Readers Misunderstanding Themes and Morals

"What You Pawn I Will Redeem" is a short story in the point of view of an alcoholic and homeless Native American man named Jackson. Throughout the story he tries to find money to buy back his grandmother’s regalia that he saw in a pawn shop window. The story is filled with mistakes and foolish behavior due to his alcohol addiction. In the story, themes and morals could be easily confused. Alexie's short story doesn't have a solid moral, if it did, the story would be significantly different because it would have made its lesson blatant. One could come up with a moral to “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by using one of its overarching themes. “I sat up and looked around. I was lying on the railroad tracks… I should have been a railroad track pizza, a double Indian pepperoni with extra cheese. Sick and scared, I leaned over and puked whiskey” (Alexie 41). An example of this would be saying that the moral is "don't drink alcohol" referring back to the theme of the effect of alcoholism. The story never explicitly tells the reader not to drink but he or she can learn something from the theme making it seem as though they are the same.