Julie Szekely

In the story Amusements there are some references to “Tricksters.” We learned in class about how a trickster is a person who exploits someone through childish acts. They are immature acts that harm someone and really do not benefit you from doing it except giving you entertainment at someone else’s expense. The tricksters in Amusements are Victor and Sadie. They found Dirty Joe passed out drunk and they decided to put him on a rollercoaster so everyone could see him. That is not a very safe trick, he could have easily fallen out of the rollercoaster but I guess at the time it seemed like a good idea. As everyone gathered around and laughed though, they realized they jus made the idea of Indians being drunks more evident. They wanted to have some fun but they realize they just made their own culture look worse and it really was not worth it. I think they both learned a lesson.

For a group work in class our group was assigned to read and discuss The Only Traffic Signal. This is a short story discussing the role of heroes on the reservation. They talk about Julius Windmaker who was the best basketball player around but then was involved with alcohol and it ruined his career. Adrian and Victor had expected this but was still hoping it would not happen. What I took from this story was that they all depend on their heroes to look up to but it always seems like even the heroes eventually collapse and fail. One thing they stated was what they do when all of their heroes can no longer pay their bills. This shows us how they are all bound to turn to alcohol and drugs and ruin their lives. I believe that maybe the significance of the title, “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore,” is to represent Windmaker as if he is no longer a hero and he has burnt out. They are running out of heroes to look up to on the reservation. No one is stopping and avoiding the influence of drugs and alcohol and everyone is just continuing to abuse them.

We posed the question in class about how Sherman Alexie is the Hendrix of Native American literature after listening to Hendrix’s version of “The Star Spangled Banner.” In Hendrix’s version of “The Star Spangled Banner” it was like he gave it a twist to show the negative side of the country. I took it as him taking a song that represented freedom of the country and saying that it is no longer true. He is turning a positive song about our country into a negative song. An example of this is in the part “and the bombs bursting in air..” which is where I always pictured a fireworks show and when Hendrix played I pictured war and bombing. I pictured that because with his guitar he made the sounds of bombs hitting and just made it sound sad. This then makes you see Alexie as the Hendrix of Native American literature in which he is taking the traditional Native American stories and giving them a negative twist. He is not making us feel that Native Americans are like everyone else he is showing us the true side. He along with Hendrix is showing negative aspects of something. Alexie makes us think of Native Americans as alcoholics that will never be able to succeed in life due to their race when usually we think of them as harmless people. After seeing the YouTube clip of Alexie you also realize he is very negative and has a strong feeling of Native Americans being treated different. I think Alexie is the Hendrix of Native American literature because he took the traditional literature and gave it a twist as did Hendrix.

McMurphy and Ratched are continuously fighting over the power of the patients throughout this novel. Before McMurphy came to the ward Ratched had all the power she could have over the patients. They did exactly as she said at all times. When McMurphy arrived to the ward they all instantly knew that there was something different about him. He enters with a big smile on his face and this confuses the patients. From here on out McMurphy is constantly battling Ratched and trying to make her snap. McMurphy is constantly breaking her rules and causing problems. He wants the patients to join him on this fight against Ratched but it is hard for them to rebel. McMurphy give her many struggles in this novel and even attempts to kill her. Ratched begins giving McMurphy electroshock therapy and he does not want her to feel as if she has won so he acts as if it does not bother him. She then gives him a lobotomy and that turns McMurphy into a vegetable. This now is when I believe Ratched feels as if she has won their game of control. McMurphy cannot do anything to her anymore because he is barely alive. This now shows Ratched her success everyday because every time she looks at him she knows she has won. Which this is why I feel as if when Chief Bromden kills McMurphy it is because he knows that if McMurphy is gone Ratched cannot sit and admire what she has done anymore.
I feel as throughout this novel both Ratched and McMurphy were constantly fighting over the control of the patients. McMurphy wanted to help them realize what the worlds like outside of this ward and Ratched wants her patients to obey her just as she says. McMurphy was a threat to Ratched and her love of power and I feel that is why she did what she did to McMurphy.

