"Reservation Blues" Book Review

With Reservation Blues, Sherman Alexie is able to wrestle with what it means to be an American Indian and show the consequences that come with the loss of identity and culture. Not only are these issues at the forefront of the novel, but they are a reality for many American Indian reservations across the country. Sometimes it takes a story to open your eyes to the struggles happening outside of your own backyard. For me, Reservation Blues was an eye-opening read.

The story begins with legendary blues player, Robert Johnson, visiting the Spokane Reservation in search of a mystical religious woman named, Big Mom. He gives his guitar to Thomas-Builds-A-Fire who starts an American Indian Catholic rock band with his friends, Victor and Junior. The only problem with Thomas’ idea for a band is that none of these characters have any musical background. Thomas is a fairly religious man who has lived through a childhood of poverty while Victor and Junior are the local Reservation tough guys. This is why Robert Johnson’s guitar acts as the catalyst for the entire story. It is with this initial passing of the guitar that Alexie sets up the theme of identity loss. Just as Johnson sold his soul to the Devil, Thomas and his band mates embark on a journey which leads them down a road of self discovery and assimilation.

I may have a personal bias when reviewing this novel because the love for music runs deep within my blood. Even so, Alexie’s witty writing style is a delight to read. It amazes me that he can write with such humor despite the hardships he puts his characters through in the story. But don’t think for a moment that Alexie does not care about the problems and themes present in his book. He may write with a self-deprecating style of wit, but the themes he presents in Reservation Blues are powerful fictional accounts of real life issues facing American Indians across the country.

Joy Harjo's "When the World as We Knew It Ended"

There are many poems in Joy Harjo’s, How We Became Human, that have touched me (See Joy Harjo’s “Raining in Honolulu”). But, as I was flipping through her book the other day, I came across another poem that reminded me how amazing poetry can be. The poem is, “When the World as We Knew It Ended.” This is a post 9/11 poem that captures the feelings of detachment, uncertainty, and alienation that our country felt immediately after the attacks. This poem is beautiful because it invokes our own memories of 9/11, but gives us a sense of hope. I will summarize the poem here by including lines from different sections.

Two towers rose up from the east island of commerce and touched the sky.

Then it went down. Swallowed

by a fire dragon, by oil and fear.

Eaten whole.

And then it was over, this world we had grown to love

for its sweet grasses, for the many-colored horses

and fishes, for the shimmering possibilities

while dreaming.

But then there were the seeds to plant and the babies

who needed milk and comforting, and someone

picked up a guitar or ukulele from the rubble

and began to sing about the light flutter

the kick beneath the skin of the earth

we felt there, beneath us

a warm animal

a song being born between the legs of her,

a poem.

This is such a moving poem because it tells us that we alone have the power to create hope and make things better. 9/11 was a tragedy. But, we still had to wake up the next day and make the world a better place. In many ways, I believe it is our duty as humans to make the world better for the generations that follow us. To me, this idea is part of what this poem is saying. We woke up on 9/12 and wrote a poem, sang a song, raised our young, and persevered.

What I find even more touching about this poem is that it is written by a Native American. Historically, Native Americans have been branded as the “other,” which makes the status quo forget that they are Americans too. That is an odd thing to say because Native Americans are the only people living in this country whose ancestors were not immigrants. But the fact that Joy Harjo wrote this poem is a reminder that we are all in this together, regardless of race or gender.

A World Without Borders: My Experience at a Serj Tankian Concert

As you continue reading, you may think this post has nothing to do with our class content. I swear to you, it does.

Last summer, I attended a Serj Tankian concert on the North side of Chicago. Tankian is the lead singer of the rock group, System of a Down, and the concert I attended was the first show of his solo career. I will skim over the actual concert itself by saying that it rocked, and get to the part of the night that affected me emotionally and intellectually.

Tankian had just finished the last song of his set and walked off stage. This is the part of the concert where the audience becomes unified and chants for an encore. If you have been to a concert then you know the feeling. There’s nothing quite like the sensation of jumping and chanting with hundreds of people in unison who all want the same goal. Our cries were heard as Tankian walked back on stage minutes later and grabbed the microphone. A hush came over the crowd as Serj began to speak and set up his encore song. He started telling us how he performed the song in front of thousands of brave troops in Afghanistan and that he disagreed with the policies of President George W. Bush.

