Wretchedness of Life

Wretchedness of Life

“When children grow up together in poverty, a bond is formed that is stronger than most anything. It’s this same bond that causes so much pain.” (Alexie 8)

Poverty has been an ongoing issue throughout the world for decades. We have seen it become a problem dating back to the Great Depression, World War I and World War II. Throughout the world children are not always blessed with opportunities due to poverty and other economic reasons. Many children are faced with incomprehensible hardship that is unbearable to the naked eye. In Sherman Alexie’s book of short stories, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven takes his readers through a journey in the eyes of multiple Native Americans. Each of his stories is told in different perspectives of a Native. In his short story “Every little Hurricane”, Alexie uses extended weather metaphors to reveal wretchedness of life for children on the reservation.

Alexie demonstrates that life on the reservation is not what the Natives dreamt of living in. When Europeans first began migrating to North America, the Natives were slowly having their land stripped away from them, and being pushed to live on small, poorly kept reservations. The term ‘’reservation” represents tears and unhappiness to Native. For example,"...his father's tears could have frozen solid in the severe reservation winters and shattered when they hit the floor." (Alexie 5) This reveals that Native Americans are living in a world with loss of faith in hope. They are ambitious and courageous and lived on “hope’’ for survival. Native Children often looks up to their ambitious parents, especially their fathers, for inspiration and support to live life to its full potential. However, when children are seeing an inspirational figure, as robust as Natives, their tears creates an effect in which children themselves loses hope.  

Last but not least, Alexie shows that living on the reservation contains nothing but emptiness for Native Americans. The lack of employment opportunities for Natives is extremely limited and most of them are living unemployed with growing families. The reservation brings no hopes of a future for Native Americans to work to achieve. For example, “He held an empty box beneath his father's eyes and collected the tears, held that box until it was full." (Alexie 5) This reveals that Natives had no motives to push themselves to achieve. They lived with emptiness for so many years that it became second nature to them. With the lack of motivations from the adult Natives; they often sets an example for the children that life is not worth living for. Everything they try to do to would leave them with nothing but a shattered heart.