the narrator comes from Spokane (as do his ancestors, for thousands of years). However, the fact that this connection is more imagined than tangible does not take away from how the narrator and the Aleuts connect with one another.
There is a very clear sense of closeness between the two parties, despite having their roots separated by thousands of miles. For instance, when the narrator asks the men to sing him a song about his dead grandmother, the three men grant him this wish, despite never having known the lady in question. In fact, they claim all their traditional songs are based on the same topic. This shows that the suffering and scarring both parties feel is shared, despite their distinct origins. It shows how inter-tribal union can work in forming modern-day connections.
At the same time, there is also a sense of difference between the narrator and the Aleuts. They have a strange smell (of salmon) and keep some songs for themselves ("All the others are for just our people"). This contrasts with my earlier point and reinforces tribal peculiarities and unique traits.
At a more symbolic level, the Aleuts represent the diasporic condition of the Indian population in modern-day America. Like the Aleuts, Indians have wandered around the continent, moving from their ancestral lands elsewhere (West, typically), back to their ancestral lands when possible (to reservations), to cities (Portland), and back to their reservations (as we are told the narrator's friends have done after waking up from their drunk stupor). This is a thought-provoking way of analysing how Native American tribes have existed over the centuries in the continent. Surprisingly, they have gone from owners of the land (and most tribes didn't leave their ancestral homes for thousands of years) to mobile individuals traveling either solo or in small groups.
— Rita Cunha, n150913