1 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
several years before, questioned not so much as a suspect but as someone who
might have information. At the end of the story, after Junior and his father
return home to the reservation from one such ordeal, the family is gathered
around the dinner table when the father begins to cry. The story ends with, “and
we all watched him. All of us.” Just as this man’s family bears witness to his pain,
the idea of bearing witness runs through many of the stories in The Lone Ranger
and Tonto, starting with the very first, “Every Little Hurricane,” in which young
Victor witnesses the emotional turmoil of his reservation community during a
large party. What other examples of witnessing, of watching difficult events and
emotions, occur in the collection? What is significant about the act of witness-
ing or bearing witness to pain? What is the relationship between witnessing
and history, and how is it similar to or different from the relationship between
witnessing and contemporary events? In what ways might the collection itself
be described as an act of bearing witness? The article by DeNuccio and the
interview with Dave Welch, among others, should be helpful.RESOURCES
Primary Works
Erik Himmelsbach, “The Reluctant Spokesman,” Los Angeles Times, 17 Decem-
ber 1996 http://www.fallsapart.com/art-lat.html [accessed 16 November
2009].
Discusses Alexie’s fraught relationship with his home reservation, his novel
Indian Killer, and the problems associated with being seen as “speaking for” a
particular ethnic group.
Jim Lehrer, “A Dialogue on Race with President Clinton,” with Alexie, Rich-
ard Rodriguez, Roger Rosenblatt, Clarence Page, Cynthia Tucker, Roberto
Suro, Kay James, and Elaine Chao, Online NewsHour, 9 July 1998 http://
[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/OneAmerica/oneamerica.html](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/OneAmerica/oneamerica.html>)
[accessed 16 November 2009].
Panel discussion of issues of race in the contemporary United States.
John Purdy, “Crossroads: A Conversation with Sherman Alexie,” Studies in
American Indian Literature, 9 (Winter 1997): 1–18.
Discusses Alexie’s work on the film Smoke Signals; his belief that new, Indian-
centered approaches to Indian literatures need to be developed; and his discom-
fort with writing novels instead of poetry.
Tavis Smiley, “Sherman Alexie,” Tavis Smiley Show, 27 April 2007 http://www.
pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200704/20070427_alexie.html [accessed
16 November 2009].
Includes discussions of Alexie’s 2007 novel, Flight; his family; his feelings about
the United States; and issues of alcoholism in his own family and in Native
American communities.