Exploring Reasons for Native American Disadvantages

The beginning could be traced back to when the European man first stepped off his ship and onto the soil of the Americas.  Or perhaps it would be proper to identify this beginning as an end.  The very moment Columbus laid eyes on the indigenous men of the Caribbean marked the final moment of freedom for the likes of all indigenous people.  It should be acknowledged that Native Americans in particular are usually not subject to treatment comparable to what they received during the colonization of the Americas.  That being said, there are still various aspects of freedom which have not been granted back to native peoples.  Today, stereotypes of Native American homelessness, substance abuse, and poverty seek to strip indigenous people of their pride and freedom.  Sherman Alexie, a prominent Native American author, seeks to explore typical day-to-day life for Native characters, to educate not only his people, but the world they live in.  In his short story, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” and the article, “No, Native Americans aren't genetically more susceptible to alcoholism,” by renowned neuroscience journalist Maia Szalavitz, there is a central motive to disprove common stereotypes about Native Americans, and explore potential causes for excessive Native American homelessness and substance abuse.

   An argument which Szalavitz continuously refers back to throughout her article is the notion that many issues faced by Native Americans are induced by levels of stress unheard of amongst other racial and ethnic groups.  There is an obvious correlation between trauma and stress and substance addiction regardless of ethnic group in the United States, but it is more important to understand that Native Americans experience a significantly greater amount of stress and trauma than whites do:

The link between trauma and addiction is not in dispute — and the earlier the trauma, the worse the risk of addiction becomes. Whether it’s losing a parent young, being emotionally, physically, or sexually violated, experiencing a natural or man-made disaster or witnessing violence, the risks add up. For example, one study of nearly 10,000 people found that those with four or more of these types of "adverse childhood experiences" (ACEs) have a risk of alcoholism that is seven times greater than those with none. Similarly, boys who have four or more ACEs are nearly five times more likely to inject drugs than those with none.  American Indians are also much more likely than whites to have their families broken up by the state, which can propel trauma down the generations. Among older Indians, thousands were torn away from their parents and sent to abusive boarding schools whose explicit goal was cultural genocide: "Kill the Indian to save the man." In these schools, children were forbidden from using their own language and even their own names. Today, a full quarter of Native Americans either have personal boarding school experience or were adopted by whites — meaning they were separated from their parents and, often, from their tribe early in life, according to Elm (Szalavitz).

As is clearly stated by Szalavitz, there are a mass of obstacles presented to Native Americans by stress and trauma, in numerous cases leading to substance addiction.  Alcoholism, as it is presented by stress and trauma, is hinted at by Alexie in “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” as one of the reasons for the main character’s homelessness.

   The protagonist in “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is a homeless Spokane Indian, named Jackson Jackson.  Throughout the story, Alexie portrays Jackson as somewhat of an alcoholic, and frequently suggests that this could be one of the reasons for his homelessness.  While it is clear that it is unfair to make generalizations about all homeless Native Americans from the experiences of one, the story can serves as a basis for outlining potential causes of Native homelessness.  The first instance where the audience is shown evidence of Jackson’s alcoholism is near the beginning of the story, where Jackson and his “posse” are headed to purchase alcohol from a 7-Eleven: “After about two hours of negotiating, we earned five dollars—good enough for a bottle of fortified courage from the most beautiful 7-Eleven in the world. So we headed over that way, feeling like warrior drunks, and we walked past this pawnshop I’d never noticed before” (Alexie 30).  This action makes a statement about Jackson, one that shows that he is more interested in putting money toward alcohol than something useful or working his way out of homelessness.  This could be affected by the fact that Jackson does not seem to mind being homeless and perhaps even enjoys it.  Jackson elaborates on this at the beginning of the story when he introduces himself: “I’ve been homeless for six years now. If there’s such a thing as an effective homeless man, then I suppose I’m effective. Being homeless is probably the only thing I’ve ever been good at” (Alexie 29). Motivation to remain homeless is actually in effect for Jackson, and this could potentially be reflected by other homeless Native Americans.

As we can examine alcoholism as a cause of homelessness, and in extent a low socioeconomic status, we can also examine how having a low socioeconomic status influences alcoholism.  Szalavitz draws the conclusion that high poverty rates amongst Native Americans is a contributing factor to substance addiction and abuse.  To further elaborate on the topic, Szalavitz cites a study from the Journal of the American Medical Association which followed several Cherokee Indian families over the course of three years to research development of substance addiction and psychiatric disorders amongst rural youth.  Three years into the study, families of the Cherokee children were compensated $9,000 annually, as part of a deal to operate a casino on their reservation.  Children who were younger when their families received the grants had tendencies to not develop addictions or psychiatric disorders over the course of the following years, while children who were older were more likely to showcase this kind of development.  In addition to this, employment rates of parents who received the grant increased:

That relatively small amount of money had a big impact. The younger a child was when their parents started receiving the money, the better they did and perhaps also importantly, parents’ employment rates also increased. For example, 35 percent of those who were 16 when the parents began receiving payments developed problems with alcohol or other drugs — but only 23 percent of those who were 12 did. The 12-year-olds were the youngest studied, but other research suggests that younger kids might do even better.  When compared to white participants whose families didn’t get payment — rather than to each other by age — the Cherokees also did better. Addiction rates were reduced by about one-third, in Indians compared to whites (Szalavitz).

