Research Paper on "Sherman Alexie's Poetry"

Research Paper 4 pages (1351 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Indian boys / gallop across the grass, against/the beginnings of their body." Gradually, over the course of the poem it becomes evident that Alexie is observing the grounds of the school from the present, imagining what it must have been like to have been raised there even while he integrates images from the native past into that present moment, such as the existence of wild horses cheering on the boys and 'fancydancing' in the tribal tradition from the stands as the boys are cheered on by their families.

The school is still haunted by the ghosts of the native past and the presence of wild horses shows that Indians have yet to 'give up the ghost' of their relationship with the government that attempted to assimilate their children. Indians live with a mixed relationship to that government -- they are forced to live differently as a result of the history of forced assimilation, even while they live apart on reservations. The tribal schools attempt to preserve a dying culture, but only imperfectly, as no one can resist the onslaught of football and Western culture, nor do they really want to. "On those Saturday afternoons, / unbroken horses gather to watch/their sons growing larger / in the small parts of the world." The parents (and perhaps the ghosts of the horses the Indians once rode) observe the boys. The boys are big, strong, and seemingly invincible but thanks to the legacy of history they are confined to a small part of the world (the reservation) which they are unlikely to escape and rather than traditional native ways (like riding wild horses) they aspire to be like white football stars.

The children play against one another even though the real, common enemy of all Indians is not one another on the football field but the white man himself. "This is the eternal football game, / Indians vs. Indians." Everyone, notes Alexie, is a 'skin' (a redskin) in this game, there are no shirts, although there are two teams fighting one another. And that is true of the onlookers as well: "All the Skins / in the wooden bleachers fancydancing, / stomping red dust straight down / into nothing." The poem captures Alexie's complex, at times, ambivalent attitude towards native culture -- the past can never be perfectly recreated and even a tribal school demands the ritualized performance of football from its students, which the parents delight in. In mainstream American society, the cartoon image of an Indian is used as a mascot of a team, but these are real Indian boys, playing their hearts out against one another -- at a white-created game at an ostensibly tribal school.

Alexie's attitude towards sports, however, is far from negative. Along with writers, he notes that sports figures are some of his greatest heroes. "Like most American males, I've always admired athletes… Unlike many American males, I always admired writers as much as I admired athletes" (Baratto, "On Tour"). Alexie does not criticize the Indian football players any more than he criticizes himself for using a villanelle to discuss aspects of his personal relationship with his sister. He accepts that cultural cross-pollination is inevitable but tries to use it in a self-conscious and empowered fashion, without casting his culture in an inferior light.

Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. "Sister Fire, Brother Smoke." Web. 16 Nov 2014.

Alexie, Sherman. "At a Navajo Monument Valley Tribal School." Web. 16 Nov 2014.

Baratto, Laura. "On Tour: Writers on the Road with New Books." Hungry Mind Review Summer

1995: 22. Web excerpt. 16 Nov 2014.

Caldwell, E.K. "Interview: Sherman Alexie." Modern American Poetry. Web except.

16 Nov 2014.

De Ramirez, Susan Berry Brill. "Fancy Dancer: A Profile of Sherman Alexie." Poets and Writers

January/February 1999: 54-59. Web excerpt. 16 Nov 2014.

Lincoln, Kenneth. "Futuristic Hip Indian: Alexie." From Sing With the Heart of a Bear: Fusions

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