In Blood Wedding marriage is one of the strong issues of the play. This marriage though is not the typical marriage you think of today in modern society. Today two people get married because they are in love and want to spend the rest of their lives together, as in Blood Wedding love does not play a big role in the idea of marriage. Marriage in this play is much like that of the olden days in which you marry someone based on their social status and parental approval. They married those of the same social status or higher so they would have money on both ends. It is as if they marry to help each other out not because they love each other. They could learn to love each other but I do not feel as if that is true love. When a daughter gets married, due to the sharing of the last name, the husband receives that of what the daughter inherits from the father. This shows how a man would want a wife from a high social class so he will receive more. This type of marriage is greedy and based upon money in my opinion.
In this play the bride is obviously in love with Leonardo but the reason she does not marry him is because he is of lower status to her. She then decides to marry the bridgegroom because he is of high status and rich which will make him a better husband. The bride though ended up running away and this shows us that it was bothering her that they were not in love and that she could not forget about Leonardo. This then shows us that a marriage without love is not satisfying and that is probably why today you choose whom you marry and you choose them based upon your love for them.

Chapter four is when Blanca and Pedro meet for the first time. It then seems as if it was love at first sight. They had an instant connection that they know will last forever even though they were of different social classes. Their relationship is then forbidden so they hide their feelings for each other from everyone. This is then kept hidden and I do not know if it is all throughout the story I am not that far yet in the novel but this goes along with the author’s story and order.

I liked the Lies game better than the Asteroids although I did not find much of a point to it. In the lies it was close to poetry in which a line would appear and then another line appeared later that related to it. It was like a short two line poem. In the Lies one you can ass a lie to the game and all the lies provided were lies that other people had added. Due to this fact it shows that the author of this is not important and that the author of it is everyone that has contributed lies. There is also not much to read and in from this one but I still like it better than the Asteroids.

I did not like the Asteroids game at all. It did not tell you much yet alone you could barely read the words. This may be more interesting than reading a novel but there was not much for you to read or information for you to take in. It was neat that you could change the game to words you wanted but this just took away from the author. I believe the author of this game was not important. I did not find the game fun or educational at all.

We were introduced to two versions of the Corridos, a short story and a movie. I myself liked the short story better. The way in which the short story portrayed Gregorio Cortez was much more interesting to me.
In the short story Gregorio Cortez was more of a daring risk taker. He was known as a badass that could escape the law at anytime. In this story he was proud of being a Mexican but there was not much emphasis on his family. In this story he was a tough man who kills many sheriffs and admits to it. He also says that he will do it again, he’s not scared. This version was a great deal different than the movie version.
In the movie Gregorio Cortez was not portrayed as a badass. He did kill but in the movie it wasn’t the same. Cortez in this version is definitely a family man, he lives with his brother, kids, and wife. In this movie Cortez killed because when they came to talk to him the interpreter was changing his story around trying to get Cortez arrested. I believe that this was more of a killing due to self-defense. In this version it was also considered more of a disadvantage of being Mexican; they were treated unfairly because they were Mexican. Being that Cortez was Mexican they did not want him to be found innocent. So in this version he is not as much portrayed as a bad guy and when he is found guilty you actually feel bad for him.
I like the short story better because Cortez was considered a badass that couldn’t be caught. It was interesting to read and you wanted to know what Cortez going to do next. I was not a fan of the movie but it being a movie is probably why it was portrayed this way. They wanted people to wonder if he would be guilty or innocent and wanted to keep their attention.

Within the novel of “Ceremony” there are short stories, or poems, scattered throughout the text. These stories, in my opinion, are very important to the story in which they are telling you more about Tayo. It was slightly difficult to understand the style of these poems at first. You will realize that these poems are like flashbacks. Knowing that these poems are flashbacks and that Tayo has recently returned home from war, it helps you understand the meanings of them. It helps you vision these flashbacks he is having of his war memories. These poems tell you different things, sometimes it tells you about Tayo and why he is the he is, sometimes it is of events from war that show you why Tayo is scared, and some are on his return home and how he is dealing with it. I believe that from these poems it helps you understand the character of Tayo a lot better.