From this study, it is wise to conclude that increasing socioeconomic status by simply a marginal amount can have a large impact, especially in the case of these Cherokee children and their families.  Decreases in development of substance addictions and psychiatric disorders and an increase in employment rates just go to show how heavily socioeconomic status impacts Native American success.

Issues experienced by Native Americans are ones that are both underestimated and taken lightly by many who do not understand the reasons why this issues are present.  Throughout “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” and an extensive amount of his other works, Sherman Alexie attempts to shed light on what these reasons may be.  Maia Szalavitz’s “No, Native Americans aren't genetically more susceptible to alcoholism” fits concurrently with much of Alexie’s work in the sense that it seeks to disprove misconceptions about Native American homelessness and substance abuse and replace these misconceptions with logical causes and reasoning.  These kinds of works are essential if the freedom which Native Americans have been stripped of is to ever be completely returned to them.

The Reality of Reality

Everything we do is motivated by dreams and imagination, whether they are realistic or not. For example, the dream of becoming outrageously rich could motivate, because having a lot of money would pave the way to a comfortable life. Without the ability to imagine the impossible, we would be unable to reach our maximum potential. "Across the Border” by Sophie Jewett and “The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimamanda Adichie both illustrate the driving force of self-transcendence: idealism, but also how sometimes, we are discouraged by reality.

A central theme in “Across the Border” and “The Thing Around Your Neck” is striving to achieve the ideal life. Sophie Jewett describes a fairyland “Where all the trees bear golden flowers/And all the birds are white;/Where fairy folk in dancing hours/Burn stars for daylight;/Where every wind and leaf can talk.” The “fairyland,” where magical and impossible things are reality, is a symbol for a place that exists for everyone, and the journey to find the “fairyland” symbolizes the lifelong endeavor to reach this symbolic fairyland, although the way it is imagined may be different for every individual. For the narrator in “The Thing Around Your Neck,” this place is America, where she will have a prosperous lifestyle and put down the burden of poverty, bettering life for both her family and herself. An important aspect of this theme is how the definition of the “perfect” world is defined by society. The description of fairyland of “Across the Border,” introduced in the epigraph, is “read,” showing how cultural and social variables transmitted through text or social interactions shape our definition of perfect. The same theme applies to “The Thing Around Your Neck.” Her aunts and uncles tell the main character, “In a month, you will have a big car. Soon, a big house.” They paint a picture of a successful life that will come with being in America. Her perception of America is founded on what the narrator hears about the country from her family, merely mirroring the common stereotype about the magical land of America.

Another central theme in both pieces of literature is the return to the norm after searching for dreams that are unrealistic. In “Across the Border,” “I [follows] two swift silver wings;/I [stalks] a roving song,/I [startles] shining, silent things;/ I [wanders] all day long.” The narrator finds “silver” wings instead of “white” birds; “a roving song” instead of the dialogue of leaves and trees. The narrator only encounters mirages that leave a lot to be desired, depicting the frustrating pursuit of dreams in the real world. After “[wandering] all day long,” the narrator gives up the search and returns to “sweet common flowers/ brown birds, and candlelight.” Similarly, in America, the narrator of “The Thing Around Your Neck” has a hard time reconciling her expectations of America and what she experiences when she arrives. All of what she had looked forward to - money, a house, a car, and a lucrative job - had eclipsed the potential problems she could face: rent, racism, sexual exploitation. The shock that she experiences when she encounters all of these obstacles and only witnesses ghosts of expectations is enough to make her return to her home. Not only this, but she had thought America would eliminate her problems and bring happiness to her and her family, when it had only let her evade her problems. She witnesses injustices; she “[wonders] why it was called a cottage because the buildings that big around [her] neighborhood back home were banks and churches.” She only feels guilty and upset about leaving her own family when she shares the wealthy lifestyle of her boyfriend. She compares her former lifestyle to her current, and knows that she has to return to her family, because her dream of succeeding in America upon arrival and sharing that success with her family proves to be naive.

