Native American Poetry

How to Write the Great American Indian Novel

Author: Sherman Alexie
Date: 17/04/19
Setting: 1996
Event: American Indian Novels
Characters: Indian People and "White" People
Memorable Quote: "In the Great American Indian novel, when it is finally written, all of the white people will be Indians and all of the Indians will be ghosts."

This poem is a critic about the idealizations people have regarding how the stories of Native Americans are portrayed in books and even television. In the poem, there are clear descriptions of how the heroes should be and with whom they should fall in love; besides, there is a detailed description of Indian men, the role of "white" people, and even the events that should happen in the story to be "great." However, in the last stanza, the author says that when the product is ready, Indians become ghosts which for me is a way to say that their true essence is lost.

When I finished the poem, stories like Pocahontas came to my mind. The Indian girl who falls in love with the "white" guy. Also, there are movies in which the Indian people are rude and violent towards the "white" people. Indeed, in most of these movies, the roles of the Indians are played by people who are not even half Indians and possibly do not know anything about their culture. Thus, in the end, we have a movie or book made by white people who sell us an image of Native Americans that is far from the real one and that is not even focused on them in a positive or in any way. This image also promotes the stereotypes that do not apply to everyone and that have been affecting Native Americans for centuries. For this reason, I really value this piece written by a Native American because, through words, he is fighting for his people and trying to break those stereotypes by writing such delicate piece as a poem that is telling us with subtle sarcasm and certain sadness that not everything on movies and books is as it seems.