If you have been to a concert where the artist has mentioned Bush’s name, then you know the reaction that follows. The crowd erupted with boo’s and middle fingers as Serj nodded along in agreement. But then a weird thing happened. This is something I have never experienced firsthand before and it has etched itself into my memory in the “I will never forget this moment” category. After we (the crowd) voiced our displeasure for our leader, the chant of “U-S-A!” slowly began to percolate from the back of the balcony. The chant moved from back to front until everyone, myself included, was passionately emphasizing each letter with a fist pump in the air.

Then, Serj said something that brought tears to my eyes.

He stopped us mid-chant and said,

“I love my country, I love my country. But I am not a citizen of the U.S.A. I am a citizen of the world. I don’t believe in fucking borders. I don’t believe in Nationalism. I believe in unity and peace.”

For a moment, everyone in the crowd was silent. I had never, not once in my life, imagined a world without borders. The moment of silence hovering over the crowd signaled that I wasn’t alone. However, the silence was brief as the crowd started cheering once again as Serj Tankian played his final song of the night. I was in tears by the end of the song and, to this day, I can’t find an explanation why.

We are all citizens of the world, but sometimes we forget. For me, this moment opened my eyes to the tunnel vision I was living with and I feel fortunate to have this memory. That being said, this memory remained under the surface until one of the class presentations last week. In this presentation, the topic came up of North America being borderless until the colonists arrived. After I heard this, my memory of the Serj Tankian concert came rushing back and I was able to make a connection to this class. It seems to me like a world without borders might be a more peaceful one. We would all be united under one flag. I am not so naïve to believe a world like this would solve every problem. Even Native Americans fought among themselves in borderless North America. But, if we think of ourselves and others in terms of a world without borders, then just maybe we would treat each other better.

The Sins of the Past

In my previous post, I express some anger and disappointment that our ancestors used Religion as a pretense for invasion. I also condemn the colonists and refer to them as the real savages, as opposed to the Native Americans. However, after I let these thoughts sink in a little deeper, I began to feel remorse for even having them in the first place.

This entire class has been extremely thought-provoking and has helped give me another lens by which to view my world. My eyes have been opened to the struggles and history of Native American people and I will never forget what we learned here. I hear Thomas King in my head telling me that I have heard the story now. While this is true, I would not be here blogging right now if the colonists had not decided to settle and “manifest destiny.” American history is filled with violence, oppression, and ugliness. It is truly sad that these things happened. But, the one thought that creeps into my head and makes me feel guilty is that I wouldn’t be here right now if these terrible events never occurred; none of us would.

Right now, I feel like a colonist trying to justify sins with hypothetical statements. Maybe things could have been done differently. Maybe the colonists could have tried to coexist with the Native Americans. Today might be better if that happened. But, maybe not. Maybe the sins of the past helped create the present we enjoy today. The world is far from peaceful and we are all still struggling to get along. But, you are here and I am here. Let’s do what we can to make it better.

Rape of the Land / Religion as a Weapon

The article, “Rape of the Land,” truly struck a chord with me right from the start. First of all, I can’t get over how Indians were seen as occupants of the New Land by the colonists. The rhetoric of calling Native Americans “occupants” entitles the whites to claim (a better term would be steal) the land. The colonists felt they had a right to do this because the Native American communities had not been “established by God” (57). Translation: They are not Christians which means they are savages. But let’s take a closer look at the meaning of “savage.”

Dictionary.com defines savage as, “an uncivilized human being.” Ok, well if the Indians were uncivilized, this means the colonists considered themselves to be civilized. Civilized is also defined as, “having an advanced or humane culture.” Here’s the kicker. The definition of humane is, “characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, especially for the suffering or distressed.” Now that these words have been clearly defined, who was really the savage; the Native American or the colonist?

The way I see it, the colonists played their role in the biggest theft in American history and brought suffering onto generations upon generations of Native American people. As “Rape of the Land” points out, the colonists justified their crime using the word of God by saying, “While Christianity may have been forced on Native people, millions of people are in heaven today as a result” (57). This statement is a fallacy because it is not a concrete fact, which means that it should never be used to justify the removal, genocide, and theft of Native American land and culture. Religion should never be used as a weapon and it is unfortunate that it was back then.