Although both “Across the Border” and “The Thing Around Your Neck” handle the same overarching themes of hope and loss in the beginning and ends, realization is the biggest theme. Just as the protagonists have different definitions of the perfect world, they also come to terms differently with the disappointment. The narrator “[creeps] home to sweet common flowers” (Jewett 15). The word “common” carries a negative connotation that the flowers are mundane, but “sweet” shows the appreciation the narrator has for the flowers, despite the fact that they are “common.” The diction of the ending of “Across the Border” conveys that the main character learns to enjoy reality despite not being able to find “fairyland,” finding closure. However, in “Across the Border,” the cliffhanger ending shows the protagonist stuck in the middle of two worlds. She “[will] lose [the green card] if [she] did not come back in one year,” giving her time to decide. Instead of confronting and battling what makes her uncomfortable, she takes advantages of this time frame and recedes, like she has in the entire story. When her uncle abuses her sexually, she does not report him to the police, but leaves. When the people at the restaurant “asked when [she] had come from Jamaica,” she does not correct them. The way each protagonist faces disappointment characterizes them, and the way we act when faced with drawbacks characterizes us.

All of us have been disappointed when we imagine one thing to happen and the opposite happens in real life. The juxtaposition of fantasy and reality can be hard to accept, but without the ability to transcend disappointment and be optimistic about the future, we would never be able to advance and test our limits. “Across the Border” and “The Thing Around Your Neck,” which depict the journey of the protagonist through dreaming, losing, then realizing, shows the persistent nature of hope and the paradox that comes with hope in the real world. Keeping all of these central themes in mind, we should acknowledge that sometimes dreams aren’t realistic, but not let that deter us from challenging ourselves.  

A Soft Construction with a Heart

Soft Construction with a Heart

When seeing Salvador Dali’s Soft Construction with Boiled Beans and reading Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Tell Tale Heart”, one cannot help but ask, “what the f***?” The two works are known for making audiences feel uneasy and for their ability to leave behind a strong impression, but what really makes them similar are the themes they explore. They focus on being shortsighted, in which the artist or narrator is preoccupied by mundane elements as opposed to what is relevant. The theme of conceit is also used through imagery and the narrator’s actions. Finally, both contain the theme of nonconformism by conveying provocative ideas and causing the reader to question common thought.

When looking at Dali’s painting Soft Construction with Boiled Beans, most wonder where the boiled beans are. After a while they may find the beans sprinkled out at the bottom of the canvas, hidden by the more dominant elements. Whatever reason it may be, Dali’s choice of setting aside one of the central ideas force audiences to preoccupy themselves with other elements such as the disembodied limbs and the scenery. In the same way does the narrator of “A Tell Tale Heart” become preoccupied by the old man’s eye, a very minor feature. The narrator at the start mentions, "For it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye,” (Poe 2). If someone felt the urge to kill someone, it would be for logical reasons such as for revenge or power. Instead, the narrator is obsessed with a minor feature. What differs between Dali and the narrator is that Dali makes a conscious choice of focusing on other elements, while the narrator is under the heel of his insanity. However, the two are narrow minded in that they do not see the bigger picture and instead focus on minor elements, deliberately or not. In Dali’s case, it is beneficial since it allows him to show the audience what he finds more relevant, while the narrator is harmed by not being able to see the bigger picture and stop himself from committing the crime.

The most prevalent element in Soft Construction with Boiled Beans is the structure of contorted limbs. A head sits on top craned upwards with a smug expression. Attached to it is a leg set on top of the pelvis of another figure, asserting dominance over it. The bottom figure is submissive, struggling to fight back. There are two main elements in conflict, and their struggle is symbolic of how the pride of the dominant can spur retaliation from the underdog. The narrator in the same way is proud as he disposes of the corpse, "In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room ... in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, [I] placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim,” (Poe 7). He is overconfident about the murder while being self aware. This harms him because he cannot get the police to leave before being overwhelmed by the urge to admit his crime. The two pieces focus on the consequences of pride, with the two differing slightly on the types of pride explored. The painting shows pride with regards to dominance, while the story shows it in its relation to overconfidence.

While both pieces are well thought out and deliberate, it is no doubt they are also shocking. A hand clenching a breast and a tongue resting on the thigh are indecent and obscene. While randomness is the nature of surrealism, Dali challenges the norm of keeping art polite. In A Tell Tale Heart, the narrator also broke the norm by committing a murder, which is against common principle. “In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him,” (Poe 6). Both instances break the norm and make the audience question popular ideals. Dali’s obscene art causes the audience ask whether art should be polite or uncensored, while the narrator’s crime causes us ask whether someone is necessarily immoral for committing a crime out of insanity.

Dali and Poe have different intentions. Dali wants to focus on what he finds relevant, show the consequences of pride in terms of dominance, and make audiences question whether art should be polite. Poe wants to create a conflict in the storyline, show the consequences of pride in terms of overconfidence, and make readers ask whether murder out of insanity is morally wrong. To achieve these intentions, the creators use the themes of myopic views, conceit and its consequences, and breaking the norm. Instead of brushing off a work as random and obscene, we have to look past what the f-acade is.

White privilege is ALIVE!

