Analytical Piece on Short Story

Sherman Alexie’s short story “This is what it means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” points out a lot of changes in the Native American culture. As the main character, Victor and his companion Thomas Builds-the-Fire travel to Phoenix to retrieve the remains of Victor’s father and reminisce about the past Alexie points out the massive changes in the Native American culture. A lot of the culture changes came as a result of the white American culture infiltrating the culture of the Native American culture. Alexie also points out how hard it has been for Native Americans to assimilate to the ways of American society. Alexie uses Thomas as a representation of the present and Victor as a link to the past in order to illustrate the changes that Native American culture has experienced.

Thomas is shown as somewhat of a loner in this short story as he is much different than today’s Native American. Since he was younger he questioned the culture change of Native Americans. When he and Victor were children, on the Fourth of July Thomas questioned why Native Americans celebrate this day because “it ain’t like it was our independence everybody was fighting for” (63). Thomas refers “our independence” as the independence of the Native Americans, as really it is other Americans who were fighting for independence and many Native Americans were on the other side of the battle. It would have been ridiculous for the Native Americans of the past to celebrate on this day, but Victor as well as the other children on the reservation did not question this tradition, they just followed it. They celebrated a part of the new American culture because this aspect, along with other traditions of the new American culture crept into the culture of the Native Americans and changed their culture. They did not consciously take in these aspects of the culture, they were forced upon them and these concepts eventually mixed into the Native American culture. The culture of a tribe being family was also shown to have changed. When Victor realizes he will not be friends with Thomas even after Thomas helped him on his journey to Phoenix he asks himself “whatever happened to the tribal ties, the sense of community?” (74). He is disappointed in himself for caring what others would think about him if he were to be friends with Thomas. In the past this would not have happened as all members of a tribe were extremely close and treated each other like family, but since the culture changed Victor values what others think more than his relationship with Thomas. Thomas still embodies the traditions of the past as he felt a strong bond to Victor, someone he had not talked to in years, because they were members of the same tribe so he treated him like family. He also was especially helpful to Victor because he promised Victor’s father that he would look out for Victor. Thomas still exemplifies the culture of treating tribal members like family as he spent a lot of time and money in order to help Victor, another member of the tribe. Most present day Native Americans would not have done this because they embody many cultural facets of the new Americans. While they have done this, they have still not been able to successfully integrate into the American society. Victor’s father moved off of the reservation and lived in Phoenix, Arizona. Victor’s father died and “the only reason anyone found him was because of the smell” (68). He was not found by family or friends, probably because he did not have many. While he moved off of the reservation he did not integrate into the American culture as he was unable to make friends and fit in. The Native Americans replicated many traditions of the United States but they were not able to integrate into society.

Sherman Alexie’s short story exemplifies how Native American culture has changed over the years and has been impacted heavily by the American culture. He uses the experiences and feelings of Thomas and Victor to contrast the old Native American culture and the new Native American culture. The Native Americans have changed a lot, but their comfort level still remains within their own tribes. The new Native American culture is much more similar to that of the culture in the United States, but even with these similar cultures, Native Americans have not been able to successfully integrate into American society.