Native Americans are often a forgotten minority, in history and literature. The slaughter of indigenous lives and the annihilation of their culture is an unfortunate American legacy. Fortunately, writer Sherman Alexie attempted to fill the cultural void and shed light on the plight of his people. He does this through a writing style that he describes as “reserve realism.” Although natives are the polar opposite of immigrants, the Native American minority experience shares many similarities with the discourse surrounding immigrants, thus making reservation realism a viable division of immigrant literature. This genre uses stories that are often “biased,” “exaggerated,” or “misleading” as a means of documenting and translating the Native American experience (Alexi). The idea here is that the “truth of history” may be truer than the actual truth (TTC 203). Reservation realism combines the narrative tradition practiced within tribes with historical facts to capture the essence of life on reservations. This is illustrated in "The Trial of Thomas Builds-The-Fire", a story from Alexi's collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. This story incorporates the surreal theme of reincarnation into its triangulated structure combined with a variety of literary devices in order to document the Native American experience and show the shared nature of their suffering. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Initially, Sherman Alexie uses a timeline divided into three tales, each representing a different reincarnation of the protagonist, Thomas Builds The Fire. He creates this structure in order to demonstrate the progression of native resistance over time and to reveal the similarities between the experiences of Thomas's incarnations. The three stories Thomas tells are also supported by details relating to his current predicament as a suspected criminal. Thomas begins as a suspected criminal on trial in Spokane, Washington. The reader is not told why he is being judged specifically because Thomas himself is not sure. While he is in the holding cell, the white officers discuss Thomas's "future," "immediate present," and "past" (93). Here is another example of time triangulation. Thomas's past, future, and present are all connected. His story is shared with those who came before him. This theme of connectivity continues throughout the story as Alexie explores the idea of ​​a collective, ancestral consciousness through reincarnation. Alexie uses negative diction to describe Thomas' propensity for storytelling and exploits his protagonist's current silence as a symbol to demonstrate the destruction of Native American culture caused by white Americans. The guards at the prison where Thomas is held mention that he has a "dangerous" "storytelling fetish". The negative connotation of the word “fetish” implies that storytelling is somehow taboo, and this is further emphasized by the labeling of the fetish. as “dangerous”. Since storytelling is an essential part of Native culture, treating it as a crime shows the extent to which white Americans have violated Native traditions. Additionally, the word “dangerous” highlights the fear felt by those who believed that indigenous culture threatened the colonial way of life. Negative diction is also manipulated in order to highlight the effect of white Americans on native culture. For example, a native named Walks Along calls his wife "a savage in pantspolyester” (94). Walks Along's treatment of his wife is an example of a phenomenon called assimilation, which is the label given to the way minorities conform to a new way of life, perhaps losing their previous identity in the process. process. He has conformed to mainstream American life to the point that he now refers to his own wife as "savage." Assimilation is a common trend in the immigrant experience. Settlers and pioneers severely marginalized Native Americans, resulting in a loss of their cultural identity. Alexie implies that this is one of the many negative effects resulting from the imposition of American conventions on natives. In this story, silence is used as a symbol of oppression for the protagonist and for his people. The officers reveal that Thomas had “agreed to remain silent” and had “not spoken in nearly twenty years” (94). Thomas will no longer tell stories due to the negative consequences he and his ilk faced while doing so. His silence is an adaptation, acquired from those who spoke before him and suffered the consequences. The revelation of this “adaptation” helps Alexi tell the story that Thomas constructs a suppression of the minority voice indicative of the immigrant experience. Silence in the face of oppression evokes defeat, victimizing Thomas and the natives. Reluctance to speak or loss of voice represents a loss of freedom. However, Thomas does not remain silent. The narrator informs the reader that Thomas began making “little noises that contained more emotion and meaning than whole sentences” (94). Finally, Thomas breaks his silence when he defends himself at his trial. The slow progression that helps Thomas find his voice parallels the progression that the natives make in Thomas's story, from passive resistance to active retaliation. Finding his