Growing up white, even with hardships, is not the same as growing up as a minority in America. This theme of white privilege is explored  in both Tom Jacobs’ article “Sure, Whites Are Privileged—but Not Me Personally!”, written for the Pacific Standard, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story, “The Thing Around your Neck.” They both look at the same topic of white perceptions of racial discrimination, the authors use different approaches to make their point. Jacobs uses scientific evidence based on cumulative survey data while Adichie delves into expressions of white privilege denial through the unfolding of a personal relationship. Both pieces arrive at the same conclusion in different ways, that white people’s reaction to their advantages is either to deny them, adopt a victimhood mindset, or exaggerate personal effort to account for any differences in success.

The article written by Tom Jacobs (The Pacific Standard article), uses scientific evidence and statistics to show how white people tend to deny that they are privileged, or if they do accept it, believe that they are an exception. To support his argument, Jacobs explains the conclusions of recent psychological studies conducted by Stanford University Professors L. Taylor Phillips and Brian S. Lowery. Half of the participants were introduced to evidence of white privilege. Those who were exposed to the realities reported having more difficulties in life than those who did not see the evidence. The conclusion to these studies is that “...people claim more life hardships in response to evidence of ingroup privilege because such information is threatening to their sense of self”. In response to facing the fact that they are privileged, white people feel the need to exaggerate the obstacles they have faced. These studies show evidence that white people deny the reality of their privilege and exaggerate their personal efforts. Not only does Jacob’s article provide an example of this, but so does Adichie’s short story.

Adichie in her short story “The Thing Around your Neck” uses a different tactic to examine white privilege and white people excusing their privilege. The narrative follows an African woman, named Akunna, who wins the lottery and gets to immigrate to America. Akunna faces hardships in America life due to her race and gender. She initially stays with her uncle when she arrives in America, and is raped by him. She works as a waitress and most of the money she earns is sent back to her family in Nigeria. Eventually, she enters into a relationship with a rich white male. Akunna’s boyfriend is more privileged than Akunna is, and he constantly excuses his privilege by creating difficulties he has had to overcome and magnifying his personal endeavours. For instance, the boyfriend describes his upbring as being manipulated by unloving and controlling parents:

“Afterwards, he told you about his issues with his parents, how they portioned out love like a birthday cake, how they would give him a bigger slice if only he’d agreed to go to law school. You wanted to sympathize. But instead you were angry.” (Adichie 92)

Instead of recognizing how privileged he was to be able to attend law school, Akunna’s boyfriend exaggerates how abusive his childhood was and emphasizes how he overcame the many adversities that he faced. Since Akunna has gone through so much in her life, her boyfriend’s “struggles” make her angry. He points out that he had to do everything by himself and that his privilege did not help him get where he is today. White people tend to exaggerate their tribulations when faced with those, Akunna in this case, who do have less privilege. This is the same point that was made in Jacobs’ article.  

The two pieces show in different ways another mechanism white people use to disregard their privilege. Once again Jacobs takes the scientific stance, “Evidence that their race was an advantage prompted white people to move toward a victimhood mindset”. When shown verification of their advantages and privilege, white people tend to become defensive and acquire a victimhood mindset. A victimhood mindset in when a person excuses what they have by blaming everything else except themselves. The understanding of a victimhood mindset among white people is once again seen in “The Thing Around Your Neck”. At first, the boyfriend used his privilege to show how cultured he was, since he had the opportunity to travel around the world. As Akunna and her boyfriend get closer she let him know her thoughts about gender and racial privilege:

“....that you rooted for the following in this order: women of color, black men, and white women, before, finally, white men- which meant you never rooted for white men. He laughed and told you he was used to not being rooted for, his mother taught women’s studies” (Adichie 89).

Akunna’s boyfriend taps into a victimhood mindset when he gives her that response with he was not used to being rooted for”. The boyfriend realizes that he is very privileged and, as a coping mechanism, victimizes himself without even realizing he is doing it.

Both pieces approach the problem of white victimhood when exposed to their privilege in two different ways. Adichie writes about how those who are privileged often exaggerate their life experiences. Jacobs writes the same thing, but uses experiments and evidence. White people’s reaction to their societal advantages is either to deny them or to adopt a victimhood mindset and exaggerate personal effort to account for any differences in success. White people have to own up to their white privilege. As Jacobs states, "these denials of personal privilege were in turn associated with diminished support for affirmative action policies—policies that could help alleviate racial inequity." White people need to accept their privilege in order to fully abate racial inequality.

