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Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Sherman Alexie: “The Unauthorized Autobiography of Me”
I must admit, I had to reread this short story multiple times in order to begin to scratch the surface behind the meaning of this story. I still don’t feel like I understand what the author is trying to get at. What I do recall is the multiple emotions I was feeling as I read. When the author would talk about memories of him back in his reservation I felt sympathy. The first story he shares about playing with his cousins and repeatedly states, “My hands are bare” it was as if I could feel how cold and naked his skin felt. Every incident he addressed about a negative comment a non-Indian had to say about Indians made me feel angry and when he described the lonely feeling he gets when he is surrounded by people he doesn’t look like, made me feel empathetic. Although I am not Indian, I noticed that a lot of what the author expressed I could relate to. I’m sure everyone can in a unique way. But there is something special about this author’s story because he comes from a culture that is becoming “extinct” with only two million people belonging to the population. The structure in which this short story is constructed made it hard for me to focus on the main idea. Every time he would start a new story and go into details with it, instead of finishing he would cut it short and start a new one, it is almost as if he was giving us a personal part of him and then taking it away. The structure of this story reflects the way “so much has been taken away from [them]” the Indian people.
This article was very eye opening to me. It explains how Indians are very misperceived in the eyes of many. The part that stands out to me was when the author discussed different Indian books by a variety of authors with different backgrounds. If they are non-Indian writers they will use what many believe are words Indians use all of the time like “Great Spirit”, “Four-Legged”, or “Winged”. Normal Indian writers will use God, dog, and bird instead. Non-Indian writers will tell fictional stories about Indians because those are the stories that sell even if it gives Indians a bad name. These are the stories people often believe are true because more times than not a person will buy a book from a non-Indian writer over a true Indian writer. A quote that really stood out to me was “So much has been taken from us that we hold on to the smallest things with all of the strength we have left.” People have done so much to the Indian culture that they still want to hold on to the little things. Many Native Americans were abused by the Europeans that found America. Europeans forced Native Americans into slavery and tried to assimilate them into the European culture. Now they have very little respect from other people, they tend to hold on to everything they can call their own with all of their strength. They will even want to hold onto the name Indian even though some find it demeaning as stated in the reading.
This reading was actually interesting to me. The reason may be because I have read Sherman Alexie’s work before. One thing I noticed is that he by no means follows a specific order in his writing. When I think of an autobiography I think of a story of a person’s life told in chronological order. Alexie jumped around a lot and that made it somewhat difficult to understand what he was trying to get at. He grew up on a reservation and that is a unique experience, but did he still hang out with white friends? At one point he was talking about his friend S and how a drunken Indian came into the diner. S stated “Man” “I hate Indians.” Why on earth would she say this in front of her friend who is an Indian? It seems like it would be extremely rude to say this in his presence. She clearly does not hate all Indians if she is friends with Alexie. Her statement was just way to general and in poor taste. Another part of the article that I found interesting was the very last line. “Thank you,” “But that’s my father sitting right next to you.” The lady who attended Alexie’s reading came to conclusions based upon how she interpreted what he had read. Sure, the story was about an Indian father who left the family and then died. However, just because Alexie wrote about it does not necessarily mean that he personally experienced it. Sometimes, people make assumptions that can turn out to be wrong.
I enjoyed reading this piece by Sherman Alexie. I think it's quite impressive how coherent his writing is, despite the fact that it's not organized in a traditional fashion. I think the ideas connect themselves in a way that makes the reader think. Very quickly you get that Alexie is discussing how Indians are seen by average people, and then he goes into this type of writing which is almost like a bedtime story. What I mean is that there isn't necessarily a clear plot; there are many little tangents and stories, but each of these stories furthers this idea that Indians are misrepresented by people and by the general idea people have when they think of Indians, as well as how non-Indian writers view them, which was an important part of Alexie's article. On a different note, one part that particularly interested me was how Alexie says Indians don't want to be called American Indians, or Native Americans. Today, political correctness is something that people worry over so much, not wanting to offend anyone. This has become such a theme that we no longer think it's okay to call them Indians because they aren't from India, but I think it's disrespectful to think that we can just rename them as we please, we being average white Americans. First of all, why would the term "Indians" be disrespectful in the first place? Also, when they were given the name Indian, they were believed to be Indians. It wasn't derogatory in any way, so I think it's interesting how America has renamed them once again in an effort not to offend anyone, and ended up overstepping those boundaries in the process.
