Sherman Alexie Indian Tradition

Alexander Moore
Professor Linda Price
English 1301
4 March 2015

Traditions of Spokane Native Americans Sherman Alexie proclaimed that as a Native American kid he was in more ways than another considered an oddity. This meant to me that because of his desire and urgency to learn he was considered an outcast among the other Spokane Indians that was in his class. A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike (Alexie 357). Sherman Alexie decided to go against all his traditions as a Spokane Indian. They were supposed to be imprudent and dedicated to suppress their abilities to learn in school. Although most kids did just that Sherman Alexie decided to rise above of just being…show more content…
In certain situations some traditions can be broken I think without a doubt under circumstances such as this one. No tradition should promote the decline of the ability to learn and achieve brilliant things. And as he acknowledges his father in his childhood, he lets you know that his father too was an oddity who collected books from many different genres. So I guess you can conclude that this helped him make his decision to want to learn and not to accept the failure like the other children and/or Spokane Native American’s. Being under a roof with so many opportunities to step outside the tradition of “not learning” I would say definitely impacted his motivation on his quest to learn.

Works Cited
Shuman, R. Baird. "The Business Of Fancydancing." Magill’S Literary Annual 1993 (1993): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 Mar. 2015.
Markus, Peter. "The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven." Magill’S Literary Annual 1994 (1994): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 Mar. 2015.
Garbett, Ann D. "Ten Little Indians." Magill's Book Reviews (2004): 1. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 Mar.