Looking at Alexie's "Because My Father..."

Sherman Alexie really knows how to create an interesting, although rather awkward at times, piece of writing. The reading that I’m getting at here is “Because My Father…” Reasons for why I loved this reading so much are because there were several distinctive parts in the reading, and there’s one prominent theme that I feel like Alexie really knows how to get across to his readers.

First, I loved the third paragraph of the story. Already, Alexie drew me into his story while writing about the irony with his father’s “Make Love Not War” picture, which was very comical to read. I especially liked one of the captions for the picture created by some editor: “Demonstrator Goes to War for Peace.”

The second part of the story that I thought was excellently written, although rather uncomfortable to read, was when Alexie wrote about how he was “conceived during one of those drunken nights, half of me formed by my father’s whiskey sperm, the other half formed by my mother’s vodka egg.” After getting over the initial shock of the paragraph beforehand, talking about how the father would sometimes pass out during the “middle of it,” I thought to myself how well-written that passage was. The creativity that Alexie brims with really shines here because who would ever think to write about being formed by a drunk sperm and egg?

Finally, one of the last reasons why I loved reading this story was because Alexie really presents readers with the theme of having a close connection to your parents. Now, many stories have this sort of generic theme; however, Alexie really goes the distance with it because he shows this family connection in very… strange ways.

For instance on page. 26, Alexie writes about how Victor would perform a type of “ceremony” where he would wait all night for his father to return home from drinking. Then Victor would wait for him to pass out on the kitchen table, and finally he would fall asleep under the table with his head near his father’s feet so they could “dream together until the sun came up.” It’s really odd passages like this that make the story mesh together really nicely because they show a clear relationship between Victor and his parents. I won’t get into the part though where Victor talks about listening and falling asleep to his parents’ lovemaking; although, I guess I just did. X.x

In the end, Sherman Alexie has really created an awesome piece of writing with “Because my Father…” through his clever use of writing very unique passages. And after getting over the intensely awkward feeling of some of the paragraphs in the story, you can really begin to realize why Alexie put them in there, which I believe was to tie the story together with an unusual family theme.

"Nighthawks" Comparison

Throughout reading "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway, thoughts of the Edward Hopper painting "Nighthawks" raced through my mind, blending the literature and work of art together. Once you compare the two pieces of work, I think you’d definitely agree that they’re both very similar in many aspects.

First, the reading gives off a very clear and gloomy mood. It’s late at night; however, it’s still very bright in the “well-lighted” café. In my eyes, I see the bright café as a beacon for all of the troubled souls wandering the streets in need of a refuge. I could imagine it’d be a nice feeling though, being able to stay somewhere like a café while escaping a painful reality. The older waiter seems to agree with me, which is why he was willing to let the poor, old drunk stay a little bit longer at the café.

As we look at the painting, we can see that the diner is very clean. The people appear to be just thinking about life and all of its complexities. While one of the men may have his back turned towards us, his body language generally gives off a very lonely, depressing vibe. We could also compare the waiter from the painting to the older waiter in the reading as they both look pretty old and mature. Also, the diner waiter could be getting ready to close the diner like the older waiter in the reading, or he could just be working behind the counter.

After comparing the two pieces of work, it’s interesting to see all of the similarities between the two. Perhaps Hemingway became inspired to write “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” from Hopper’s painting “Nighthawks.” The mood and setting given off in both of them are so similar and could possibly reflect each other. In the end though, there is definitely an incontrovertible connection between the two works.

The Lovely Elements of "Every Little Hurricane"

Recently in class, we read and discussed a passage from The Lone Ranger and Tomb Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie entitled "Every Little Hurricane." There were definitely many parts of the reading that kept my attention. The aspects that the author seems to be getting at in the work also enticed me. In the end though, there were two main reasons why I loved the story.

First off, I absolutely loved how the author compares struggles and battles in real life within the family to that of storms and hurricanes in the natural world. The paragraph on page five of the passage, while short, is a excellent passage that shows the relation of the family's struggles to thundering storms.

"In those dreams, Victor and his parents would be sitting in Mother's Kitchen restaurant in Spokane, waiting out a storm. Rain and lightning. Unemployment and poverty. Commodity food. Flash floods." p.5

However, my definite favorite scene of the entire passage is actually near the beginning at the start of page two, where the two uncles are shown fighting. The undeniable contrast that Alexie depicts with the two uncles astounds me. Not only does she contrast how the uncles are physically different, "One was tall and heavy, the other was short, muscular." But she also shows readers the contrasting emotions that the uncle's experience while they fight against each other.

For instance, “he could see his uncles slugging each other with such force that they had to be in love. Strangers would never want to hurt each other that badly” is one of the few phrases that the author uses to demonstrate the distinction of uncles, their emotions, and the writing of the passage itself. The author then goes on to describe the love and hate within the looks of the uncles. Basically, I really enjoyed reading this part of the reading because I loved how Alexie intelligently used the element of contrast throughout it.

There’s also a second reason for why I was drawn to the uncle’s fight scene passage; in my opinion, Alexie really hits home with relating to real life when he talks about how no one at the party tried to stop the fighting of the uncles. “Witnesses” as he called them--no one was willingly change the situation. I personally feel like this occurs everyday in the real world. People may witness an act of violence or cruelty happening as they watch but not do anything to stop it.

I was slightly skeptical of this reading when we first given it; however, it has definitely proved to be one of my favorite readings of the school year thus far, which is including the readings from AP Composition that many of us had begun taking prior to College Literature. The elements Alexie uses to describe the contrast of the uncles, and also how he relates storms to everyday struggles all culminates together to fabricate an absorbing piece of work.