S h e r m a Sherman Alexie is the premiere Native American n Sherman Alexie in the Classroom A writer of the twenty-first century. His work—often l e charismatic, insistent, and opinionated—has earned x i e accolades and awards, including the 2007 National Book i n Award for Young People’s Literature. “This is not a silent movie. t h This volume in NCTE’s High School Literature Series ex- e Our voices will save our lives.” amines ways to teach the works of Alexie, including his C l film Smoke Signals; the short story collection The Lone a s s Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven; several of Alexie’s r o poems; the novels Reservation Blues and Flight; and the o m T h e N C T E H i g h S c h o o l L i t e r a t u r e S e r i e s National Book Award winner The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Coauthors Heather E. Bruce, Anna E. Baldwin, and Christabel Umphrey contextualize Alexie’s work in the larger body of works written in English by Native American au- B r thors, but they also let Alexie’s own voice shine through. u c As with all volumes in the series, student samples are e included, along with a chapter that excerpts selections • B from pertinent literary criticism to guide teachers in their a l d study of Alexie’s work. A companion website, http:// w alexie.website.googlepages.com, provides additional in- in structional materials, including an introduction to Native • U American literatures. m p h National Council of Teachers of English r e 1111 W. Kenyon Road y Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096 800-369-6283 or 217-328-3870 www.ncte.org ISSN 1525-5786 Heather E. Bruce Anna E. Baldwin Christabel Umphrey AlexieBookCover_080198.p65 1 5/22/2008, 9:27 AM ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ introduction Contents ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Permission Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heather E. Bruce 1. Where Life and Art Intersect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Heather E. Bruce 2.Smoke Signals: Visual Literacy and Multimodal Texts. . . 16 Christabel Umphrey 3. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven: Alexie and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Christabel Umphrey 4.Slam! Writing and Performing Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Heather E. Bruce 5.Reservation (Sings the) Blues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Anna E. Baldwin vii a44572fm 7 1/11/32, 2:01 PM ICNOTNRTOEDNUTCST I O ■N ■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ 6. Taking a Critical Stance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Heather E. Bruce 7. Flight and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: Post-9/11 Reconciliation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Heather E. Bruce, Anna E. Baldwin, and Christabel Umphrey Works by Sherman Alexie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133 Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135 Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145 viii a44572fm 8 1/11/32, 2:01 PM SHERMAN ALEXIE IN THE CLASSROOM ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ 2 Smoke Signals: Visual Literacy and Multimodal Texts ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Sherman Alexie admits he has always loved movies. When he was ten years old, his family spent $1,000 on a VCR, significantly more than their monthly income. Alexie explains, “I love movies more than I love books, and believe me I love books more than I love every human being, except the dozen or so people in my life who love movies and books as much as I do” (Smoke Signals: A Screenplay vii). His passion is evident in his numerous stories and poems filled with references to TV and film. He knows what a powerful influence they have; what he has seen has shaped how he views the world. As a result, it is unsurprising that Alexie works in the medium himself. His first feature film, Smoke Signals, is based on his story “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Ari- zona” from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Smoke Signals is the result of a collaborative effort between Alexie and Chris Eyre, a Cheyenne and Arapaho, who directed the film. The film Eyre and Alexie created, like all of Alexie’s po- etry and stories, expands our ideas of what Indians look like and reminds us that Indians are not a people that existed only in some distant Wild West version of the past. All the major elements of the film make it a strong piece to use to introduce students to postcolonial issues. In numerous interviews and essays, Alexie has made it clear that he is interested in truthfully portraying the 16 c44572ch2 16 1/11/32, 1:48 PM ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ smoke signals: visual literacy and multimodal texts community and lifestyle (and all its social, political, economic, and cultural aspects) that he was familiar with growing up on the Spokane Reservation. Much of this way of life was in response and resistance to the lingering colonial influence on Indian people. Alexie thinks that many Americans have gained most of their understanding of Native Americans from what they have seen in the movies. Too often American film has dished out “endless loop- ing reels of Anglo cowboys defeating