When I think about the character of Thomas, especially in the film version of this book, it's obvious to me that Thomas feels that he has to prove his culture, always tellings stories even if they were made up. It wasn't until I read this question that an idea dawned on me. The American Indian culture is based heavily on oral tradition, but since the Westernization of the North American continent, American Indians have lost a lot of who they were. They have started merging into a new generation of Indians--> the American Indians, part aboriginal and part Western. I think that for a lot of people in the American Indian nation they have a difficult time trying to decide what to do with this predicament. America has created a country and government that makes it almost impossible to live completely separately as the American Indian people... even if it's small, they are still dependent on the US government.
Thomas is the embodiment of this dilemma. He's growing up on a reservation that's far from traditional, yet he still clings to the oral tradition of his ancestors. He feels like he has to incorporate these stories into his daily life- like it's all he has left. I can't be sure that Alexie did this on purpose, but it's very clear to me that how he represents a culture that is struggling to understand who they are in America.... the Western America.
I noticed this same dilemma when I lived in Vanuatu. The village that I resided in, Eratap, was on the outskirts of the main city and capitol of Vanuatu: Port Vila. After World War I, and using Vanuatu as a base for the army, the people faced unwanted Western invasion.... and whether they liked it or not they were becoming a popular tourist site for Pacific Islanders and an extremely accessible port city for trading and economic disturbance by Asia. Even though it was never spoken aloud, I could sense that my people have lost a lot of their cultural identity that is rooted in their traditions and simple living. Take for example, they have started incorporating tvs in their "houses".... below, during the World Cup, they even went to lengths to tie a satellite to the top of a palm tree to get better reception:
Even the houses have started becoming more Western. On the smaller island in Kiramasanga Village, where not many outsiders have ever been, one can find the living situation that they have maintained for thousands of years:
It's simple and basic, but they pride themselves on not using more than they need, taking from replenishable sources such as shrubbery and trees. It's part of who they are. It attributes to their culture, their traditions, their identity. And when I see the houses that they are now constructing, made of concrete and metal... I am sure that they are being swayed by Western thought and the belief that what they have isn't enough. Here is the house of the Chief of Eratap, the very Westernized village:
This pacific island culture, who has remained isolated for thousands of years, has now been exposed to a way of life completely different than their own. I don't know where they are headed from here, but I do know that there are very few traditions that the main islanders still hold on to- the smaller islands (Like Tanna) has a handful more traditions that i observed, but I can only guess it'll be a short time until they begin to morph like their mother island.
It doesn't matter that they are not American Indians, because a struggle for identity and maintaining culture despite an evolving global community is a very real and alive dilemma. It's happened in Africa as well, like a classmate pointed out today. I see it with my old village, but I especially see it illuminated in Alexie's novel and characters. I don't know if that was Alexie's motivation behind writing, but I do think he wants to draw attention to this global problem. How can every culture in the world co-mingle without merging or morph into something different? Begin to look like their neighbor? How can they exist in a system that doesn't provide the necessary room to live like their ancestors?
No comments:
Post a Comment