—Anonymous
When I first read “The Toughest Indian in the World” by Sherman Alexie, I thought this is a monotonous story about an Indian’s experience. However, after getting the questions that why the author used first-person narration, I started to try to stand on the leading role’s place to think about the story, and I found that things got different. I started to understand what the author wanted to express and how the leading role felt. I started to think as an Indian at that time and I got different feelings. There are two differences. The first change is that “I” changed. I became a Spokane Indian who was vigilant when facing a white. The second change is that the people changed. People around “me” became more extreme and racist and we judged each other by skins. A stranger might kill me because I was brown and I would refuse to take the white hitchhikers when they thumb up. This is a trust form skin and blood but it’s ridiculous and unreasonable. Every color may kill and every color may save. As a black, brown or yellow at that time, people might really feel afraid and scared when they went out alone. Now, living in New York City as an international student, although sometimes I also feel discrimination and offense from some people, that’s rare. I think the greatest progress we have made is that when we face discrimination, we won’t think that the reason why that person discriminate us is that he/she is of some color but we will think that this person is a racist and he/she is bad. We focus more on the individuals but not on the groups. People who live in a same city are equal and same. Maybe there are differences of property and status, but there shouldn’t be differences of human rights. Once an individual learns how to be a good citizen, he/she becomes a part of this city. I used to know some about the Indians’ history but I didn’t know how they felt and how they lived. This short story gave me a pair of eyes from an Indian and let me know more about their lives and feelings. Actually, the leading role is not a “real” Indian and he just have the brown skin. Although he grew up in the reservation, he didn’t live there after he became an adult. He worked in the city as a writer but did not live like a so-called traditional Indian such as those hitchhikers. Is he an Indian? Are these people last Indians? He lost his culture when he lived in the modern world. This reminds me of the America born Asians. When they go to the school, they may dare not to show their differences and try to keep the same as other students in the school. Even though They speak English, think in American ways, gave up their parents’ culture and tried to integrate into the society, there are still racists and discriminations. Do they want? Maybe not. They may have to. Eliminating discrimination is a long travel. People discriminate too much including skin, gender, and so on. Sometimes we may already forget why we hate but we still hate. The author used a short story and first-person narration to depict a world at that time. Everyone will feel like that Indian no matter what color they are. This story is meaningful because this is a kind of feeling sharing among races and help us to know more about each other. This is not only about “the Indian”, but also anybody of us in the society who may be “unique” or “different”, and everyone has the chance to be the last Indian.