Mistreatment of Mental Illness

There is still a large stigma surrounding mental illness even though it affects a fourth of the population every year (nami). “New Approach Advised to Treat Schizophrenia” by Benedict Carey, for the New York Times, talks about the importance of therapy in schizophrenia treatment. The article references a study that showed greater improvement in patients treated with talk therapy rather than those who received none. The study concludes that instead of heavily medicating patients, they should receive less medication, talk therapy, and learn skills to help them deal with episodes. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells the story of a woman who has been diagnosed with “hysteria.” The narrator is ordered to be on bed rest and told by her husband and brother the she isn’t really sick. In the beginning of the story, the woman writes about feelings and symptoms that a person experiencing depression commonly feels; but, by the end of the story the narrator is exhibiting symptoms that are consistent with schizophrenia, like hallucinations. Both pieces show the mistreatment of people with mental illness over decades. This mistreatment causes the narrator to become schizophrenic, and the articles prove that talking therapy and integrating patients into society is the best way to treat mental illness.

In traditional treatment of schizophrenics the patients receive little to no talking therapy, this lack of talking therapy doesn’t improve symptoms or the frequency of episodes. Instead, patients are heavily medicated and, these medications cause unmanageable side effects. An anonymous woman said of her medications: “As for medications, I have had every side effect out there, from chills and shakes to lockjaw.” After receiving a combination of talk therapy and medication she has enrolled in nursing school and is leading a normal life.

The study proved that patients who received talk therapy were more successful, by testing both methods. The first method is traditional treatment, which includes heavily medicating patients to help with hallucinations and voices. The second method uses less medication in addition to talking therapy. While the less medicated treatment didn’t show improvement as quickly as the standard, over two years those who received talk therapy made greater progress which allowed them to lead normal lives and become more independent. Since schizophrenia is, in most cases, a lifelong illness the integrated treatment is a better alternative because it lessens the amount of side effects, by lessening medication. Integrated treatment also allowed for patients to develop skills to cope with episodes, which allows for independence from medication as well as independence from assisted living.

In today’s society people suffering from mental illness are often ostracized, like in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The narrator is forbidden from writing, working, or socializing. This isolation and restriction makes the narrator’s condition worse. The lack of interactions and stimulation gives her ample time to think about the negative things in her life. If she had been able to do things that she had loved, like writing, the narrator would have been able to distract herself from the bad things in her life and replaced them with thing that made her happy. Those happy things could potentially help alleviate the sadness the narrator felt, until it is gone all together.

The same can be said about people with schizophrenia. When someone with schizophrenia is diagnosed and being treated, they are often isolated. Some of this isolation is done intentionally with people choosing not to associate with someone because of their illness. Often, it is done unintentionally, with all the side effects of medications used to treat people. People who are suffering from side effects have a harder time going out in social situations and leading normal lives. This causes them to isolate themselves, which adds another layer of negativity to an illness already extremely hard to manage. This added layer of sadness, caused by the isolation, makes it much harder to cope with schizophrenia, as Gilman portrays in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

In the beginning of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator is described as having “hysteria,” but the more time she spends in her bedroom her condition worsens, and she becomes schizophrenic. In her bedroom the walls are covered in old, yellow wallpaper. The paper has started peeling and there are many spots on the wall, where it is bare. The narrator becomes increasingly more obsessed with the wallpaper. The narrator believes that there is a women living inside the wallpaper. At first the narrator despises the women claiming she would “tie her up” if the women tried to escape. This evolves into the narrator helping the women escape, much to her husband's dismay. When the women escapes the narrator exclaims, “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane” (Gilman). These hallucinations, anxiety, and voices that the narrator hears, prove that she is, in fact, schizophrenic by the end of the story. The narrator becomes schizophrenic because the isolation and restrictions placed on her allow for her to fixate on the wallpaper.

The narrator experiences a treatment that was essentially bed rest, schizophrenic patients receive more medication-focused treatment, the overall effect of the two treatments still remains the same. The narrator was forced into a treatment method that didn’t work and made her condition worse. While schizophrenic patients receive relief from schizophrenic symptoms in traditional treatment, the added side effects make their quality of life worse. In both cases, people were removed from society and unable to lead normal lives. Both ways of treatment, bed rest and traditional medication, do more harm than good to patients and shut people out of society. As a society, we should strive to include people with illness and give them an option so that patients are able to choose the best method of treatment for themselves.

