The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

First published: 1993

Type of work: Short fiction

Type of plot: Realism and Magical Realism

Time of plot: 1976–93

Locale: Spokane Indian Reservation and Spokane, Washington

Principal Characters

• Victor Polatkin, an American Indian, the main narrator
• Junior Polatkin, his brother
• Thomas Builds-the-Fire, a storyteller
• James Many Horses, a terminal cancer patient
• Norma Many Horses, his wife

The Stories:

“Every Little Hurricane”: Young Victor Polatkin recalls reservation hurricanes, watching fights and seeing an old American Indian man drown in a mud puddle. He also remembers the alcoholism enveloping his people. Victor also realizes that his drunken father and mother embody an unnamed hurricane deep enough to destroy everything.

“A Drug Called Tradition”: A grown-up Victor, along with his brother Junior and Thomas Builds-the-Fire, a storyteller, experience a different Indian vision under the influence of a new drug. When Victor disavows the visions, Thomas walks away, both emotionally and physically. Later, spiritual guide Big Mom gives Victor a tiny drum as a “pager.” Though he never uses it, the drum becomes his “only religion,” which “fill[s] up the whole world.”

“Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ’The Star Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock”: Though the music of famed guitarist Jimi Hendrix brings Victor closer to his father, their family trip to Hendrix’s grave site signals the beginning of the end of his parents’ marriage. Victor’s father buys a motorcycle and eventually leaves the family, leaving Victor with only the imaginary sound of motorcycles and guitars.

“The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore”: Adrian and Victor talk about former reservation basketball heroes and wonder if Julius Windmaker will “make it.” Julius had been taken away by tribal police officers and eventually became an alcoholic.

“Amusements”: Victor and Sadie put a passed-out Indian on a roller coaster and laugh at the spectacle until the crowd disapproves. The man awakens, and the carny points to Victor as the culprit. While fleeing, Victor sees himself in the crazy mirrors, making him realize that he is “the Indian who offered up another Indian like some treaty.”

“This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”: Thomas Builds-the-Fire and Victor reunite, recalling their sometimes violent history. Thomas reveals his reason for helping Victor retrieve Victor’s father’s ashes from Phoenix: Since childhood in Spokane, Thomas had been waiting for a vision, which Victor’s father inspired by saying “Take care of each other.” Later, when Victor gives Thomas part of the ashes in recompense, Thomas vows to toss them in Spokane Falls so that Victor’s father will ascend like a salmon, for “’Nothing stops, cousin.’”

“The Fun House”: Victor’s aunt swims naked in Tshimikain Creek. No one had helped her after a mouse had crawled up her pants. Returning to the house, she dons the full-length beaded dress that is too heavy for anyone else to wear and begins to dance, taking control of her life.

“All I Wanted to Do Was Dance”: To get over the white woman who left him, Victor drinks incessantly until he meets a Cherokee celebrating his birthday. The Cherokee says there is one way to tell a true Indian from a fake one: “The real Indian got blisters on his feet. The fake Indian got blisters on his ass,” alluding to the Trail of Tears.

“The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire”: During his trial for a manufactured offense, Thomas Builds-the-Fire breaks a twenty-year silence. His testimony morphs from story to story, all about the Spokane Indian past. Upon cross-examination, he becomes Wild Coyote, in his first battle, and regrettably recounts killing two of Steptoe’s soldiers. Thomas receives two concurrent life sentences in prison in Walla Walla, Washington.

“Distances”: All the whites are dead. Urban Indians all suffer from a disease that makes their skin and limbs fall off. The Others, returning from one thousand years ago, kill the Urban Indians. Although technology is taboo, the narrator increases the volume on the radio to hear only the sound of his own breathing.

“Jesus Christ’s Half-Brother Is Alive and Well on the Spokane Indian Reservation”: James had been orphaned in a house fire. Unable to speak, he becomes the “religion” of his alcoholic foster father. After almost losing James because of his alcoholism, the father endures the ravages of delirium tremens to keep his son. When James finally “speaks,” he tells his father that they do not have the right to die for each other, only to live for each other.

“A Train Is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result”: Thomas Builds-the-Fire is fired from his job at a motel. Depressed, he goes into a bar. He had resisted drinking before, knowing that alcohol will negate the power of his stories, which lead others to better lives. Pushed out of the bar at closing time, he stumbles onto the railroad tracks in the path of an oncoming train.

“Imagining the Reservation”: Harsh realities abound on the reservation, and so does bitterness. Dreams, hope, and the possibilities of survival exist, too. Laughter can save one’s life, and stories can “put wood in the fireplace.”

“The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor”: James Many Horses, suffering from terminal cancer, deals with the emotional pain through humor. After too many jokes, his wife, Norma Many Horses, leaves him. A few months later, James is home from the hospital. Norma returns home after abandoning her too-serious lover to help James die.

“Somebody Kept Saying Powwow”: When Junior Polatkin tells Norma Many Horses, the “cultural lifeguard” of the tribe, the story of ganging up with a bunch of white boys in college to beat up a reformed convict, Norma calls him another Pete Rose—always to be known for one bad thing. On a strange day, when a bear goes to sleep on the church roof, she forgives Junior.

“Witnesses, Secret or Not”: Junior goes with his father to Spokane for his annual interrogation about the disappearance of Jerry Vincent. When the detective asks the father if Vincent had been his friend, father replies “He still is.” Traveling home, father and son reflect on the metamorphosis that the disappeared undergo in the psyches of the living.

Bibliography

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