Otherness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Otherness - Essay ExampleThe domination of inborn Americans by European settlers, relegated them to no longer be masters of their identity. In films and books they were portrayed as infuriated and ignorant. They met the typical definition of the early(a) in that in the eyes of the dominant group they lacked some innate quality (The Other, 2010). This othering of a group within connection has very negative consequences. It is well illustrated in Sherman Alexies story This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona. This stpry bear witnesss readers approximately life on a reservation. Identity is at its tenderness especially the tension between an identity you make for yourself and one that is given to you by someone much powerful. Alexies story tells the reader a great deal close to what life can be resembling for Native Americans. It shows the serious social conditions on reservations and the breakdown of family relations due to substance abuse and other problems. The truth is that many Native Americans today live in the shadow of a trauma that was do to them many years ago. We have to have a sense of history if we are to understand plenty like Victor or Thomas Builds the Fire. These are men who are placed outside of society and whose sense of self is shaped not by their own dreams and ambitions but by a stern effort to define them as others, as not full citizens. It is no wonder that faced with this aff fitting of onslaught so many Native Americans struggle with substance abuse problems. The fact that much of the darn of this story takes place on a reservation is key. The Natives have been separated from the rest of society. They live on their small plots of lands with their own rules. They are not assimilated. In fact, few people know much active them. They are, in a sense, outside of history. History plays a major role in defining identities. What Alexie manages to show us, however, is how the characters in his story are more than blank canvas ses or merely Otherthey are accepted live human beings, facing their own struggles to shape their own place in the world. They are, for example, still able to forgive one another, as Thomas Builds the Fire is willing to forgive Victor. Thomas is passionate about story grievousto him it is a ways to find his own place in the world and take some control over his circumstances. This is how a group defined as Others does its best to fight backby telling its own stories about itself. In this story, it is Thomas who is ostracized on the reservation. Alexie represents otherness through the treatment of Thomas by the band. Anyone who is seen to have an imagination is considered to be different. Thomas tells the same damn story over and over over again (Alexie, 62), and for this reason in part is seen to be different. When he breaks his leg, he is hated, for being imaginative enough to include his dream, even if only for a moment. This is how otherness is represented. Alexies perspective on otherness is surely a part of his own personal experiences growing up as an Indian in America. He grew up on a Washington reservation as part of a marginalized community. On top of that, he had a childhood disease which marked him out as different (Konigsberg). These things certainly shaped his relationships with others. He must have felt like an outsider looking in, a victim of other peoples preconceptions about him. It is useful to teach our children about these kinds of issues because they crop up everywhere in society. However, the discussion can be a little complex. The