What beliefs and values from Native American culture does the narrator consider important, based on his ideas and actions in the story?Explain

Writing Prompts

PROMPT

In some stories, characters come into conflict with the culture in which they live. A character might feel alienated from his/her community or society due to race, gender, class, or ethnic background.

The texts below contain an ‘outcast’ character, reflecting the surrounding society’s assumptions, morality, and values.

As you critically read the text you have chosen, consider how this alienation is expressed in the text and why it is significant.

Literary Works (choose one):

“What You Pawn, I Will Redeem” (Sherman Alexie, 2003) [ch. 4]

Guiding Questions:

1. What beliefs and values from Native American culture does the narrator consider important, based on his ideas and actions in the story?

2. What kinds of experience and values do characters share across cultural differences like

Native Americans and whites, or even between different native groups in the story?

3. How do the bisexual character, the narrator, and the homeless characters in the story all demonstrate and resolve different “outsider” identities?

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