What are the effects of alcool and alcoholism on the characters in this story? ( THe characters contribute to dominant assumptions about Native American defeat and loss which is invisble and marginalize)

Alcohol , Alcoholism , and the American Indians

Native Americans or American Indians had a particularly strong sense of identity . Their clothes were special , their languages irreplaceable Besides , their tribal dances such as Kachina traditional spirituality stone weapons strings or belts known as wampums sand painting and the habit of hunting the bison were all parts of their roots imbedded deep into their consciousness (Nichols , 1998 . When the Europeans came to dislodge these roots by occupying the land that the Indians had believed to be theirs alone , the lives of the latter changed dramatically

. This was a time of cultural demise for the Indians , in fact . To drown out the pain of humiliation felt due to their roots being pulled out - the Indians found relief in alcohol . Thus , Sherman Alexie (1993 , a Spokane /Coeur d 'Alene Indian , writes in The Lone Ranger and Tonto fistfight in Heaven : 'Go ahead ' Adrian said . `Pull the trigger ' I held a pistol to my temple . I was sober but wished I was drunk enough to pull the trigger

Alcoholism becomes a means of drowning out the humiliation felt by the Indians . By attempting to drown out the pain of cultural demise the Indians are also making an attempt at self-renewal . They have been forced to move to the West by the armed Europeans . The new government wants to assimilate them , and destroy the Native American culture in the process , seeing that the government is afraid of being overthrown by the natives . Alexie uses Victor 's father as a metaphor for the Native American culture . He writes : . your father will rise like a salmon leap over the bridge . He will rise , he will rise ' The continuation of the American Indian culture is similar to the revolving life cycle The author asserts that the Native American culture could keep on going like ashes flowing along the river . The culture may also rise one

ALCOHOL , ALCOHOLISM , AND AMERICAN INDIANS

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day like salmon rise in the river all of a sudden . The Native American culture could pass from generation to generation continuously . However many of the Indians have no faith in the restoration of their culture Countless Native American people are , therefore , hopelessly drinking their lives away because they feel no motivation to live a better life

The Native Americans do not see a way to improve their lives despite the faint hope of cultural restoration . Alcohol to them is a painkiller . As the Indians have lost faith in recovering the Native American culture , Alexie also shows that there is no way for the Indians to get back their tradition and culture . He writes : With each glass of beer , Samuel gained a few ounces of wisdom , courage . But after a while , he began to understand too much about fear and failure , too (Alexie 134 . At first , the Indians believe that alcohol may help them escape from the reality and relieve the pain of losing their rich culture . But then , they realize that the loss of their...