Alexie Sherman is an American writer who is notable for his short stories, poems, and some films. The majority of his works reflect the writer’s life and personal experience as a Native American. When Alexie Sherman was a student he enjoyed the works by Alex Kuo which influenced his further creative life. Nowadays, Alexie Sherman got recognition as a skilful writer throughout the United States. Some of his works won awards. For example, Alexie received the Faulkner Award in 2010 for the collection of short stories, the War Dances,. The collection unites several short stories and poems. All of them are connected to each other by content and humorous description. The short story War Dances, the title story of the book, represents the mixture of such emotions as grief, joy, tears, and laughs and covers various social, moral and humane problems. In other words, the work is the representation of humans feeling as they are.
War Dances is a story about an Indian whose ear went deaf and he tried to find out, what were the reasons of this phenomenon. When main hero passed cerebrum tomography he inquired that he had a little tumor in his head. Though it was only benign one, it was still a tumor. And then the novel tells as the main character gets accustomed to this news, and at the same time, it builds a lovely storyline of character’s life. As it is often presented in good novels, this one shows several plans through one fact: War Dances tells not only about this Indian, but also about his children’s, wife’s, mother’s-in-law, father’s, uncles’ and American Indians’ lives. These stories are in this or that way tied with the narration; often the main character tells us about this or that episode when he faces some occurrences which are connected with various events in his or his families’ life. For example, he tells the story of his father’s surgeon right when he understands that he has to make a visit to a medical clinic. A thought, which is born in his mind initiates a new turn of a plot: the phrase “This would be the first time I had been inside a health-care facility since my father’s last surgery” (Sherman 31) ends one chapter, which tells about current situation in his life, and the next chapter and next paragraph take us into his past, to the hospital, where Indian’s father has just passed through the surgeon which cut off his father’s right foot (Sherman 31). The novel covers various subjects, such as role of a parent, medical neglect, racial conflicts, religion beliefs and traditions, etc.
The episode, which tells about his father’s surgical operation, is one of the most powerful parts of the novel. It significant not only from the point of narration, it also tells a lot about Indian’s lives, traditions and the way, they percept the surrounding world. Also it reveals several philosophic concepts of the author. It tells about the situation in a hospital where main character’s father suffered severely from the cold; thereby, the main character went out from his father’s ward in order to get another blanket. He saw three nurses in the hallway, “two white and one black” (Sherman 31). He addressed the black one as he expected that she would understand him better than other nurses: “Being Native American Spokane and Coeur d’Alene Indian, I hoped my darker pigment would give me an edge with the black nurse” (Sherman 31). Still, he had to ask her several times before she reluctantly gave him a thin and light blanket which could not warm his father. Though, main character found understandings in company of unknown people, Indians; he met one of them further in the hallway and told about his problem. An Indian family came to the hospital because a woman from their family was bearing a child. Besides others, there was an old man between them, who came to fulfill a special ritual which was intended to protect the child from dangers of this world. The old man gave to the main characters a real traditional Indian blanket which was very warm; he also performed a healing song in order to strengthen forces, which the blanket contained. He sang not so well, and the main character had to do his best in order not to laugh, but when the blanket was brought to his father, the father himself performed this song.
This short episode contains a lot of problems, which a depicted in the novel. The ward where his father lies is depicted as a joyless room, with no privacy, even a thin curtain, white lightings (Sherman 31). Behavior of a nurse, who reluctantly helps patients of the hospital, is presented in contrast to sufferings of a patient, who has just lost his foot. The situation is only highlighted by moving reasoning of the main character which portrays the difficultness of such surgeon. The son feels, that the question “Are you okay?” sounds strange and inappropriately if it is addressed to a man, who will not be able to walk freely anymore. It is a loose; even if one knows everything beforehand, he/she cannot completely understand how it is until the surgery. The son understands that it does not matter in what condition the leg was, as long as it was a part of his father’s body. In any way, the separation is difficult from various points of view:
Yesterday, y father had walked into the hospital… A few hours ago, my father still had both of his feet. Yes, his feet and toes had been black with rot and disease but they’d still been, technically speaking, feet and toes. And, most important, those feet belonged to my father. (Sherman 31-32)
His further thoughts may be related to his father’s leg as well as with all other things, which were once parts of our life, but then disappeared. Painlessly or not, they have gone, and we can only ask, where they are. It is a funny quality of human’s mind: maybe, we do not need to know, but we still wonder.
Still, this depressing situation is brightened by the blanket, which was taken from warm hands of countrymen. Mutual aid is depicted in the novel as an effective and supportive mean against helplessness. At the same time, the blanket is given by those, who came to protect a new life, the fact, which is full of symbolical meaning which tells about inseparable connection between younger and older generations. They should protect and support each other in order to create a united society. This connection is only highlighted by the episodes which tell about a healing song. Traditions establish this connection between generations, and though they should not be observed blindly, they should be respected and honored. The healing song was the factor which united them all: main character, his father, old granddad and his family, and a new child, who is born in hospital, and many other Native American Indians, who had kept this song for generations. When main character’s fathers gets the blanket he feels, that he is not alone, he is supported not only by his son or the unknown Indian family, and all Indian people help him. This feeling influences him and makes him calm and pleased. He sings the healing song and wraps himself up with a blanket. By the way, blanket as a symbol is not an incidental choice. Humanity always percepted it as protective means, thereby, author’s choice is clear from various points of view: symbolic, narrative, and cultural.
The story was enjoyable because of different reasons. On the one hand, it is easily readable. On the other hand, under the simple form of the short story one may find a reflection over the destinies of Native Americans. In this aspect, it should be pointed out that the statement everything genius is simple is true. Still, lack of an outstanding style was rather confusing. Nevertheless, the story suggests some philosophical reflection over the essence of life. In other words, it provides a reader with a food for thought, which is one of the essential elements of any good book.
Work Cited
Sherman, Alexie. War Dances. New York: Grove Press, 2009. Print.