Indian villains replayed at drive-ins and on TV” (Gillan 99). The result is that “[a]s these heroes subdue dark Indians hour after hour, they convey the message of Indian inferiority, which gains strength and legitimacy with time, repetition, and syndication” (99). Alexie knows Ameri- can cinema has work to do when it comes to producing films that more accurately portray American Indians, which is one of his motivations for writing screenplays. For example, Alexie admits that he loved John Ford’s The Searchers: I rooted for John Wayne . . . even though I knew he was going to kill his niece because she had been “soiled” by the Indians. Hell, I rooted for John Wayne because I understood why he wanted to kill his niece. I hated those Indians just as much as John Wayne did. I mean, jeez, they had kidnapped Natalie Wood . . . who certainly didn’t deserve to be nuzzled, nibbled, or nipped by some Indian warrior, especially an Indian war- rior who only spoke in monosyllables and whose every move- ment was accompanied by ominous music. (“I Hated Tonto” par. 11–13). Alexie rooted for Wayne because he did not recognize those Indi- ans. “I wasn’t those Indians; I wasn’t running around in a loin- cloth. I wasn’t vicious. I wasn’t some sociopath with war paint” (qtd. in Mabrey par. 15). Unfortunately, much of the rest of 17 c44572ch2 17 1/11/32, 1:48 PM SHERMAN ALEXIE IN THE CLASSROOM ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ America does recognize these film portrayals, and others like them, as “real” Indians. Film is a powerful medium with intense and long-lasting in- fluence. Rennard Strickland recounts a story about the set of an- other of John Ford’s Westerns: “The cameras stop. The Navajo actors dismount and take off their Sioux war bonnets. One of the film crew says to the Indians, ‘That was wonderful, you did it just right.’ An Indian actor replies, ‘Yeah, we did it just like we saw it in the movies’” (par. 1). We need new stories when even Indians are learning how to be Indian by watching movies. We agree with filmmaker Oliver Stone, who says “the stories we like to believe or know about ourselves, are part of the ammunition we take with us into the everyday battles of how we define ourselves and how we act toward other people” (qtd. in Carnes 306). It is in- creasingly important to think critically about the kind of stories we view on film. Smoke Signals, the first movie written, directed, and even nearly entirely acted by Native Americans, provides important (re)vision in reversing this trend by including a diver- sity of Indian personalities (Mabrey). Smoke Signals is full of cul- turally specific details and there are no non-Native characters central to the story. Watching the film and discussing what they see happening on screen gives students an opportunity to increase their familiarity with American Indian issues. Although Smoke Signals is worth viewing just for the story- telling and film production, we want students to view the film critically as well. We spend a few days building a critical frame- work that students can work from before we actually watch the film. Gore Vidal writes, “In the end, he who screens the history makes the history” (81). Because we want students to think about the validity of this statement, we move quickly from reader- 18 c44572ch2 18 1/11/32, 1:48 PM ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ smoke signals: visual literacy and multimodal texts response work (which provides important opportunities for stu- dents to examine their personal knowledge and experience base) to working with a postcolonial lens so they can investigate how an individual or group’s daily life and ideology are shaped by what they see and hear from those in positions of power. More specifically, this approach helps guide students to examine how colonization has affected Indian identity (both within Indian com- munities and outside them) by thinking about the lasting conse- quences of outsiders with significant ability to influence everything from a community’s economics to the stories the people grow up hearing about themselves. Previewing Because Alexie has talked and written at length about wanting his work to move audiences away from narrow and stereotypical views of Native people, a view that Native people had very little influ- ence in shaping, one way to frame the film so students think about these issues as they view it is to read Alexie’s poem “My Heroes Have Never Been Cowboys” from First Indian on the Moon and discuss Indian stereotypes by looking at some of the ways Indi- ans are portrayed in society. Before we read the poem, we want students to begin thinking about the ideas and history that Alexie references. We take a word or phrase from each stanza of the poem to use as a writing prompt, read the stanza number and phrase, and ask students to write the corresponding number on their paper and two or three sentences that come to mind when they hear each word or phrase. These are the prompt words we have used for each stanza in this exer- cise: 19 c44572ch2 19 1/11/32, 1:48 PM SHERMAN ALEXIE IN THE CLASSROOM ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ 1. Columbus 8. translated from the American 2. cowboys and Indians 9. American dream 3. “how the West was won” 10.God 4. cowboy shows 11.John Wayne 5. heroes 12.home movies 6. “Win their hearts and minds 13.life change and you win the war.” 14.