Indian Education: A Sherman Alexie Analysis
Sherman Alexie, a celebrated Native American poet, fiction writer, and filmmaker, draws heavily on his experiences growing up on the Spokane and Coeur D’Alene Indian Reservations. His work is known for its witty and frank explorations of contemporary Native American life. In "Indian Education," Alexie masterfully employs language and rhetorical devices to convey the intensity and value of his experiences within the educational system. The story follows Victor, a Native American boy, from his early school years on the reservation to his experiences in a farm town high school. Through Victor's journey, Alexie highlights the challenges, discrimination, and cultural clashes faced by Native American students.
Early Education on the Reservation
The initial years of Victor's education are marked by hardship and discrimination. In first grade, he faces bullying and racism from white classmates, who chase him, beat him, and bury his face in the dirt and snow. They taunt him with names like "Junior Falls Down," "Bloody Nose," "Steal-His-Lunch," and "Cries-Like-A-White-Boy." This early exposure to prejudice sets the tone for his experiences in the reservation school.
In second grade, Victor encounters a racist teacher, Betty Towle, who subjects him to unusual punishments. On Halloween, when Victor draws a picture of his teacher on a broom with a scrawny cat, she tells him that God will never forgive him. This incident reflects the teacher's intolerance and the cultural gap between Victor and his educators.
However, even in these early grades, Victor displays resilience and a refusal to be defined by the negative stereotypes imposed upon him. In the end of fourth grade, a teacher named Mr. Schluter encourages him to become a doctor.
Navigating Cultural Identity
As Victor progresses through school, he grapples with his cultural identity and the expectations of both the Native American and white communities. In second grade, when his teacher repeatedly calls him "Indian," Victor defiantly responds, "Yes, I am. I am Indian. Indian, I am." This exchange illustrates Victor's growing awareness of his identity and his determination to embrace it despite the pressures to assimilate.
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The short story “Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie is about Victor, a native and his story first grade through his high school education. In the story Victor’s father is an alcoholic. Victor’s environment was not healthy, his 2nd grade teacher, Betty Towle, was a racist teacher who made him do unusual punishments. His whole education at the reservation was not good. Victor narrates, “That was the year my father drank a gallon of vodka a day and the same year that my mother started two hundred quilts but never finished any. They sat in separate, dark places in our HUD house and wept savagely”(Alexie 5).Victor is narrating that his father was a heavy drinker and his mother would entangle herself in her knitting. Victor came from a home where one would look for the solutions to their problems at the bottom of a bottle and keep it to themselves. Victor’s whole life was in an environment where there was always a serious issue impacting his happiness and psychological well-being. With his second grade teacher he would be picked on by his teacher all the time. His father was an alcoholic, his mother was his mother, he was living on a reservation where the dogs wouldn't eat the food that is given to them. He was not happy in this situation, being in unhealthy environment makes your chance of happiness.
Education off the Reservation
In junior high and high school, Victor attends school in a nearby farm town, where he encounters new challenges and experiences. He faces ostracism from Spokane students who stayed on the reservation when he kisses a white girl, and he is shocked by the prevalence of bulimia among the white girls in the farm town.
One particularly poignant incident occurs at a school dance when Victor has a diabetic seizure. His teachers, making a racist assumption based on his Native American heritage, assume that he has been drinking. This moment underscores the pervasive stereotypes and prejudices that Victor continues to face, even as he strives to succeed in the white education system.
Racism and Discrimination
Racism is a recurring theme throughout "Indian Education." Victor experiences prejudice from classmates, teachers, and even the broader community. He is placed in the "dumb" class in elementary school despite his academic abilities, and he is constantly subjected to stereotypes and assumptions about Native Americans.
Alexie presents the issue of racism in education by examining examples of injustice and discrimination over twelve years in a boy’s life. Victor faces his initial injustice in first grade when he is bullied by bigger kids, but his understanding of injustice becomes much more complex in grades two through twelve as he experiences discrimination against his American Indian identity.
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Resilience and Perseverance
Despite the numerous obstacles he faces, Victor demonstrates remarkable resilience and perseverance. He excels academically, participates in sports, and ultimately graduates from high school. His success is a testament to his determination to overcome the limitations imposed on him by the education system and the broader society.
When he was a student he would remind and encourage himself that he was smart, arrogant, and lucky. He exceeded the presumptions made by the non- Native American teachers that Native American children are stupid and did not suppress his intelligence. Many years later, as a teacher, he again has to remind himself of this after observing the students who refuse to learn due to the fact that they have been taught to believe that they are not capable of succeeding in school. This is an effective conclusion because the author shows the audience that he is using his authority to make up for the mistakes of his past teachers.
The Broader Context: Indian Residential Schools
The experiences depicted in "Indian Education" are part of a larger historical context of the mistreatment and forced assimilation of Native Americans in the education system. For many decades, First Nation children were forced to attend Indian residential schools. These educational institutions were government funded and church run by Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, United and Anglican denominations. There were 139 schools where more than 150 000 First Nations children attended. The children of these schools were mentally, physically, emotionally and sexually abused. There were a multitude of accounts of being strapped and needles piercing children’s tongues for speaking their native language. In 1920 it became mandatory for every Native child to attend a residential school. It was illegal to attend any other main stream educational facility.
Language and Rhetorical Techniques
Alexie employs a variety of language and rhetorical techniques to convey the themes and messages of "Indian Education." He uses satire and irony to expose the absurdity and injustice of the education system, and he uses vivid imagery to bring the characters and settings to life.
Alexie utilizes parallelism in the construction of each vignette, introducing a memoir of tension and concluding with a statement about Victor’s difficulties, to explore the conflict between cultures’ expectations and realities. Alexei initially uses parallelism to commence each vignette with cultural tension. In second grade, Victor undergoes a conflict with his missionary teacher, who coerced Victor into taking an advanced spelling test and cutting his braids. Through Victor’s spelling test, Alexie portrays the teacher’s desire to fail Victor, illustrating the expectation held by the white American community that natives ought to fail. Additionally, the braids symbolize the Indian culture’s expectation of appearance, while the teacher’s desire to cut them off symbolizes the white culture’s expectation.
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