"I knew there were plenty of places I wanted to be, but none where I was supposed to be."

The Lone Range and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven was probably one of my favorite things we've read this year because I felt like the complicated emotions of our protagonist seemed original as he blamed his troubles on being Native American while (either unconsciously or consciously) his own actions are what perpetuate them.

Throughout the entire story I felt like he put such an emphasis on a person's race as what defines them that it made sense he didn't feel like he was apart of something greater. He was classifying everyone down and yet that same action is what has been done to his own heritage and what he has issues with. For example- the introduction of his girlfriend. "She was white and I lived with her in Seattle." Why was it necessary to claim her as "white" as her very first characteristic. We don't even get her name! I found that very frustrating and it actually made it difficult for me to find sympathy with him.

The reason I chose to blog about this story was because I grew up watching The Lone Ranger as a kid. We didn't have cable and the only channel that consistently worked was the one that had reruns of "I love Lucy", "The Rifleman" and "My Three Sons." It wasn't until I was much older that I really realized that Tonto rarely ever spoke. That he was also standing behind the Lone Ranger. The symbolism was then really powerful for me when reading the title of this piece and so I really wanted "Tonto" or our protagonist to step up to whatever challenges he was facing and win. That's what made the ending so disappointing. I felt like "The Lone Ranger" representing "The Man" or the "emotional baggage" facing our protagonist would lose out but it didn't.

I feel like his depression and his attention to race and not fighting what situations he might have been put in due to his is what caused what felt like nothing to change. It's as if he paid too much attention to it that he didn't actually think about what he could do about it. It reminds me of a joke from the The Lone Ranger. 

The Tonto and the Lone Ranger lookng up to see a band of Indians bearing down on them: "What they gonna do to us, Tonto?"

"Whatcha mean 'us', Kemo Sabe?"

I thought about that quote a lot through out the story. Our protagonist is linked to this feeling of lost and though he realizes the difference, he doesn't really seem to make an active choice to change his lifestyle. Just like how Tonto realizes the difference and sees the negatives of being the "silent partner" and yet never leaves the Lone Ranger's side.