Out of Place

"Just be yourself," is a commonly used phrase to motivate others during stressful situations. Telling one to do the opposite rarely ever ends well. However, the latter occurs in both the short story "Two Kinds" and the poem "Poet as Housewife." Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds” describes a young Chinese girl who throughout the story makes deliberate attempts to avoid the pressure of her strict mother. Elizabeth Eybers’ poem “Poet as Housewife” describes the life of a housewife who aspires to be a poet. Although the premise of the story and the poem are different, the role of the characters are similar. Both the story and the poem explore the idea of characters who are forced into being something that they are not.
The characters in Tan's story and Eyber's poem are similar because they both have a specific role/job that is expected of them. The girl from “Two Kinds” was held to an extremely high standard from her mother, and was expected to be a “genius” or a “prodigy.” Her mother would constantly force her to try activities such as playing the piano, as shown in the line “Three days after watching the Ed Sullivan Show my mother told me what my schedule would be for piano lessons and piano practice (Tan)." The fact that her mother would organize piano lessons without asking whether or not she wanted to shows how the girl was forced to do so. Eybers' poem is shorter than Tan's story, and nothing is explicitly stated, but based off of the title "Poet as Housewife" and other parts of the poem, it can be concluded that the main character has a similar role to the girl from "Two Kinds." The main character desires to write poetry, but she is forced to be a housewife, and thus does not perform her job as well as she is expected. "Always a broom leaned against the wall / meals never on time, if they come at all (Eybers)." The line describes how the character from "Poet as Housewife" doesn't perform her assigned task with any effort, perhaps due to the fact that she desires to be a poet. Tan's character's role as a genius, prodigy, or a piano player is similar to Eyber's character's role as a housewife, which shows the similarity between the two stories.
The characters in both the story and the poem are also both stubborn and strongly opposed to the "job" forced upon them. Amy Tan's character purposely chose not to listen to her mother, and made deliberate attempts to do what was not asked of her: “I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not (Tan)." This shows that the girl from "Two Kinds" doesn't want to do what her mother told her to. Her mother's actions only made her more rebellious. The increased pressure pushed her to the point where she no longer wanted to cooperate. Eybers' poem is slightly different because nothing explicitly states that the main character is opposed to her assigned job, but it can be inferred since she doesn't seem to make an effort to work, and often finds herself confused and out of place in her job. "Days without dates through which she moves / empty and stubborn, slightly confused (Eybers)."  When tied together, it can be concluded that being forced to do something against one's own will incite a new desire to do exactly the opposite. This desire hinders any progress made in the fields of their "job," as shown in both stories.
    The character in Tan's "Two Kinds" does differ from Eyber's character in a huge way. The girl from "Two Kinds" does not desire to become anything else in particular, she is only opposed to her mother for the sake of stopping her mother's pride. She never focused on her mother's tests, she never practiced the piano with any effort, and she purposely deceived her piano teacher. “So now when my mother presented her tests, I performed listlessly, my head propped on one arm. I pretended to be bored (Tan).” The character from "Poet as Housewife," however, has a desire to become a poet. She isn't opposed to her forced job for no reason. This is shown in both the title and the quote "Leave her alone, let her read (Eybers)." This is significant since it shows the difference between the girl in "Two Kinds" and the woman from "Poet as Housewife." It can also be concluded that “Poet as Housewife” takes place somewhere earlier in the past, when most women were expected to be housewives. Female poets weren’t a part of society at the time, and she would probably not be accepted by others. Meanwhile, Amy Tan’s character wouldn’t receive any backlash for being a piano player, a genius, or a prodigy. The two characters are in somewhat similar scenarios, but Tan’s character is still in a much better situation than Eyber’s.
    Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” and Elizabeth Eyber’s “Poet as Housewife have a number of similarities and differences. The story and the poem both explore the reaction of characters who are forced to be what they are not. Tan’s character is forced to become anything her mother tells her to (piano player, genius, prodigy, etc.). Eyber’s character is forced to be a housewife, and is not allowed to pursue her dream of becoming a poet. The characters are different because Tan's character doesn't have a  dream to be something in particular. The stories can relate to each other but aldo differ in this aspect.

Pocahontas is an Alchoholic

Ever watched Pocahontas or “The Lone Ranger,” featuring Native American sidekick Tonto (Johnny Depp)? Have you ever considered whether these movies are accurately portraying Native Americans? Very often, the media uses stereotypes to create characters in their movies or TV shows. The most common of all, “All Natives are drunks.”

The high incidence of alcoholism amongst Native Americans has led many people over the years to believe that this problem is innate or genetic in the Native American population.  Maia Szalavitz’s article on the Verge.com about Native Americans however, uses logic to disprove this myth. In addition, Sherman Alexie’s short story, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” provides a human description of the causes and effects of alcoholism amongst Native Americans.  His story shows that the addiction is caused by dislocation, loneliness, stress, and hopelessness rather than genetics.

Someone who is severely affected by traumas is more prone to alcoholism. As Maia Szalavitz wrote in her article, “The link between trauma and addiction is not in dispute — and the earlier the trauma, the worse the risk of addiction becomes. Whether it’s losing a parent young, being emotionally, physically, or sexually violated, experiencing a natural or man-made disaster or witnessing violence, the risks add up” (Szalavitz).  In “What You Pawn, I Will Redeem,” the main character Jackson experiences trauma as early as fourteen years old when Agnes, his grandmother, died of breast cancer. Later he faces stress when his friend disappears and dies. His traumas may have caused his mental problem. “Of course, crazy is not the official definition of my mental problem, but I don’t think asocial disorder fits it, either, because that makes me sound like I’m a serial killer or something” (Alexie 28). He is aware of his debilitating traumas and it continues to affect him during his adulthood.