While reading this article I felt very lost in a way. As people before me have said the author jumped around a lot and at some points the sentences were very short and quick. Although I was lost at some points, I did find the piece very interesting. A great job that he did was make me realize that most of the articles or stories I’ve read have been written by non-Indian writers. By reading a story written by a true Indian I feel the author did a good job putting me into his shoes and showing me the problems that he and a lot of Indians have to go through. I praise the author for the way he dealt with the racism of some people. As I continued to read the article I had gotten the feeling that one way he was able to deal with these problems was with music, which I believe is how many people are able to deal with things. Also reiterating on a point from last class how we were trying to dis-connect ourselves from things that we’ve already known, and also thinking about Bruce’s comment. I feel the author is trying to show us how we dis-connect ourselves from them by using political correctness, as Bruce said, we call them native-Americans now instead of Indians. Maybe this in a way is to try and hide the past of what happened to them for our own benefit.
In a lot of ways this article was very confusing to me. As others have mentioned, I also had to re-read certain parts of the article to gain some sort of understanding of the article. I think the way in which the article was presented to the reader made it more of a challenge. Such as the jumping between a story in chronological order to the present to random lists of things. Nonetheless, I found some interesting things about the article. First, I found it very interesting that the author embraces the term “Indian” as opposed to “Native American”, throughout grade school we were always taught to refer to the native people as “Native Americans” and that “Indian” was derogatory, so I definitely thought that was surprising. I also found it interesting how the author makes the point that non-Indian writers who write about Indians are more likely to be published than somebody who is actually Indian or that only certain areas of Indian tribes or cultures sell books, such as the “Sioux”. One of the main themes I gathered from this piece was that the author was trying to convey the fact that most Indian children growing up on reservations in modern times often have a similar childhood to any non-Indian American. I can tell you from personal experience that growing up I did the same things as a child (like snowball fights and basketball) and I’m not the slightest bit Indian. In addition to that, he spoke of listening to the music that other kids his age listed to and having problems like not being able to afford electricity or having an alcoholic parent, which people have both on and off reservations, regardless of race, and yet he spoke of racial intolerance towards him, such as the incident he recalls at a red light. He indirectly draws together the two points of racial intolerance to Indians and the literature we buy about Indians with what I gathered to be the underlying point that he isn’t any necessarily different than a non-Indian American, but the visions of others are clouted by the literature on Indians that society chooses to buy and read, which are tales of fallacy with regards to today’s Indian people.
This piece was definitely a difficult read for me, only because I was confused on what to focus on. Sherman Alexie obviously wrote the article from a chronological stand point, and chose events that probably held a special value to the article in the whole. However, I couldn’t pin-point them. Instead, several things stood out to me, which resulted in scattered ideas. For example, in the introductory paragraphs of “Unauthorized Autobiography of Me”, he repeats the phrase “my hands are bare”. In my opinion, this could be deciphered as him feeling unprotected, or alone because his people are only 2 million in population. Or it can even stand as a foreshadowing for the relatives that he will lose in future years. Or it could’ve just meant that his hands were actually bare. Skipping a couple paragraphs later, he recalls a scene in which his teacher ask them as kids to pick an instrument they will like to learn. Why is such a scene important in this reading? Is there something I’m missing there? Maybe to illustrate the love Indians have for drums? Maybe each scene that Alexie shares with us only serves the purpose illuminating the audience about the real Indian culture and himself, and the last scene just brought it to a comical end. I truly don’t know where to go with the passage, but I do know that the recurrent theme lies behind the idea of a man who is passionate about true his home and is now facing a world in which he is no longer there.
Like some others that have commented about the assigned reading, I too had found this reading very difficult to follow. I suppose this is because I wasn’t entirely sure who was speaking at certain times. Also, at times it seemed as if the author didn’t really stick to any type of specific order. After reading the title, I automatically assumed that this passage would be mostly about someone’s life in a specific order from past to present. After reading through the passage I found that while this style of writing may be confusing- or at least it is to me- it does a very good job of informing the reader of its message. It is made apparent by this passage that “Indians” have been treated unequally throughout history and throughout the life of the narrator. “So much has been taken from us that we hold on to the smallest things with all the strength we have left.” I thought that this quote accurately summed up the struggle that Native Americans have endured throughout time. Similarly, I found that a few names on the list of “…People Whom I Wish Were Indian” stood out more than others: “Martin Luther King Jr.”, “Superman”, and even “Jesus Christ”. All of these people have accomplished many things that have to the advancement of the race or religion, and I think that the list as a whole proves the desire for Native Americans to have such a “hero” in order to rightly gain the respect that they believe they deserve.
