The Exaggeration of Despair in Sherman Alexie's "Reservation Blues"

Abstract

A prolific writer, Sherman (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene) has become an enigma on the literary scene in only few years' time. Most reviewers-as far from the rural reservation setting as they come-have heaped praise upon Alexie' s work as representative of contemporary reservation life. Philip Patrick, who works and writes in New York, and whose commentary otherwise on the absence of music in novel about music is perceptive, makes the characteristic claims: With what can only be described as deep understanding of the hell and joys that must be reservation life, soars in RESERVATION Alexie brings to the page the life of the Spokanes, and, reservation is as evocative as James Baldwin's Harlem or Dorothy Allison's backwater Carolinas. This review questions the assumption that because someone is what they produce is automatically an accurate representation. It addresses specific problems with the construed, generic Indian qualities that are attributed to diverse tribal peoples. It attempts to discuss the elements of Alexie's latest work RESERVATION BLUES (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995) that, in the spirit of an Spike Lee, contribute to portrait of an exaggerated version of reservation life, one that perpetuates many of the stereotypes of native people and presents problems for native and non-native readers alike. The resemblance to other script-minded novels, and the cultural (mis)representation in Spike Lee films should be examined in relation to how native culture is modified in RESERVATION BLUES. In film, Spike Lee selectively exposes little known aspects of African American culture and life, and has been credited with having successfully interpreted that experience from an insider's perspective to the mainstream audience. The mixed-messages generated by Lee in film are analogous to the effect of RESERVATION BLUES upon the mainstream in interpreting the representations of Indian. Examples from the novel will be examined in detail later. I would like to begin by comparing how RESERVATION BLUES resembles script. In RESERVATION BLUES, the cinematic style is apparent from the start. Like script, on page one, the cast of characters from Sherman Alexie's earlier work appear, as well as the newcomer to the reservation, Robert Johnson, the legendary bluesman. Before we are off the first page, we pan in to close-up of Robert Johnson: a small man with very dark skin and huge hands, he wore brown suit that looked good from distance but grew more ragged, frayed at the cuffs, as he came into focus (3) [Italics mine]. The script-like prose is comparable to Fanny Flagg's FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE, where if you've read the book, you've basically experienced the storyline of the film on which it is based. Chapters are arranged in scenes that are followed in order in the film. The traps of popular culture inform RESERVATION BLUES to the extent that discussion of pop culture and postmodern sensibilities need be called upon. I begin with generalization: In RESERVATION BLUES, alluding to popular culture as literary strategy does not serve as either parody or as serious interrogation of popular culture. It is way of carrying the story from one subject to another. Pop culture is self-referencing medium. Audiences need to be informed and pop-culture-sophisticated to 'get' the messages that flood the TV and movie screens. In the same way, the following dialogue between Victor and Thomas exemplifies how the novel relies on readership exposure to film: You sound like we're in some goddamn reservation coming-of-age movie. Who the fuck you think you are? Billy Jack? Who's writing your dialogue(2 11)? Again, toward the conclusion of the novel,