Link to the poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/52775
Please feel free to go check this poem out and leave your thoughts!
This poem is one of Alexie’s more serious works. Most of his poems tend to have a humorous nature to them, but this one instead focuses on a more serious sense of satire. He discusses throughout the poem how to write about Native Americans. If someone who read this was unaware of the satirical value they may think Alexie was racist or hated Native Americans. In reality Alexie has Native American background and any of his poems are based around Native American culture.
My interpretation of the poem is that Alexie is trying to represent how Native Americans are portrayed within our modern day society and in what ways should we not portray them. It discusses all types of Indian men and women and their relationships to white men or women. There are very specific instances or circumstances on how these interactions should occur.
I find the last two lines of the poem to be the most important. Alexie states, “In the Great American Indian novel, when it is finally written,/all of the white people will be Indians and all of the Indians will be ghosts.” These two lines show Alexie’s true concern for Indians. It also shows what the Great American Indian novel symbolizes, which is the world as seen in the future. He is using this phrase to represent what the world will be like for Indians in the future. Basically the white man is going to continue to take what is not theirs which includes culture, land, and a variety of other things.
I find this poem very similar to the work “How to Write About Africa.” In this work the author describes Africa in a very satirical way portraying how those of us in the west view Africans. They have very many similar elements including the description of the people and how they react with others and the white men. I think part of Alexie’s goal with this poem is to bring recognition to the Indian culture so that it is not lost with time. In order to preserve a culture people must understand it. Alexie’s poem could be the start of a much bigger movement within Native American authors to write about their culture and experiences in order to allow the outside world to see their point of view, in the same way that Chinua Achebe does in Things Fall Apart.
The main poetic element utilized in this poem is similes. When Alexie is describing the Indian women he says that she can be compared to murky water and if she is then she always has a secret because Indian women always have secrets. Then continues on to state, “Yet Indian secrets can be disclosed suddenly, like a storm.” This is another use of a simile within the poem. What I find interesting about Alexie’s use of similes is that they are all based around nature. Each simile has a relationship to nature in someway. I think he did this because a large part of Indian culture is their connection to nature. Indians are often portrayed as being one with nature and almost inseparable from the elements of nature around them.
Overall I think the poem is very interesting and speaks to many Native Americans living in today’s time period. I think Alexie’s use of satire is very smart and allows him to further get his point across. The use of satire is what differentiates his poems from his previous ones. Most of the time his poetry is clear and straight to the point, but in this poem there is much deeper symbolism and requires more in depth thought.
Please feel free to go check this poem out and leave your thoughts!
This poem is one of Alexie’s more serious works. Most of his poems tend to have a humorous nature to them, but this one instead focuses on a more serious sense of satire. He discusses throughout the poem how to write about Native Americans. If someone who read this was unaware of the satirical value they may think Alexie was racist or hated Native Americans. In reality Alexie has Native American background and any of his poems are based around Native American culture.
My interpretation of the poem is that Alexie is trying to represent how Native Americans are portrayed within our modern day society and in what ways should we not portray them. It discusses all types of Indian men and women and their relationships to white men or women. There are very specific instances or circumstances on how these interactions should occur.
I find the last two lines of the poem to be the most important. Alexie states, “In the Great American Indian novel, when it is finally written,/all of the white people will be Indians and all of the Indians will be ghosts.” These two lines show Alexie’s true concern for Indians. It also shows what the Great American Indian novel symbolizes, which is the world as seen in the future. He is using this phrase to represent what the world will be like for Indians in the future. Basically the white man is going to continue to take what is not theirs which includes culture, land, and a variety of other things.
I find this poem very similar to the work “How to Write About Africa.” In this work the author describes Africa in a very satirical way portraying how those of us in the west view Africans. They have very many similar elements including the description of the people and how they react with others and the white men. I think part of Alexie’s goal with this poem is to bring recognition to the Indian culture so that it is not lost with time. In order to preserve a culture people must understand it. Alexie’s poem could be the start of a much bigger movement within Native American authors to write about their culture and experiences in order to allow the outside world to see their point of view, in the same way that Chinua Achebe does in Things Fall Apart.
The main poetic element utilized in this poem is similes. When Alexie is describing the Indian women he says that she can be compared to murky water and if she is then she always has a secret because Indian women always have secrets. Then continues on to state, “Yet Indian secrets can be disclosed suddenly, like a storm.” This is another use of a simile within the poem. What I find interesting about Alexie’s use of similes is that they are all based around nature. Each simile has a relationship to nature in someway. I think he did this because a large part of Indian culture is their connection to nature. Indians are often portrayed as being one with nature and almost inseparable from the elements of nature around them.
Overall I think the poem is very interesting and speaks to many Native Americans living in today’s time period. I think Alexie’s use of satire is very smart and allows him to further get his point across. The use of satire is what differentiates his poems from his previous ones. Most of the time his poetry is clear and straight to the point, but in this poem there is much deeper symbolism and requires more in depth thought.