Humor is a universal language whose breadth spans that of all ages and cultures. As a fundamental method of communication, it links humanity and fosters a deeper understanding of each other’s lives. In Sherman Alexie’s short story excerpt, The Approximate Size of my Favorite Tumor, Alexie highlights the identity of his people through the use of humor. Occurring throughout the work, humor defines Alexie’s style and view of the world around him. It acts as both a coping mechanism and a way of communicating with those around him, as humor is a language everyone can understand. In this sense, it weaves together Alexie’s view of Native American identity. Alexie uses this humor both to reveal long standing stereotypes about Native American people and communities and to maneuver through everyday life. At several points within “The Approximate Size of my Favorite Tumor,” Alexie plays with the use of nicknames to relay relationships between characters. A name is an integral part of one’s identity, being given at birth and held on to till death, representing who a person is. Sometimes people go by different names depending on how close the person is to another. Names are altered to tease lovingly or show sincerity. Such an instance takes place within the text. Surnames in the Native American community differ from that of western society. Descriptions took the place of a typical last name, creating more intimate and interesting names. For example, the main character of this excerpt is
There comes a point in time in an individual’s life in which their name truly becomes a part of their identity. A name is more than just a title to differentiate people; it is a part of the person. In Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood by Richard E. Kim, names play a major role on the character’s identities. The absence and importance of the names in the story make the story rich with detail and identity through something as simple as the name of a character. Names are a significant factor affecting the story and the characters throughout the novel Lost Names.
Alyce’s nicknames shaped her identity in both a positive and negative way. As Alyce does the midwife’s bidding, the author explains, “For weeks after, the midwife called her not Beetle but Brainless Brat and Clodpole and Good-For-Nothing, and Beetle worked twice as hard and talked only half as much…” (24). This quote proves nicknames can shape one’s identity because when Jane the midwife called Alyce these hurtful names, Alyce worked harder to show Jane she was more than these names. Alyce was also afraid the midwife was angry enough to kick her out of her cottage. Alyce, while at the Saint Swithin’s Day Fair, said to herself, “‘This then is me, Alyce.’ It was right...with her head back and bare feet solid on the ground, she headed back to
Compare and contrast the ways Cisneros and Piercy feel about names in general and their own names in the Vignette “My Name” and the poem “’If I had been called Sabrina or Ann,’ she said.” Comment on the language and language techniques used.
Sherman Alexie demonstrates laughter as one of the ways a person can deal with emotional and physical pain shown in the short story “The Approximate Size of my Favourite Tumour.” Jimmy Many Horses is an Indigenous character that faces an inevitable disease: terminal cancer. Despite having cancer, Jimmy has a positive outlook towards his situation. He is an optimistic person, always looking for the good in bad conditions. Alexie depicts Jimmy’s relationship with others and his surroundings through their interactions. She has many hidden meanings that also ties in with the History of Indigenous people and their experiences during colonialism where they faced identity loss and racial stereotypes. Through symbolism, Alexie shows healing as a major theme shown throughout her use of the setting, cancer, and Jimmy Many Horses himself.
Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel, Ceremony, reveals how the crossing of cultures was feared, ridiculed, and shunned in various Native American tribes. The fear of change is a common and overwhelming fear everyone faces at some point in their life. The fear of the unknown, the fear of letting go, and the fear of forgetting all play a part in why people struggle with change. In Ceremony the crossing of cultures creates “half-breeds,” usually bringing disgrace to their family’s name. In Jodi Lundgren’s discourse, “Being a Half-breed”, is about how a girl who struggles with understanding what cultural group she fits into since she is a “half-breed.” Elizabeth Evasdaughter’s essay, “Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony”: Healing Ethnic Hatred by
• Boyle shows how two people used fake names, and that they should be honest with their names because it gives a stronger connection with them
After moving out of her parents' house, she suddenly found herself free of all the restrictions and lectures. She quickly settled into kickboxing lessons and cut her hair short, but she still had one more thing to deal with. Her name. Oh, how she loathed her name. It was a reminder of the past, of how her mother would force her into dresses and how the only toys she had were Barbies.
