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The Trial Of Thomas Builds The Fire

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The short stories “Indian Education”,“The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore”, “ Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play “The Star Spangled Banner” at Woodstock” and “The Trial of Thomas Builds the Fire”, all reflects on the Indians past and how it constricts their future. The Native Americans feel restricted by the past and constant discrimination from the rest of the world, hindering their own success.

In “Indian education” Victor deals with constant discrimination throughout his youth, his fellow classmates give him trouble and his teacher is especially hard on him. The title “indian education” can be seen as ironic as Victor learns many lessons in school while none of them being academic. The lessons he learns didn’t come from what was taught in the class room but rather how to deal with hardship personally. Making him a much stronger emotionally as a person than any of his peers. This recurs throughout the rest of the stories as Victors spirit shall not be broken and

Victor goes above and beyond the others proving his own intelligence. His teachers interpret this as a sign of disrespect which contrasts their own idea of a stereotype for Native Americans as uneducated delinquents who just grow …show more content…
This may be the most clear example and takes the theme of the past restricting the future quite literally. Thomas is convicted of the murder of two soldiers spoken about from one of his stories he told. Who were killed in battle almost 200 years before Thomas is even born. Thomas was silent for many years before his trial and only at his trial he began to speak and fight for himself. Just as the reservation was quiet for many years not fighting for themselves against these stereotypes that they had been labeled with, keeping to themselves almost content with their current

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