voice is a way for Thomas to show solidarity in the face of his oppressors. Alexie also uses animal diction in his first tale to represent the inhumane treatment of the natives, to infuse his story with the emphasis on animals and nature omnipresent in Native American culture, and to introduce a fantastical aspect, thus illustrating the realism of the reserves. His first story begins in 1858 and Thomas is a “young pony” taken prisoner (96). An American general writes a letter describing stolen “captured animals”; the “poor creatures” whom he regrets having killed to avoid a “rout” (97). Although the general refers to real horses, in dialogue describing racial conflicts, members of the offending party often see the minority in animal terms. Native Americans were herded onto reservations as if they were horses or cattle. The metaphor then expands when Alexi personifies the “mothers” of the horses who “cried for their dead children.” Native Americans traditionally believe that humans share a brotherhood with animals. Here, Sherman Alexie exemplifies one of the pillars of reservation realism, an infusion of Native culture into American literature. The structure of this story allows Alexi to show how the Native response to American oppression evolved over time. The story continues as Thomas describes how, as a pony, he let a man "saddle" him, but then "suddenly stood up, pushed him back and broke his arm" (98). This simple act of defiance marks the beginning of the natives' progression from desperate victims to worthy adversaries. However, it is important to note that defiance occurs as a response to imposed hardship and oppression. This resembles the indigenous experience oftheir colonial captors. Native Americans were exploited and massacred by European settlers and forced to leave the communities they had occupied for centuries. Just like the “young pony,” they did not start the conflict. Additionally, in Thomas' second story, it is about a man named Qualchan fighting in an Indian war. Qualchan was a true Yakima chief and Thomas' version of his history is accurate ("Spokane History Timeline"). This is an example of real history infiltrating Alexie's fictional story; the “realism” part of the realism of the reserves. Qualchan was hanged with six other “Indians…who had never raised a hand in anger against a white man” (98). The hanging is another example of indigenous reluctance toward violence, compared to white brutality. He points out that Thomas, although on trial for an unidentified crime, is a victim because he shares a past with his suffering ancestors. Finally, in Thomas's third story, it is about a man named Wild Coyote who is also engaged in conflict with the whites. Although he desires peace between “the whites and the Indians,” he notes that the whites have “cannons and have lied before” and therefore decides to attack the men rather than negotiate peace (100). This means the complete escalation of passive resistance to violent conflict. Although Wild Coyote's murder and scalping of the white men is brutal, Alexi makes the reader sensitive to the plight of the natives with the preceding stories. It shows that this crime committed by Thomas under the name Wild Coyote, is a response to the previous atrocities he suffered. The author also manipulates imagery in order to present those who want Thomas incarcerated in a negative light. It is prudent to remember that this unusual story is Thomas' testimony for his trial. Alexie wants the reader to be the jury and decide that the plaintiff is innocent. When the judge asks Thomas why he is telling this story, he informs him that Spokane is "building a golf course" named after Qualchan located in the same valley where he was hanged (99). He says the predecessors of the men who hanged him now commemorate him publicly. However, this appears to be a weak attempt at repentance. The fact that the monument is a golf course cheapens the action. Golf is a sport synonymous with the white upper class. It was undoubtedly white, privileged men who built this golf course and put the Qualchan name on it as a consolation prize. At least that's what Alexie implies. This is an example of the bias present in reservation realism. Alexie wants the reader to be incredibly biased toward Thomas and the natives, so he embellishes historical events and uses images, like the golf course, that emphasize a negative bias against white people. Additionally, Alexie depicts the injustice Americans perpetrated against native people through representation. justice officials present at Thomas' trial as misguided and corrupt. Additionally, a theme of injustice permeates this story. Since Thomas represents the Native American community, the guards and judge represent white America. When Thomas is in prison, the police consider what charges to bring against him. They invent a “felony charge” against Thomas because they “don’t need his kind around” (94). Members of the justice system are corrupt, which speaks to a universal societal corruption against minorities. If the system designed to enforce justice fails to do so, it is logical to assume that justice does not exist, at least in the world of Thomas Builds The Fire. When Thomas finally admits to the murder.