The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Encyclopedia
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is a 1993 collection of interconnected short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie
Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr. is a writer, poet, filmmaker, and occasional comedian. Much of his writing draws on his experiences as a Native American. Two of Alexie's best known works are The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven , a book of short stories and Smoke Signals, a film...

. The characters and stories in the book, particularly "This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" provided the basis of Alexie's screenplay for the film Smoke Signals
Smoke Signals (film)
Smoke Signals is an independent film directed and co-produced by Chris Eyre and with a screenplay by Sherman Alexie, based on the short story "This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona" from his book Lone Ranger and Tonto: Fistfight in Heaven. It won several awards and accolades, and was...

.
The collection was originally released in 1993; it was reissued in 2005, with two new stories, by Grove Atlantic Press.

Plot Overview

The short stories are interconnected, but each is unique. All of the stories center around the life of the Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

, or Indians, on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Thomas Builds-the-Fire, an eccentric and loose-mouthed, but good-hearted storyteller, is one of the central protagonists whose voice is heard throughout most of the stories. The narrative also centers on Victor Joseph, a cynical Spokane embittered by his childhood experiences in the reservation and his vain attempts to find a place in white man's civilization as an adult, and his friends and family. Victor tells some of the stories from his first-person perspective, while others are told about him from the third-person omniscient perspective, or in the first-person perspective by some of Victor's friends on the reservation.

Stories

"Every Little Hurricane": Victor remembers the hardships of his childhood in the Spokane Reservation, particularly on his ninth year's New Years Eve party at his parents' home.

"A Drug Called Tradition":

"Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play The Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock": Victor reminisces about the few good memories he had of his father before he deserted his family.

"Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He took up arms against the U.S...

 Dreams": Victor fails to meet a woman's image of the ideal Indian hero.

"The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn't Flash Red Anymore": Victor and Adrian discuss the rise and fall of their reservation basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 heroes and the dreams that they carried for their tribemates.

"Amusements":

"This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona": After Victor's father has died, Victor travels to Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

 to collect his father's remains with the help of Thomas Builds-a-Fire. During their journey, Victor learns to his immense surprise that he and Thomas, as different as they are, have actually a lot more in common than he could have imagined.

"The Fun House":

"All I Wanted to Do Was Dance":

"The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire": Because of his tendency to tell uncomfortable truths about the doings of the local Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...

 and corrupt tribesmen, Thomas is brought before a court, where his compulsive story-telling earn him both a ridiculous verdict and the audience he has long sought.

"Distances": This chapter is a dystopian outlook on what the Indians would behave like if the white man had been eradicated from their ancient lands by some cataclysm and they would return to their traditions of old.

"Jesus Christ's Half-Brother Is Alive and Well on the Spokane Indian Reservation":

"A Train Is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result": Samuel Builds-the-Fire, Thomas's grandfather, loses his job on his birthday, reminisces about his storytelling past, and finally, consumed by despair, lays his head in the path of an oncoming train.

"A Good Story":

"The First Annual All-Indian Horseshoe Pitch and Barbecue":

"The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor": James Many Horses learns he is dying of cancer and reflects on the history of his marriage to his wife, Norma.

"Indian Education":

"The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven":

"Family Portrait":

"Somebody Kept Saying Powwow":

"Witnesses, Secret and Not":

"Flight": (added in 2003 reissue)

"Junior Polatkin's Wild West Show": (added in 2003 reissue)

Themes

The short story cycle is a narrative saturated with alcohol. Of this topic, Alexie states, "when I write about the destructive effects of alcohol on Indians, I am not writing out of a literary stance or a colonized mind's need to reinforce stereotypes. I am writing autobiography."

Although many stories present alcohol abuse as an unavoidable problem, "A Drug Called Tradition" suggests that Indians can resist alcohol dependence
Alcohol dependence
Alcohol dependence, as described in the DSM-IV, is a psychiatric diagnosis describing an entity in which an individual uses alcohol despite significant areas of dysfunction, evidence of physical dependence, and/or related hardship.-Definition and diagnosis:According to the DSM-IV criteria for...

 and rediscover their native identity. During their vision, the boys go back to the time before they each tasted alcohol. After their rejection of the alcohol, the boys "sing and dance and drum. They steal horses." This passage implies that the boys can share in male camaraderie through native practices, but only if they reject alcohol.

This story demonstrates the Indians' desire to transcend the norm in their society and embrace their native roots. The community ties between the Indians have all but disappeared. Thomas is the only one who clings to the past heritage, and in the end, after falling into toxic waste, he convinces the rest of the reservation to rise up and claim their past history and live as they once did: in peace. However, another possible interpretation could be that wishing oneself back to traditional life has been made impossible by the change of times and that only by arranging oneself with the present, without descending into self-destructive behavior (hence the titular "drug"), would allow one to attain peace in life.

Another possible theme could be that wishing oneself back to traditional life has been made impossible by the change of times and that only by making a compromise with the present, without descending into self-destructive behavior, would allow one to attain peace in life. Hints at such a cultural compromise are given (among others) in "A Drug Called Tradition", the dystopian story "Distances", and - on a more personal level - "This is What It Means to say Phoenix, Arizona".

Awards

  • Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
    Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
    The Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award is awarded annually to a novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, which has been administered by the Hemingway...

    : Best First Book of Fiction Citation Winner
  • Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest
    Reader's Digest
    Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...

    Writers' Award
  • Washington State Governor's Writers Award
  • The Best American Short Stories
    Short story
    A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

     1994
    includes "This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona"

See also

  • Native American Renaissance
    Native American Renaissance
    The Native American Renaissance was a term originally coined by critic Kenneth Lincoln in his 1983 book of the same title. Lincoln’s goal was to explore the explosion in production of literary works by Native Americans in the decade and a half after N. Scott Momaday had won the Pulitzer Prize in...

  • Native American Studies
    Native American Studies
    Native American Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that examines the history, culture, politics, issues and contemporary experience of Native peoples in North America, or, taking a hemispheric approach, the Americas...

  • Smoke Signals
    Smoke Signals (film)
    Smoke Signals is an independent film directed and co-produced by Chris Eyre and with a screenplay by Sherman Alexie, based on the short story "This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona" from his book Lone Ranger and Tonto: Fistfight in Heaven. It won several awards and accolades, and was...


External links

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