Alexie’s reconstruction of the Native American subject misconstructed by Euro-American

            Alexie described the Native American subject misconstructed by the Euro American history, literature and media. Discourse function through the co-operation of verbal and non-verbal expressions, such as; symbols, tools and language. Alexie’s discourse presents the context between the tribal communal discursive lives with the white. In “Do You Know Where I Am?” the protagonist, Sharon had relation with a white but she repented and showed hatred for the whites, thus came back to her native husband, which signifies total separation from the whites. But Arwater in  “The Search Engine” contrarily acted as differently, he is in hybrid relationship with the tribal past and present white, but when he found his mother is in miserable condition, coughing going along the road then he withdraw her and opt present white, which signifies merged and mixed culture of united states. It shows some sort of complicity of Alexie’s discourse which strengthened the Euro-American discourse. But it is not complicity rather it is the acceptance of reality living in the surrounding of whites. The female protagonist of hybrid “The Search Engine” in Ten Little Indians has a mixed relationship. Her parents and uncles forced his to turn toward tribal culture but her academic background force her to tilt toward the white.

            Alexie’s poetry may afford greater passion, which mostly described the primitive culture of Native American, for example the buffalo in “the summer of black widow” stare in the eyes of the whites which disturbed their stare. But prose has to work with a relatively greater tilt toward realism which Alexie did his fictions and prose. 

source:Sherman Alexie’s Discursive Reconstruction of the Native American Subject
Ghulam Murtaza