In the sonnet “Face,” Sherman Alexie conveys the benefits, and need, of developing hybrid cultures. He develops the argument with similes, comparing the Native American culture, “my reservation,” to western style culture, discussing one of it’s known aspects of literature, “the sonnet,”and how both of them are guilty of harboring secrets behind their own boundaries that seem mundane; Second, he continues by juxtaposing the structure of a sonnet, to the flowing rivers in the reservation that eventually meet to, hopefully, form a concourse: “ (Fourteen lines that rhyme, two rivers that meet,/Poem and water joined at one confluence);” Then, his allegory about the effects of colonialism’s influence is used to relate to the metaphors mentioned,
The narrator is never directly introduced or ever called by a name. It is obvious that this narrator is a woman, married to a named John. His name is presented, and not hers, for a reason. It is to present the fact that within herself, within her marriage to John, and within society, she feels unimportant. Within her, she feels as though, she cannot be named like others can, as though she cannot be in the same human category. She doesn't see herself as
Some other research about Brown tumors is that, Brown Tumors appear around 10% of the cases that have to do with a kidney disease. The tumor can be found anywhere in the skeleton. The most common parts that can be found are in the ribs, clavicle and the pelvis. 4.5% have been found in the mandibular, which is your
Over time humans have developed different methods for coping with hardships. Humor was developed as a way to cope with stressful situations or sadness. Art provided a way for people to escape the harsh reality they lived in to one of their own creation. The Escapism Movement in America following the Great Depression shows how people will take to various forms of art to distract themselves from the harsh reality of their situation. In Anthony Marra’s A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, the characters find outlets from their war-torn country through the use of comedy and several artistic mediums. From Deshi and Maali’s use of humor to cope with the duress of the hospital to Khassan’s lifelong work on his novel, the character’s in this novel
This shines light upon her Native American roots and how it can be an inspiration for her Century Quilt, each square representing her family’s racial diversity and mixed roots. It is quite difficult to learn of all the harsh animosity they were enduring, such as Meema and her yellow sisters whose “grandfather’s white family nodding at them when they met” (24-27). The hostility is clear as the white relatives only register their presence; no “hello” or warm embrace as if they didn’t acknowledge them as true family. However, with descriptive imagery, the speaker’s sense of pride for having the best of both worlds is still present as she understands Meema’s past experiences and embraces her family’s complexity wholeheartedly; animosity and all.
Satire also reinforces the theme of cultural divide in the scenes set in Latisha’s diner, The Dead Dog Café. Even the restaurant’s namesake underscores the humor in the conflict between White and Native American cultures. Part of the selling point of Latisha’s café is the illusion that the patrons are eating dog meat as a way of experiencing authentic Native American culture. In reality, the meat served is beef because consuming dogs as food is in no way part of Blackfoot dietary practices. The white tourists who filter through the cafe (both American and Canadian) are drawn in broad strokes and quickly display their ignorance of Native American culture by their enthrallment with its perceived exoticness.
The meaning of names is a central focus of the novel, because names define people. Their worth and functions are summarized by the names. To some extent, the names also discourage originality. This occurs especially to
The authors of the majority praised works possess an element of madness within them. However, this element of madness is not meant to have a negative connotation; is simply means that praised authors, as a whole, have the ability to create piece of work beyond the capabilities of an average individual. Moreover, this element changes from writer to writer, due to the external forces and internal forces around them. Therefore, leading an author to have a particular writing style. Sherman Alexie a well acclaimed poet, prose and script writer has a very distinct style. His accurate portrayal of Native American culture, written to a young adult audience, has exemplifies why he has been so influential in today’s society. In fact, this style is displayed in “Evolution,” which was one of his earlier poems. This poem depicts the bitter reality of the destruction of Native American culture, while adding bits of irony to make it more light hearted. In order to better understand the consistent theme in his writing, one must uncover the Alexie background and the literary element he incorporates.