For Paula

Running head: LITERARY ANALYSIS DRAFT

Literary Analysis Draft

Oscar Vasquezmolina

ENG 125: Introduction to Literature

Instructor: Lynndi Kesler

17 April 2017

Writing Prompt

Write an analysis of a key character in a literary work. Focus on two or three key actions of that character. Discuss the character’s motivations and decisions in terms you can support with clear evidence from a critical reading of the text. Consider whether this character’s actions fit together or contradict each other. You may also want to consider whether or not any other characters in the story are aware of this conflict, and if so, how they influence the character you are writing about.

Working Thesis

Through Jackson Jackson’s homelessness, alcoholism and mental disposition the author is suggesting that if native American’s can rediscover their culture, then their pride can be restored.

What You Pawn I Will Redeem

The short story by Alexie Sherman, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” commences with the statement, “One day you have a home and the next you don’t.” The author intends to highlight not only Jackson’s literal homelessness but also his cultural homelessness as a Spokane Indian. Like all other Native Americans, he is culturally connected to a history of forced removal, dispossession, and lost land. His homeless resonates throughout the story, representing not only his economic state but also his cultural and psychological state. Alexie uses his homelessness, alcoholism and mental disposition to suggest that the solution for the Native American’s plight would be the rediscovery of the culture.

Jackson, like many other Native Americans, takes alcohol to forget the misery and deprived living conditions arising from a state that colonialism left them. The Spokane Indians suffered from decades of exploitation at the hands of the U.S government and white settlers. The result was a generation deprived of material possessions, culture, and heritage (Brown-Rice, 2013). Jackson laments these conditions stating, “…I am living proof of the horrible damage that colonialism has done to us Skins…”, (Alexie, 2003). He is thus drunk for the majority part of the day and can barely hold a steady job. Despite having offers from the Real Change organization, Jackson can barely sell enough papers to make a decent living stating that the job needs him to be sober, but he is not good at doing so. He spends all the cash he finds on the streets on alcohol, sometimes sleeping on the railway tracks have blacked out and thrown out of the bar. This is why reclaiming his grandmother's powwow is so important to him. He considers himself on a crucial mission asserting, “I want to win it back, like a knight.” By recovering his grandmother’s lost dancing regalia, he would be reunited with his lost culture and heritage. Ultimately, when he does so, he ceases being invisible to the world and becomes significant again, “Pedestrians stopped. Cars stopped. The city stopped. They all watched me dance with my grandmother. I was my grandmother, dancing.”, (Alexie, 2003). By reconnecting to his roots, he regains his identity and sense of worth.

Jackson informs us that his mental condition is not all that good, having been diagnosed with asocial disorder. This sounds as though he could be dangerous or violent at times but goes on to clarify the opposite claiming, “…that makes me sound like I’m a serial killer or something. I’ve never hurt another human being, or, at least, not physically.” However, on a drunken spree after winning the lottery, a rendezvous with Irene, a chubby Duwamish Indian, (Alexie, 2003), leaves him blacked out in the bathroom and come to, to find everyone having left the bar. Disoriented, he starts a fight with the bartender and is thrown out after a sound beating. Jackson cannot hold a steady job or father a family symptoms of historical losses such as cultural dispossession as Brown-Rice suggests. Loss of identity and way of life has psychologically traumatized many of the Native Americans, and hence they find difficult to adjust to the society. Alexie points out the importance of the society recognizing their plight and offering assistance wherever possible through characters such as Officer Williams who is always kind to Jackson, “He was a good cop with a sweet tooth. He’d given me hundreds of candy bars over the years.” He suggests that helping them to rebuild their past through change can help the Native Americans to rebuild their future.

The homeless state of Jackson Jackson symbolizes not only his physical state but also the cultural homelessness that he shares with other native Americans. Jackson flunked out of college and has been unable to hold a steady job for over six years. He has does not have a place to call home stating, “Being homeless is probably the only thing I’ve ever been good at.”, (Alexie, 2003). Being homeless is an important aspect of his identity. It summarizes the state of the entire Native American identity; cultural homelessness. Jackson reveal how the society ignores or frown upon the homeless Indian saying that passersby only bear "a look of anger or disgust or even sadness at the terrible fate of the noble savage.", (Alexie, 2003). Throughout the story, emphasizes on his individuality to separate himself from the notion of the stereotype collective identity. He describes himself as an American Indian from the experiences and memories of his past, such as those evoked by grandmother. He paints himself as a culturally aware Indian pointing out how other Indians don’t like acknowledging themselves as Red Indians such as his friend who went by the identity of a Plains Indian, a generic term, instead of his specific tribe. Alexie is suggesting that the problems facing the Native Americans arise from forgetting their roots and heritage and hence losing their identity. He, therefore, orchestrates for Jackson to win back his grandmother’s dancing regalia as part of the solution to rediscovering their pride.

The problems faced by Native Americans are majorly due to a loss of their identity and if their culture and heritage can be restored, so can their pride. The psychological trauma, alcoholism, and homelessness that plague many Native Americans is due to an identity crisis. The society needs to focus on measures that will help improve the living conditions of the Native American instead of being insensitive to their plight by helping them to reconnect with their roots.

References

Alexie, S. (2003). What You Pawn I Will Redeem. The New Yorker. Retrieved 15 April 2017, from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/04/21/what-you-pawn-i-will-redeem

Brown-Rice, K. (2013). Examining the Theory of Historical Trauma Among Native Americans. Tpcjournal.nbcc.org. Retrieved 15 April 2017, from http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org/examining-the-theory-of-historical-trauma-among-native- americans/