Sherman Alexie Proposal

3/5 Proposal

Cale Houghton

The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn't Flash Red Anymore

I am interested in writing about Sherman Alexie’s story because many people who have never been to a reservation do not know much about Native American culture, and what has happened to them. All they know is that they live on reservations, most live in poverty, and there are rampant drug and alcohol problems. So you would think that Sherman Alexie would try to give positive insights into the life of Native Americans, and how their culture has evolved. But, the Native Americans in his story are lazy, drunk, and hopeless. So if he is making an impression on many people, but he represents his own people as hopeless, why why would he want to portray them using the exact bad stereotypes people already have? One way to consider this is that he was not intending this story for people outside of the reservation. He means this as a message to the Native Americans on the res of what others see them as. So in a way I think he is using this as a wake up call to show his people the patterns they keep taking.