An examination of indigenous american identity as

American Identity

Native American Identity because of Colonialism

One of the most serious results of colonialism is definitely the creation of distinctly distinct spaces bodily and figuratively, that leads for the development of specific identities seated on each aspect. In Sherman Alexie’s story, The Absolutely True Journal of a Part-Time Indian, the challenges of transcending ethnic, social, and cultural barriers faced by 14 yr old Junior as he leaves his Indian booking to attend the white university reflect the complex external and internal perceptions of recent Spokane indigeneity. Alexie uses first person liaison and interior dialogue to portray Junior’s exploration and comparison of the white and Indian worlds that lead to his discovery of individual identity amidst two homogenous nationalities. Joelle Fraser’s interview of Sherman Alexie further shows inherent differences in the way modern Native American culture can be rendered simply by “colonial” creators in modern literature as well as the barriers of entry encountered by Local American writers. By portraying “white” and “Indian” as mutually exclusive details and profiling individuals in the intersection of these two realms, both text messages challenge the socially imposed perceptions of Native American identity that exist as peripheral colonial constructs.

At first of Alexie’s novel, Jr lives on the Wellpinit booking and recognizes entirely as Spokane Indian. He welcomes the apparently inescapable function given to him on the booking as “the biggest slow down in the world”(4) considering his staggering health problems, lisp, unusual body ratios, and very sensitive, quirky attitude. His do it yourself portrait in the first chapter of the new depicts a gangly teenage boy requisitioning and lisping with the satirical caption “ME in all my GLORY”. Although he plans to convey a sense of hope towards the long term, Junior possesses the self-deprecating attitude projected by everybody surrounding him on the reservation, “I want I had been magical, nevertheless I i am really only a poor-ass booking kid coping with his poor-ass family around the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation”(7). Junior can be conditioned to feel that because he lives on a reservation, is poor, and American indian, he is confined to these functions and a limited scope of society.

Once Junior decides to transfer to Reardan, the off reservation all white-colored school, most of Indians for the reservation scorn and perturb him, phoning him brands like “white-lover”, explicitly stating that he is a traitor and bad to the group. At the same time, Junior is having a surprisingly easy transition in to school at Reardan. The brutal shunning from other Indians at home clashes greatly with all the meaningful human relationships being solid with white colored characters just like his classmates Penelope, Gordy, and his golf ball coach. In addition, Junior’s decision to copy schools inspires his sibling, Mary-Runs-Away, to spontaneously get married and proceed to another booking in Montana. Junior’s inner dialogue shows his impact at the affect he has had on his along with others within the reservation, “Ever since the Spokane Indian Booking was founded back 1881, no person in my relatives has ever before lived anywhere else. We are totally tribal. Forever or to get bad, all of us don’t keep one another”(89). Guilt and confusion occur as Junior realizes his choice to leave not simply signifies the birth of fresh opportunities for him, but the partial death of his indigenous group. He right now interprets his departure as being a rejection of his indigeneity, and fears that he has brought on irrevocable within his family and social aspect.

Second identity is usually directly questioned on his very first day at Reardan when he is usually confronted about his name, “‘My name can be Junior, ‘ I explained. ‘And i’m Arnold. It’s Junior and Arnold. I am just both. ‘”(60 Alexie). At Reardan, he must renounce his cultural reservation nickname and go by his official initially name, “Arnold”. Junior’s remarkable split-identity intricate is amplified on the field hockey court. On one hand, he is a hero: the underdog who also escaped the dead end reservation and is going to make a brighter future for him self. On the other, he can a traitor. One who abandoned his perishing tribe for his individual self fascination. This is described in another cartoon of Junior around the basketball courtroom scoring intended for Reardan against his aged Wellpinit reservation team. On one side this individual draws him self as a devil being scorned by Indians, and on the other an angel being praised by whites. In each family portrait, his facial expression can be one of distress and stress.

Finally, Junior provides a revelation, “I realized that, sure, I was a Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But We also belonged to the tribe of American foreign nationals. And to the tribe of basketball players. And to the tribe of bookworms. Plus the tribe of cartoonists. And the tribe of chronic masturbation sleeves. And the tribe of teen boys. And the tribe of small-town kids¦”(217 Alexie). Junior’s perceptions of identity will be shattered as he realizes that identity is available in multiplicity rather than binary. He will not have to choose to identify because either Spokane or white, the reality is that he embodies a complex personality that encompasses all of his unique qualities, experiences, and idiosyncrasies. This individual does not exist only inside the socially enforced context of “the rez” but in a far much larger tribe that stretches within a global society.

Within an interview simply by Joelle Fraser, Alexie additional comments within the one dimensional nature of Native American identity imposed by colonialism. He take into account clear types of inaccurate portrayal of Native Americans through materials, “what I truly want to express is that you should be talking about these books, revealed Indians simply by non-Indians, seriously and accurately. They’re impérialiste books. I mean, they’re outsider booksThese are books by members of the privileged, with the powerful, writing about a tradition of the colonized”(60). When the majority of literature about Native Americans can be written by non-Natives during impérialiste periods, the depiction of Native American culture and identity will be dangerously put in the hands from the “colonizers”, who have the power to widely deliver their awareness throughout culture which, even though brought about by good intentions, can be ultimately a fabricated fantasy and plays a role in the suggestions of a binary racial identification.

Alexie argues so many stereotypes and opinions have been artfully curated by colonial copy writers, “You throw in a couple of birds and four guidelines and corn pollen and it’s Native American literature, when it has nothing to do with the day-to-day lives of Indians. I want my literature to concern the daily lives of Indians”(63). Moreover, this individual points out that Native American writers themselves begin to think obligated to occupy the stereotypes in literature in order to satisfy white-colored audiences, “I think the majority of native american literature is involved with place because they will tell us being. That’s the mythit’s detrimental. “(63). He admits that possibly his materials does not often reach Native Americans, “Tonight I will look up from your reading and 95% with the people in the crowd will probably be white. There is something wrong with my not reaching Indians”(60). Ultimately, Alexie is difficult the level of ease of access minority experts and followers have inside the literary globe due to the impositions and stereotypes previously established by colonial books.

The two texts look at the existence of Native American and white-colored communities in mutually exclusive interpersonal and social contexts. Alexie directly responses on the inaccuracy of the “Native American identity” portrayed in contemporary materials and uses the character of Junior in his novel to showcase the complex procedures of inner reflection and external phrase experienced by minorities whom straddle both of these worlds. By simply highlighting socioeconomic and cultural friction in the lives of marginalized character types, both text messages reflect inherent inequalities between white and Native American communities and argue intended for the taking out of socially imposed and binary details. Only when individuals from Native American and also other minority neighborhoods are acknowledged and appreciated for their exclusive and complex identities will we be able to transcend the negative effects of colonialism and create a more equitable and simply society.

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