Jackson’s stress and challenges continue into his adulthood. He is homeless, living on the streets of Seattle. Moreover, he not only is experiencing physical homelessness, but probably also feels culturally secluded as a Spokane Indian. Jackson, like all Native Americans, has undergone a history of dispossession, forced removal, and lost lands. In this way, Jackson's homelessness resonates throughout the story. It represents not only his material state, but his psychological state as well. When Jackson sees his grandmother’s regalia from the window of the pawn shop, he feels a sense of loss in his culture and family.  He becomes inspired to try to save enough money to buy back the regalia and thereby reclaim his family’s heritage. Saving this amount of money however proves to be extremely challenging. He has limited savings and income, and even after he earns some money, he spends every penny on short term gratification including alcohol. This leaves him in a frustrated and stressed cycle, and further worsens his situation.

A low socioeconomic status and unemployment leads to a higher risk of alcoholism. Among Native Americans, school completion rates are low, unemployment rates are high, and basic support systems are underdeveloped. These conditions place a great deal of stress on their communities and families. As a result, the basic developmental needs of Indian children often go unmet. This also explains why Jackson doesn’t know how to spend his money wisely as he was never taught how to. To the extent that this type of social stress predisposes a population to alcohol abuse, American Indian communities are highly susceptible.

Both Maia Szalavitz’s article and Sherman Alexie’s story demonstrate that Jackson, and other Native Americans weren’t predisposed to alcoholism. Jackson turned to it because of external and internal stresses, low socioeconomic status, and probably the sense of helplessness to get out of his situation. So if we want to prevent alcohol addiction and aid recovery, we need to focus more on revitalizing their culture and society, and strive to reduce stress and poverty amongst the Native American population.

So the next time you see a Native American, or a depiction of a Native American pop up in a magazine or in the media, don’t assume that all Native Americans drink that excessively, or constantly wear feather headdresses.

Broken Bonds of Old Chums

A Bleak and Broken Friendship

                 Executing a captive enemy who is also a friend can be a scar on one’s humanity. 

Frank O’Connor’s “Guests of a Nation” uses imagery and descriptive language to tell the heartbreaking tale of two captives’ execution. Bonaparte and Noble are members of the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence. An unlikely bond is formed between the Irish Soldiers and two English captives, Belcher and Hawkins. However, friendship is threatened when reality of the war strikes the men after discovering a possible execution for Hawkins and Belcher. O’Connor’s “Guests of a Nation” and Ivan Shishkin’s “In the Wild North” clearly and effectively portray Bonaparte’s bleak, indifferent outlook on life during the process of Hawkins’ and Belcher’s execution. 

                 Bonaparte begins to experience the shuddering and indifferent feeling as he starts

killing the two captive soldiers. He understands that there is no other way, yet he wishes this didn't have to happen. “I was hoping that something would happen; that they'd run for it or that Noble would take over the responsibility from me. I had the feeling that it was worse on Noble than on me.” (O'Connor 23) This feeling begins to set inside him as they begin killing the prisoners. Bonaparte exhibits this cold feeling as seen in the snow-covered tree in “In the Wild North.” Bonaparte is in shock and disturbance when he shoots Hawkins. “Belcher, who was fumbling a bit awkwardly with the handkerchiefs, came out with a laugh as he heard the shot. It was the first time I had heard him laugh and it sent a shudder down my back; it sounded so unnatural.​”(O'Connor 25) Bonaparte begins to feel the chills and shudder that comes with killing Hawkins. This cold and uninviting feeling is portrayed in the cold winter seen in “In the Wild North. The painting features a tree on top of a mountain, far from civilization, covered in snow in what seems to be winter. Bonaparte begins to understand this cold feeling even more as he goes through with the execution. 

                 Bonaparte reaches farther into a darker place as he begins to fully understand the 

absence of the two captives.  “It was an extraordinary thing, but in those few minutes Belcher said more than in all the weeks before... We stood around like fools now that he couldn't see us any longer.” (O’Connor 25) You can see here Bonaparte starts to realize how they will be more isolated because of this. In “In the Wild North” this one tree that sits atop the mountain stands alone and is distant from everything as is Bonaparte currently. Clearly we see how bleak and barren the story starts to feel as the executions begins. “...than all the rest because we had to carry them to the grave. It was all mad lonely with nothing but a patch of lantern-light between ourselves and the dark, and birds hooting and screeching all round, disturbed by the guns. ” This illustrates this disturbing and frigid feeling that Bonaparte experiences during this execution; the same cold and isolating feeling that “In the Wild North conveys. Eventually, Bonaparte completely regrets ever being there. 

                 We can see the death of the two prisoners of war fully settles into Bonaparte as he 

moves into this cold and detached state. 

