Mollie's Literature Blog

Leads from the early claim that need exploration/development:

-Unique narrative style: What about this narrative makes it unique? How does Alexie tell the story and how is it different from the work of other authors?

-Humanizes his characters: If this is so, what is he doing to humanize them? Do they seem humanized? Can we as readers relate to and understand them?

-Flat Stereotypes: If these are not flat stereotypes, what are they? What makes them 3D and not flat? How are they different from other stereotypes?

Text Exploration

This passage is on the bottom of page 46, continuing through the top of page 47, and it’s when, after Julius and his friends have walked by, Victor is reminiscing about his past as a ballplayer, and the experience that led to the end of his career.

“While I looked at those close-ups of death and destruction, I lost it.[1] I think everybody[2] in that room, everybody on the team, lost[3] that[4] feeling of immortality.”

1: It’s been a few paragraphs since we’ve heard from Victor about this need for immortality. Now, when it gets brought back into the story, it is in this sentence reintroduced as just “it,” not as immortality. When I first read this, I didn’t make the connection that it was immortality Victor was talking about. I thought he meant he lost his sanity, which would seem logical after looking at graphic pictures of gory injuries. This has the same effect as the very beginning of the story, when we are told there’s a gun but don’t find out till later that it’s a BB gun. We are only provided with limited information. But although this narrative style makes for a bumpy ride, it definitely helps humanize the characters. This is Victor’s train of thought, and like any real person’s, it is not neat and organized – it’s messy. He is not filtering his thoughts so they will make sense to us. For him, this immortality concept is so significant he doesn’t even have to refer to it as immortality, just as “it.” He knows in a heartbeat what “it” signifies even if we don’t.

2: There’s an emphasis on “everybody” here. Victor uses the word once, and then in the same sentence after the comma he uses it again. He somehow is able to know that every single person in that room lost that feeling of immortality at the same time and for the same reason as he did. How can he know that they all had the same experience? This seems like a stereotype in itself. Victor is prone to these sweeping generalizations – before he talked about the things that drive a ballplayer as if they’re true for every player (Alexie 46). We never actually hear from any other ballplayer during the course of this story that immortality matters to them. So why does Victor do this, and is it more than a flat stereotype? Well, in recounting the story of the lost game that led to him quitting his career, it’s likely easier to talk about it as if the team lost together because they lost the feeling of immortality, not that it was just him to blame. He’s stereotyping himself on purpose so as not to take individual responsibility. This is more than flat. This is something we do all the time, to make ourselves feel included, to avoid blame. So some stereotypes in this story humanize the characters rather than dehumanize them.

3: Saying they “lost” this feeling of immortality implies that at one time they had it, which seems true, because before Victor said it’s what “drives a ballplayer” (Alexie 46). For me, this “lost” idea brings to mind lost innocence, which essentially is what I think this is. There’s a hint of a coming-of-age story here. Everyone on the reservation roots for these heroes, these beings who will make them proud. Most of us have been someone’s hero, whether it be a younger sibling or a friend, and if you’ve ever done something that ruined you as a hero in their eyes, you know it hurts them as much as it hurts you. They say it’s hard to watch your idols fall. These Indians are living a very mortal life (if that makes sense?). They drink beer, sit around, get sweaty and drunk. But someone who could go farther, who could do better, has definite appeal. Being that reservation hero, that Indian who does not waste their time drinking, brings that feeling of immortality. They are the people who are expected to transcend the stereotype. But when these “heroes” are reminded of their mortality, of how easily they could die and be no one’s hero, they lose their immortality.

4: It may be insignificant but I was noticing the interesting pattern (or lack thereof) of articles in this sentence: first we get “that room,” then “the team,” then “that feeling.” The middle one with “the” is more vague, while “that” seems more specific, like gesturing to one specific thing. I think this could be for a reason. “That room” – that’s our setting (in Victor’s mind) right now – makes sense for it to be specific, and “that feeling” is the one and only feeling of immortality. But “the team”… I don’t know… I get the feeling this happens to many teams on the reservation, not just the one. Victor and Adrian discuss how many players have failed, and since Victor names the loss of immortality as the reason for change in a ballplayer’s performance, I’m assuming that elsewhere, with other teams on the reservation, they too lose their immortality. Maybe not by looking at pictures in a book, but by something. I think you can only pretend to be immortal for so long.

All in all, I am pleased with my grades from this past semester. All of the comments and suggestions that you (Mr. Garces Kiley) put in my narrative and noted on my essay were very clear-cut, so no questions come to mind. I'll let you know if I think of any.

For things to work on, you told me that I could break the traditional essay mold a bit (while still keeping troubles, questions, etc. around) in order to deepen my ideas. This will definitely take some time for experimentation, so I'm going to try to pace myself, leaving enough time to play around with the format of an essay until I find one that really fits. Overall, really spacing out my timing is something I need to work on. I need to unpack some vague words more when I write an essay and give stronger evidence (among other things), and to improve these I really have to make sure I leave time to improve them. I want to continue doing numerous text explorations for my future essays, because I found them an extremely helpful tool with the F451 essay.

For in class, I aim to continue participating frequently, and try more to build on the ideas other people bring up. I want to continue taking clear reading notes - keeping them more concise should help with that.