I must admit, I had to reread this short story multiple times in order to begin to scratch the surface behind the meaning of this story. I still don’t feel like I understand what the author is trying to get at. What I do recall is the multiple emotions I was feeling as I read. When the author would talk about memories of him back in his reservation I felt sympathy. The first story he shares about playing with his cousins and repeatedly states, “My hands are bare” it was as if I could feel how cold and naked his skin felt. Every incident he addressed about a negative comment a non-Indian had to say about Indians made me feel angry and when he described the lonely feeling he gets when he is surrounded by people he doesn’t look like, made me feel empathetic. Although I am not Indian, I noticed that a lot of what the author expressed I could relate to. I’m sure everyone can in a unique way. But there is something special about this author’s story because he comes from a culture that is becoming “extinct” with only two million people belonging to the population.
ReplyDeleteThe structure in which this short story is constructed made it hard for me to focus on the main idea. Every time he would start a new story and go into details with it, instead of finishing he would cut it short and start a new one, it is almost as if he was giving us a personal part of him and then taking it away. The structure of this story reflects the way “so much has been taken away from [them]” the Indian people.
This article was very eye opening to me. It explains how Indians are very misperceived in the eyes of many. The part that stands out to me was when the author discussed different Indian books by a variety of authors with different backgrounds. If they are non-Indian writers they will use what many believe are words Indians use all of the time like “Great Spirit”, “Four-Legged”, or “Winged”. Normal Indian writers will use God, dog, and bird instead. Non-Indian writers will tell fictional stories about Indians because those are the stories that sell even if it gives Indians a bad name. These are the stories people often believe are true because more times than not a person will buy a book from a non-Indian writer over a true Indian writer.
ReplyDeleteA quote that really stood out to me was “So much has been taken from us that we hold on to the smallest things with all of the strength we have left.” People have done so much to the Indian culture that they still want to hold on to the little things. Many Native Americans were abused by the Europeans that found America. Europeans forced Native Americans into slavery and tried to assimilate them into the European culture. Now they have very little respect from other people, they tend to hold on to everything they can call their own with all of their strength. They will even want to hold onto the name Indian even though some find it demeaning as stated in the reading.
This reading was actually interesting to me. The reason may be because I have read Sherman Alexie’s work before. One thing I noticed is that he by no means follows a specific order in his writing. When I think of an autobiography I think of a story of a person’s life told in chronological order. Alexie jumped around a lot and that made it somewhat difficult to understand what he was trying to get at. He grew up on a reservation and that is a unique experience, but did he still hang out with white friends? At one point he was talking about his friend S and how a drunken Indian came into the diner. S stated “Man” “I hate Indians.” Why on earth would she say this in front of her friend who is an Indian? It seems like it would be extremely rude to say this in his presence. She clearly does not hate all Indians if she is friends with Alexie. Her statement was just way to general and in poor taste. Another part of the article that I found interesting was the very last line. “Thank you,” “But that’s my father sitting right next to you.” The lady who attended Alexie’s reading came to conclusions based upon how she interpreted what he had read. Sure, the story was about an Indian father who left the family and then died. However, just because Alexie wrote about it does not necessarily mean that he personally experienced it. Sometimes, people make assumptions that can turn out to be wrong.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this piece by Sherman Alexie. I think it's quite impressive how coherent his writing is, despite the fact that it's not organized in a traditional fashion. I think the ideas connect themselves in a way that makes the reader think. Very quickly you get that Alexie is discussing how Indians are seen by average people, and then he goes into this type of writing which is almost like a bedtime story. What I mean is that there isn't necessarily a clear plot; there are many little tangents and stories, but each of these stories furthers this idea that Indians are misrepresented by people and by the general idea people have when they think of Indians, as well as how non-Indian writers view them, which was an important part of Alexie's article.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, one part that particularly interested me was how Alexie says Indians don't want to be called American Indians, or Native Americans. Today, political correctness is something that people worry over so much, not wanting to offend anyone. This has become such a theme that we no longer think it's okay to call them Indians because they aren't from India, but I think it's disrespectful to think that we can just rename them as we please, we being average white Americans. First of all, why would the term "Indians" be disrespectful in the first place? Also, when they were given the name Indian, they were believed to be Indians. It wasn't derogatory in any way, so I think it's interesting how America has renamed them once again in an effort not to offend anyone, and ended up overstepping those boundaries in the process.
