War Dances
From the title to many of the details I found this story very hostile and rude. For example the narrator is an indian man who has very little culture in his life and can’t recognize others who share his same culture. I found the whole theme of cokroaches (or little pest) to always be bothering him even though he says he tried his hardest to rid his house of them. The jumping around between his heritage (grandfather), his father, and himself really eximplefies how ethnicty really doesn’t matter that much now. As I read threw this story I found that this text really realtes to many people today. The frustration of long term lasting incurable problems, the loss of ones own heritage or people, the loss/confusion of religon, and the way of trying to coop through joking. His hostility towards others is him lassing out at the world around him because of problems/things he can’t control.
Over all I was interested by the ideas that we purtrayed in each little section, that added depth to the book in a weird way. Whether it was him giving a back story to a nurse, or trying to borrow a blanket and in doing so was connected back to hsi people, or finding out abour his grandfather’s death threw heroism. I don’t know really what to say now but what I can say is that I really look forward to discussing this story more. Oh wait and wahat was up with all those questions at the end I didn’t understand their purpose.
on October 13th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Are your last two sentences babbling to fill 200 words?;]
Why does Alexie structure the story the way he does? What do these fragment pieces have in common and how are they organized around a single theme?
I don’t think I agree that “ethnicity really doesn’t matter that much now”…in fact, quite the opposite. How does Alexie use culture/ethnicity and expectations surrounding it as a device in this story? You have eloquent insights into the frustrations of lost heritage and coping mechanisms. What do you think the blankets symbolize?