The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
by Sherman Alexie
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HarperPerennial (New York): 1993. Trade paperback: 223 pages. ISBN-10: 0-06-097624-1 Suggested retail price: $13.00 (US) Tags: alcoholism; basketball; Indians; made into movie; Mainstream; Native Americans; reservation; Spokane Tactical strength: [6/10] |
Compare prices on The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie at Book Cost
Although The Lone Ranger and Tonto provided the inspiration for the movie Smoke Signals, very little of the movie comes directly from the book. Both provide a view of contemporary life on an Indian Reservation, but The Lone Ranger and Tonto provides a much more gloomy, and probably more realistic, perspective with almost none of the comedy found in Smoke Signals.
In The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Alexie portrays the complexities of life on the reservation. While Native Americans struggle to maintain their cultural heritage, they have no choice but to partake in the white man's world. They watch white man's TV shows, wear his Nike shoes, play his sports, drink his alcohol, and live in his HUD homes. Even the most ordinary of acts, like driving a car, can cause a character to reflect upon the bizarre condition of Native Americans.
My hands grip the steering wheel tightly. They are not mine this morning. These hands are too strong, too necessary for even the small gestures. . . . Years ago, these hands might have held the spear that held the salmon that held the dream of the tribe. Years ago, these hands might have touched the hands of the dark-skinned men who touched medicine and the magic of ordinary gods. Now I put my hand to the gearshift, my heart to the cold wind.
The entire novel catalogs scenes of frustration, usually demonstrated through copious consumption of alcohol. In the twenty-two chapters, Alexie uses graceful images and often poetic prose to describe reservation life. From chapter to chapter, he doesn't follow any single character through the the rise and fall action of a traditional plot; instead, he chooses a cast of characters that seem at once similar in their humanity and alien in their Indianness. Alexie accentuates this similarity by often not clearly identifying the point of view character in each chapter. Since you cannot clearly identify the characters in a particular scene, you apply the events to all the characters -- in a way providing the characters with a universal experience that they all share as Native Americans or reservation dwellers.
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Smoke Signals directed by Chris Eyre
