Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Representation of the Indian Killer and Identity
I would definately have to go with John as the Indian Killer, as the representation that Mister Alexie makes with the actual phrase "Indian Killer" makes you immidietely think about a white man killing Indians when in fact, it is John whom is an Indian raised by a white family committing the murders. This represents "we are what we have lost". He returns to his people upon his leap from the skyscraper. The belief that Indians are savage and scalp people is represented by the leaving of owl feathers by the murderer(John). The owl feathers identifying the killer as a savage and merciless killer just as the Indians were and still are portrayed. Revenge is a strong theme throughout. Alexie illustrates what can happen when an act of discrimaination occurs. The fact that innocent people get hurt, not the actual abusers, most often.John is and individual that is led by the teachings of his boyhood friend Father Duncan whom is an Indian Jesuit Priest. John hears his voice, can feel him around, can hear the music, and then is driven to killing innocent white people and scalping them, eating their eyes and their hearts to represent that the heart and eyes mean something important. It could be Alexie is telling us that we must be more compassionate and see events and people as they really are and with an open heart. See and be open and fair to all points of view! Look at the big picture! The author texts John carrying the body to a vacant house, illustrates him opting with the different knives, and has him committing suicide in the end to prove a point that not only was he the killer, but that we can all send a message to end prejudice by doing something to stop it! The author educates his readers by using incredible description to bring his desired level of understanding of the topics of revenge, hate, and prejudice. John is back with is people now and can have his true culture back!
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I agree that revenge was the main theme of the book and that the author was trying to show that racism is not only morally wrong but also causes innocent people to get hurt. I did not realize this until I read your blog, but now it seems obvious. I was unaware that racism/prejudice was like the book described it in the United States. So I agree that the author was trying to do his part against racism by raising awareness. I don't believe that John was the killer, but it's cool that you saw the last few pages as him getting to be with his people.
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ReplyDeleteI think that is a really good point about the feathers and scalps symbolizing how an indian is thought of now and in the past. I do not agree that John is the killer as there are several places that show John not being very violent. The only thing we are really sure of his he says he is going to a white man, one while man. Yet, he doesn't even kill Wilson; he kills himself. I think maybe he even considers himself 1/2 white. Who knows. I think Alexie's purpose is too make the reader really think, dig down into what else might be. It's like marketing, the ad that makes you say, what? You look it over again cause it doesn't make sense. If you spend even 45 seconds to a minute or so trying to figure it out, you have not moved on to next page. That is the purpose of big companies spending thousands of dollars on ad. The brand is in your head. I think that is what Alexie is doing here. He wants the reader to spend as long as they can trying to figure out the hidden meanings to make the whole purpose of the book worthwhile. You summed up the purpose with the end of your blog, "we can all send a message to end prejudice by doing something to stop it! The author educates his readers by using incredible description to bring his desired level of understanding of the topics of revenge, hate, and prejudice."
ReplyDeleteJuly 2, 2010 6:12 PM
John is a strong candidate for the Indian Killer, however why doesn't he kill Wilson, the man he identifies as the one that he needs to kill, the one who is responsible. However, I believe that John does kill the white man who is responsible for all of his troubles, himself. I think that John realized that it was the white man inside of himself that was causing his conflicts, that it was because he was an Indian raised white that he was delusional. So, John jumped off of the sky scraper to kill the white man inside of him, and the John that stood up on the street beside his body was the Indian John, who had killed the white John.
ReplyDeleteI think the author was trying to prove a lot of points in this book. That violence isn't the answer and someone usually gets hurt after it's all over. When John killed himself at the end nothing was solved except he got to see his other fellow indians again. I thought all of the characters were resonable choices. John was the best choice by far. I agree with what you said the author is trying to talk about revenge, hate, and prejudice. He was trying to show us what it's like to live during that day and time in history. The world is still like that people treat other people different by the color of their skin. we should all move on and treat everyone the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Fayne and Maxwell that John is the best choice for the true identity of the indian killer out of any of the characters in the book but I truly dont believe the killer is anyone in the book. If it was it would be made obvious in the ending. The author intentionally left the ending open in order to lead to speculation and discussion but I dont believe he wanted there to be a resolved conclusion, he wanted the ending to be open.
ReplyDeletei also believed it was john. but its hard for me to understand that because he didnt have his biological parents around he became this monster. i think he was destined to be this way and something else would have triggered him even if he had grown up on a reservation happily ever after with his true parents. this to me is just something that everyone is to blame. I would have thought that being raised by such extraordinary white parents that he would begin to see that they weren’t fully the blame. But instead this sparked some sort of rampage for him.
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