“We’re all extras” 7. old westerns This is an informal exercise meant to be completed quickly. Its purpose is to gather initial ideas, experiences, and impres- sions. What personal connections do students have to these ideas? What do they know about the history that is connected to the words and phrases? After time to reflect and write, each student reads aloud some of what he or she has written, moving through the whole list at once (so two students might read from number one, followed by two from number two, and so on) until every- one in the class has shared something and we have covered all the stanzas. Then we read Alexie’s poem “My Heroes Have Never Been Cowboys” and look for differences and similarities in the connotations of the words between those of the class and Alexie’s. Sometimes, rather than taking on the poem as a whole, we read the poem stanza by stanza, sharing our associations, then reading Alexie’s corresponding stanza and discussing similarities and dif- ferences in each section. Many students will miss important references. Among oth- ers, they’ll run into Randolph Scott, the 1940s film cowboy-hero; Tom Mix, whose over 300 films were nearly all silent but did much to define the Western genre; “These Boots Are Made for Walking,” a song students might recognize but will likely associ- 20 c44572ch2 20 1/11/32, 1:48 PM ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ smoke signals: visual literacy and multimodal texts ate with Jewel or Jessica Simpson rather than Nancy Sinatra; the term manifest destiny and the idea that it was God’s will that the United States should stretch from sea to sea; and John Wayne, possibly the most well-known onscreen, Indian-fighting cowboy. So be prepared to offer a few sentences about these references or give students the job of looking into the topics beforehand so they are poised to read with the necessary background informa- tion. Once we work our way through the poem comparing our own historical connections with Alexie’s associations, we then read it once aloud in its entirety while students underline parts that connect in some way to things they have written about. Next, we listen to Willie Nelson’s song “My Heroes Have Always Been Cow- boys.” As students listen to the song, we ask them to think about ways in which Willie Nelson’s impression of cowboys and life and culture in the West differ from Alexie’s. We challenge stu- dents to write reflectively about where their own ideas fit: What do Alexie and Nelson indicate about their experiences and the stories they heard about the West as children? Did you see any similarities? differences? Which version is more famil- iar to you? Why do you think this is? Did you ever watch shows about cowboys and Indians when you were younger? Was it a game you played? Were you “Pursuin’ the life of my high-ridin’ heroes,” like Nelson, or did Alexie’s line “all us little Skins fought on the same side against the cowboys in our minds” resonate more with you? Even though the cowboy and Indian films of the era Alexie and Nelson write about are significantly before the time of today’s stu- dents, many are still familiar with the genre and grew up sur- rounded by the same imagery. 21 c44572ch2 21 1/11/32, 1:48 PM SHERMAN ALEXIE IN THE CLASSROOM ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Both versions resonate with our students, many of whom live on an Indian reservation in Montana. Austin remembered “play- ing cowboys and Indians” and said, “I was always an Indian, I think . . . because I am an Indian. As I got older, I got confused. . . . I didn’t know you could be both cowboy and Indian.” In Montana some of the best cowboys are Indians, which shows there can be overlap in the two dramatically different ideologies. For Danna, Alexie’s words made sense because she was from the res- ervation and was familiar with the ideology his poem expressed, but Nelson’s song seemed familiar too because she grew up on horses, living a lifestyle that resembled the one he wrote about. She knew she had played cowboys and Indians when she was younger but confessed, “I don’t remember who won.” For many of our students, neither Nelson nor Alexie seem to get it just right. Or they both do. Helping students examine the contrasting view- points complicates their understanding of American history. Af- ter the class has had time to write and has discussed the stories about American history they heard when they were younger, we push them to think about ways colonialism has influenced Alexie’s ideas and their own: Were there any moments when Alexie’s poem made you rethink what you’d learned about the history of the West? In what specific ways does the poem resist the accepted story of “how the West was won”? Were there any topics raised in Alexie’s poem that you didn’t know much about? How is Alexie’s discussion about America different from what you’ve heard in movies or read in books? Who has influenced what you know about this country and its history? What stake do they have in what version of the story you know? Why does your understand- ing of the past matter? Once they begin looking critically at various interpretations of history, some students are quick to find inconsistencies. For 22 c44572ch2 22 1/11/32, 1:48 PM