Tonto And Racism

When I first started reading this story, I thought the narrator was actually African American. So at first when he was talking about Native American things I was confused, but then it made sense after I found out her was Native American. In the beginning he says that he has dark skin and black hair so I thought African American since I haven't really read too many short stories about Native Americans. Then when he flashes back to being pulled over for being in the wrong neighborhood, again, I thought of African American racial profiling. This makes the reader think, because normally when we think of racial profiling, we think of the police doing it to the African Americans, not the Native Americans. I thought this was interesting about this story. Also the fact that the narrator is supposed to be an unreliable narrator interests me. I makes the reader wonder if he really was stopped by the police for no reason other than he was in a white neighborhood of if he was acting strangely. I almost think that he could have been acting off while in the white neighborhood since he acted to strange in the 7-11 when he went to get a Creamsicle in the middle of the night. I find unreliable narrators fascinating, they keep the reader on guard and they force the reader to think more critically about everything that happens in the story. You have to take everything the narrator tells you and compare it to the reactions of the other characters in the story. It makes for an interesting read, but can be confusing since you may never fully understand what is going on. Either way, I liked this short story and thought it was an interesting look into the Native American's social norms and how they too are racially profiled.