A possible
theme for this book is that people want to be the most popular and will do
anything to others to try and make sure they are still the most popular. For
example, Sherman Alexie says, "The Tribal Council don't like you're more
famous than they are." (179) so, the Tribal Council tries to always talk
about how bad the band is. They also talk about how by having white women in
the band, they shouldn't really represent the Indians. This just shows that by
the Council being unable to be the most popular, they try and make sure the
band can't be either. Another example for this theme is with Victor and Junior,
two band members, along with White Hawk. White Hawk simply starts a fight with
them because Victor and Junior think that they're better than him. This just
shows how people just really want to be the most popular. As a result, if some
people aren't the most popular, they'll just target those who are the most
popular.
Along with
that theme, another key element of this book is how the Native American
population contributes to the American identity. They contribute several ways.
The first way is obviously with the music. The band travels a lot, and often
times not at an Indian reservations. They really spread the blues and give it
for all of America to hear and enjoy. Another key part of their contribution is
being very religious. The Indians say their prayers and even sing quite a bit.
By being religious, they definitely contribute to America and it's religious
freedom. The Native Americans contribute to America's identity and help it be
the America that everyone knows it to be.
The goal of this project was to identify how the Native American culture impacts what we perceive as the American identity. In all honesty, I feel as though this book fell a little short in making that connection. The clearest connection in made was their contribution to the music industry, as you had said. But other than that, it seems like the book just pointed out the differences between Native American culture and Modern culture. More of a connection should have been made, in my opinion anyway.
ReplyDeleteThrough the use of this blog, we were supposed to learn about how these Native Americans and their culture are seen through the view of Americans. However in this book we get more of the connection between Native Americans and the modern Americans, and how they are similar and different. This is mostly shown through the Native Americans number one thing to do which is music. Overall this book this book was able to make a connection between Americans and the Native Americans.
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