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The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven Analysis

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In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie utilizes several stories to highlight the economic vulnerability of Native Americans in the outside world. On one hand, a considerable number of Native Americans despise the reservation and attempt to escape in order to achieve self-actualization. On the other hand, many of the people who are fortunate enough to escape the reservation, find themselves not fitting in. Thus forcing them to return to the only place where they feel that they fit; the reservations. I argue that Alexie’s short stories demonstrate through neglect and isolation the government is predetermining Native Americans failure in society. In the text, a direct instance in which neglection is present when is stated that many Indians cannot even afford a proper diet. In Imagining the reservation, Alexie writes, “When I was young, living on the reservation, eating potatoes every day of my life, I imagined the potatoes grew larger, filled my stomach, reversed the emptiness. My sisters saved up a few quarters and bought food coloring,” (Alexie 151). This specific instance in the book illustrates the extremes that some individuals rely on. Many Native Americans have limited resources regardless of being employed or unemployed, for instance, food. The food coloring did not change the flavor of the potatoes; however, it is suggested that the coloring was to help the children’s mental state and refute their bitter reality. The fact that the

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