                 “Noble says he saw everything ten times the size, as though there were nothing in the     whole world but that little patch of bog with the two Englishmen stiffening into it, but with me it was as if the patch of bog where the Englishmen were was a million miles away, and even Noble and the old woman, mumbling behind me, and the birds and the bloody stars were all far away, and I was somehow very small and very lost and lonely like a child astray in the snow. And anything that happened to me afterwards, I never felt the same about again.”(O’Connor 26)

This is the essential feeling of complete devastation and how distraught Bonaparte is. Just as this lonely tree that exists so far from everything else Bonaparte now puts himself in that position having killed those men. Bonaparte at this point is now this tree that sits far from all contact and seems to be disconnected from everything in this way that can't be reversed. 

                 The bleak and touching tale of the unlikely bond between two peoples who are

waging war broken by the reality of war. O’Connor elegantly makes us empathize and sympathize for the people and the events that unfold in this war. With the use of imagery and depictive language, it is utterly understood how hollow and shattered the characters in “Guests of a Nation” feel during the time of war. Through Ivan Shiskin’s “In the Wild North” and O’Connor’s “Guests of a Nation,” we are able to further comprehend the story in an art form and a literary form of work. 

Going From Cloudy to Clear

Often, readers of literature may confuse the difference between the theme and the moral of a short story or novel. The true difference between the two is easy to understand. The moral may be the product of a story’s theme, but the theme itself isn’t a moral.  The best way to look at these two ideas is to approach the theme as the subject of the piece and to approach the moral as the author’s message. A theme can be represented in a few words that sum up what the author wants you to think about when reading the piece. Importantly, a piece of a literature that has a clear theme won’t always have a clear moral or even a moral at all. These two aspects of literature are often thought to act as one; however, themes aren’t morals.

In “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe the theme of the story is clear, while the moral of it is cloudy and perhaps non-existent. The short story follows the thought process of a man who plans and executes the murder of an older man with whom he lives and takes care of. Just as the killer thinks he has gotten away with the murder, the police arrive and ultimately the killer feels so much guilt and paranoia that he confesses his crime to the unsuspecting police officers.

“They heard!—they suspected—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror!—this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision!* I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die!—and now—again!—hark! louder! louder! louder! ​

“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed!—tear up the planks!—here,

here!—it is the beating of his hideous heart!”

(Poe 82)

The theme here is easy to understand; Poe wants you to consider impulses, mental stability and guilt. Accompanied by this clear theme there is no definite moral. There is no grand revelation here on principles of the human condition, only a story that does not end in a way that provokes progressive, righteous or ethical thoughts. A man was murdered, and his killer imprisoned because he confessed.

On the other hand, the story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan has both a clear theme and moral. The story begins in the early childhood of the main character, a young girl plagued by her mother’s obsession to turn her into a prodigy. We watch her progression through life as her mother attempts to force passion upon her. Tan wants you to explore certain emotions and ideas when reading this story. These themes include relationships, pressure and will power.

“You want me to be something that I'm not!" I sobbed. "I'll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!"

​

"Only two kinds of daughters," she shouted in Chinese. "Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!"

​

"Then I wish I weren't your daughter, I wish you weren't my mother," I shouted.”

(Tan 218)

In this passage the main character refuses to give in to her mother’s pressures. In her choice not to become a “prodigy” the reader is exposed to the true moral of this story. One interpretation being that you can’t change yourself for the satisfaction of someone else when it makes you unhappy.

There are stories in which the theme is clear, but the moral is highly up to interpretation. This is the case in “Guests of the Nation” by Frank O’Connor. This is a story with an intense moral conflict. O’Connor describes the struggle experienced by two soldiers who befriended enemy soldiers whom they were holding prisoner. In the end, the main characters are forced to let the men be executed. This does not take away from the fact that they men understood one another and were, in a sense, close. O’Connor wants you to investigate themes of friendship, duty and the conflicts created when these two realities interact. At the scene of the execution, O’Connor writes,

“I wouldn't, not if I was to be shot twenty times over. I wouldn't shoot a pal. And Belcher wouldn't - isn't that right, Belcher? "​

"That's right, chum," Belcher said, but more by way of answering the question than of joining in the argument. Belcher sounded as though whatever unforeseen thing he'd always been waiting for had come at last.​”

                                                                   (O’Connor 23)

“I don't remember much about the burying, but that it was worse than all the rest because we had to carry them to the grave.”

                                                                                                  (O’Connor 25)

In a perfect world the main characters would have refused to kill their friends and the moral would be precise, unfortunately this is not the case. The reader is left unsatisfied in terms of a moral, unable to understand what principles the author wanted to display through the character’s betrayal of their friends out of fear.

Themes are not morals and these two concepts, in fact, work independently.  A theme is what the author wants the reader to consider, or the subject and is more necessary for following the plot of a story. A moral, on the other hand, is made up of lessons on principles and creed. The moral is the message that you, the reader takes away from a piece of literature. Being able to understand that theme and moral are two separate ideas allows you to gain a deeper understanding of the material and allows you to formulate informed thoughts and opinions.