Indian Education, by Sherman Alexie, is a collection of stories about growing up Native American. Pathos is the main rhetoric device that Alexie used in this collection of stories. With the first story, "First Grade" the audience feels pity for the speaker, who is a young Indian boy being bullied. Also, in the story "Fourth Grade" when the speaker reveals that he has a broken homelife, pity is evoked in the audience again. However, by the time that the "Twelfth Grade" story comes around, the speaker has graduated as valedictorian and his hair has grown long to show that he is proud of his Indian heritage. This is an important moment because throughout his 'Indian education' the speaker has learned to be proud of his Indian heritage.
The imagery used in "Second Grade" to describe the teacher Betty Towle, redheaded and so ugly that no one ever had a puppy crush on her, shows that she is white, and is also a reflection of the way she treats the speaker. In line 15 she repeats "Indians, indians, indians," and the speaker notes that she does it without capitalization. This shows that Betty Towle does not have respect for the speaker and his family, and is also an example of the prejudice that not only the speaker, but most likely the author had to face. By the end of Indian Education, the narrator has overcome all of the oppression that he had to face, although some of his friends were not able to. The author's purpose in writing this was to show people that someone is not stupid just because they are Native American, and that we should treat everyone equally no matter their race. The genre is realistic fictional narrative.
Works Cited:
Alexie, Sherman. Indian Education. Web. 3 Sept. 2015
The imagery used in "Second Grade" to describe the teacher Betty Towle, redheaded and so ugly that no one ever had a puppy crush on her, shows that she is white, and is also a reflection of the way she treats the speaker. In line 15 she repeats "Indians, indians, indians," and the speaker notes that she does it without capitalization. This shows that Betty Towle does not have respect for the speaker and his family, and is also an example of the prejudice that not only the speaker, but most likely the author had to face. By the end of Indian Education, the narrator has overcome all of the oppression that he had to face, although some of his friends were not able to. The author's purpose in writing this was to show people that someone is not stupid just because they are Native American, and that we should treat everyone equally no matter their race. The genre is realistic fictional narrative.
Works Cited:
Alexie, Sherman. Indian Education. Web. 3 Sept. 2015