While reading this article I felt very lost in a way. As people before me have said the author jumped around a lot and at some points the sentences were very short and quick. Although I was lost at some points, I did find the piece very interesting. A great job that he did was make me realize that most of the articles or stories I’ve read have been written by non-Indian writers. By reading a story written by a true Indian I feel the author did a good job putting me into his shoes and showing me the problems that he and a lot of Indians have to go through. I praise the author for the way he dealt with the racism of some people. As I continued to read the article I had gotten the feeling that one way he was able to deal with these problems was with music, which I believe is how many people are able to deal with things.
ReplyDeleteAlso reiterating on a point from last class how we were trying to dis-connect ourselves from things that we’ve already known, and also thinking about Bruce’s comment. I feel the author is trying to show us how we dis-connect ourselves from them by using political correctness, as Bruce said, we call them native-Americans now instead of Indians. Maybe this in a way is to try and hide the past of what happened to them for our own benefit.
In a lot of ways this article was very confusing to me. As others have mentioned, I also had to re-read certain parts of the article to gain some sort of understanding of the article. I think the way in which the article was presented to the reader made it more of a challenge. Such as the jumping between a story in chronological order to the present to random lists of things. Nonetheless, I found some interesting things about the article. First, I found it very interesting that the author embraces the term “Indian” as opposed to “Native American”, throughout grade school we were always taught to refer to the native people as “Native Americans” and that “Indian” was derogatory, so I definitely thought that was surprising. I also found it interesting how the author makes the point that non-Indian writers who write about Indians are more likely to be published than somebody who is actually Indian or that only certain areas of Indian tribes or cultures sell books, such as the “Sioux”. One of the main themes I gathered from this piece was that the author was trying to convey the fact that most Indian children growing up on reservations in modern times often have a similar childhood to any non-Indian American. I can tell you from personal experience that growing up I did the same things as a child (like snowball fights and basketball) and I’m not the slightest bit Indian. In addition to that, he spoke of listening to the music that other kids his age listed to and having problems like not being able to afford electricity or having an alcoholic parent, which people have both on and off reservations, regardless of race, and yet he spoke of racial intolerance towards him, such as the incident he recalls at a red light. He indirectly draws together the two points of racial intolerance to Indians and the literature we buy about Indians with what I gathered to be the underlying point that he isn’t any necessarily different than a non-Indian American, but the visions of others are clouted by the literature on Indians that society chooses to buy and read, which are tales of fallacy with regards to today’s Indian people.
ReplyDeleteThis piece was definitely a difficult read for me, only because I was confused on what to focus on. Sherman Alexie obviously wrote the article from a chronological stand point, and chose events that probably held a special value to the article in the whole. However, I couldn’t pin-point them. Instead, several things stood out to me, which resulted in scattered ideas. For example, in the introductory paragraphs of “Unauthorized Autobiography of Me”, he repeats the phrase “my hands are bare”. In my opinion, this could be deciphered as him feeling unprotected, or alone because his people are only 2 million in population. Or it can even stand as a foreshadowing for the relatives that he will lose in future years. Or it could’ve just meant that his hands were actually bare. Skipping a couple paragraphs later, he recalls a scene in which his teacher ask them as kids to pick an instrument they will like to learn. Why is such a scene important in this reading? Is there something I’m missing there? Maybe to illustrate the love Indians have for drums? Maybe each scene that Alexie shares with us only serves the purpose illuminating the audience about the real Indian culture and himself, and the last scene just brought it to a comical end. I truly don’t know where to go with the passage, but I do know that the recurrent theme lies behind the idea of a man who is passionate about true his home and is now facing a world in which he is no longer there.
ReplyDeleteLike some others that have commented about the assigned reading, I too had found this reading very difficult to follow. I suppose this is because I wasn’t entirely sure who was speaking at certain times. Also, at times it seemed as if the author didn’t really stick to any type of specific order. After reading the title, I automatically assumed that this passage would be mostly about someone’s life in a specific order from past to present. After reading through the passage I found that while this style of writing may be confusing- or at least it is to me- it does a very good job of informing the reader of its message. It is made apparent by this passage that “Indians” have been treated unequally throughout history and throughout the life of the narrator. “So much has been taken from us that we hold on to the smallest things with all the strength we have left.” I thought that this quote accurately summed up the struggle that Native Americans have endured throughout time. Similarly, I found that a few names on the list of “…People Whom I Wish Were Indian” stood out more than others: “Martin Luther King Jr.”, “Superman”, and even “Jesus Christ”. All of these people have accomplished many things that have to the advancement of the race or religion, and I think that the list as a whole proves the desire for Native Americans to have such a “hero” in order to rightly gain the respect that they believe they deserve.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete