| Week 3 Discussion 2 Stephanie Russell ENG125: Introduction to Literature Instructor: Farrah Hilton February 2, 2017 Despite making poor decisions and the struggles Jackson faced, there seems to be nothing standing in the way of Jackson’s quest for identity and that is clear through his spiritual transformation throughout the story. Being homeless for six years you would expect Jackson to be someone that would hold a lot of bitterness and anger towards society and other people with the reality that he lives however, this is far from the case for Jackson. Jackson actually appears to be very friendly, smart and even comic (Peterson, 2010, p.77). In the beginning of the story Jackson goes into the pawn shop and tries to convince the pawn shop owner that is his grandmother’s regalia. Jackson’s friend Rose of Sharon then says “He’s the most honest Indian I know” (Alexie, 2003). This shows that Jackson is a good soul. For someone to say that he is the most honest Indian they know really says something about Jackson’s character. Throughout the story it becomes more clear that there really is something watching over Jackson. “Even in a story with some tension, a plot can be driven forward by kindness rather than conflict” (Ebenback, 2010, p.15). References: Alexie, S. (2003). What You Pawn, I Will Redeem, New York, NY: The New Yorker Ebenback, D. (2010). “Writing towards the light: A short-story writer realizes that the form welcomes both sadness and hope.” Writer (Kalmback Publishing Co.), (123), 15-16 Peterson, N. (2010). “If I were Jewish, how would I mourn the dead?”: Holocaust and Genocide in the work of Sherman Alexie, MELUS, 3(35), 76-79
Explain the connection between the topic sentence and your working thesis. Would this connection be clear to someone without your explanation? If so, why? If not, how can you modify your topic sentence and/or thesis statement to make this connection more clear? My topic sentence and my thesis statement connect because my topic sentence starts out by discussing Jackson’s homelessness and how he is not bitter and angry as some may think he would be. However, I do feel I can work on making a better connection. I can work on creating a stronger topic sentence and incorporate a little more than connects to Jackson’s spiritual transformation. Explain the choice of reference material. How do the references support the topic sentence? Would this connection be clear to someone without your explanation? If so, why? If not, what information should you add to the paragraph to make this connection more clear? I feel that my choice of reference material does support the topic sentence because they all have the same thing in common; kindness. Which I feel is extremely important in the meaning of this story. Jackson is able to go through this spiritual transformation because of his kind soul and his way of being. Does the paragraph contain any unnecessary information? Does everything in it work to support the topic sentence? What information could be added or removed? In essence, you are being asked to evaluate the cohesion of your paragraph. I feel that for the most part all of the information I have incorporated in my paragraph is relevant to my topic sentence. My topic statement suggests how Jackson could feel but does not. How he is very friendly, smart and comic. Throughout the rest of the paragraph I am supporting that statement by showing how he does not show anger or bitterness. Note any other specific challenges faced or successes experienced when writing this paragraph or completing this discussion post. I think that this assignment is very helpful. This has allowed me to further evaluate where I am at with my literary analysis while allowing me to receive feedback from my classmates. I appreciate all the advice I can get! | 
