The Racial Tensions in this Title

The title of Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven not only provides racial innuendo and stereotyping, but it translates a historical story to the reader.  “The Lone Ranger” was a radio show in the 1930s, which later turned into a television show.  Tonto is the Native American counterpart, or sidekick.  In this story, the narrator is what the reader would categorize as the “Tonto” character because he is of Native American descent.  However, the difference between the Lone Ranger and Tonto is that the main character in this story is not a sidekick, but he is alone.  The Lone Ranger can be categorized as all the whites that the narrator associates with throughout the story.  The two races do not work together, leaving the Native American narrator in isolation.  The main character is not only isolated from whites in the community, but also by fellow Native Americans.  When he goes back to the Indian Reservation, people judge him and say that they knew he could not last in the “white” world.    

 

Throughout this work, the speaker points out how strangers, and those close to him, have little expectations for him.  For instance, the cop and store clerk at first thought that he was up to no good, when in reality he was not doing anything wrong or illegal.  The use of the word “Fistfight” in the title symbolizes the struggle for equality that the speaker possesses, and also, since it is a “fight” it is easy to assume that this is a challenging, and losing battle. 

 

There is excellent attention to detail and word choice that is used with the 7/11 scene and the scene with the police officer.  The conversation seems more realistic between the narrator and the 7/11 clerk, possibly because I don’t know if I can imagine a cop, in today’s society, saying, “You’re making people nervous.  You don’t fit the profile of the neighborhood.”  On the other hand, the store clerk, though starting off with racial tension, creates casual conversation and trusts that the speaker is not going to rob the store.  All of these instances where racial tension is extreme, makes me believe that this story was set in a different time period.  Maybe I am just an optimist, but I would like to think that “brutality” among other minorities has changed.