they formed a weird unity, heavy and light at the same time. “Because I do not hope to turn again . . . Because I do not hope . . .” In one voice, like a great beast moaning. A single craft carrying the right hardware could take out the lot of them, but they seemed to have no fear of that. Swaying, singing.
I found this scene very weird and I do not understand it. What is significant about them singing?
traitor Vice-President hostage and dragged him down the Mall with a knife to his neck.
Why is the virtual reality game having him fight off mythical creatures and such and the VP? I wonder if there are other "levels" or "checkpoints" in this virtual reality he has to complete?
upon re-watching the moment and finding this was so, he sent it out, both to Mr. Lin and to his fellow Pathways boys, for peer review. It would surely count toward completion of Module 19, which emphasized empathy for the dispossessed.
I think this means he has requirements he has to fulfill for his classes.
firefighting a gang of Russian commandoes as they parachuted into view.
This sounds like an alternate reality type device.
a Minotaur sat in the lap of stony Abe Lincoln and a dozen carefully planted I.E.D.s awaited detonation. He was impatient to return.
A Minotaur is a monster shaped half like a man and half like a bull
It was three miles to the White House. He picked out a large pair of breasts to wear, for reasons of his own, and a long, scaled tail, for purposes of strangulation.
Sounds like he is able to use this device to augment his body to the way he wants (in this case it sounds like it is for being able to fight).
“Blood Head 4.” Then: “Washington.” It was his first time at this level. Another world began to construct itself around Bill Peek, a shining city on a hill.
Is he able to travel from one spot in the world to another with this device?
He blinked twice, said, “Hand to hand.” Then, having a change of heart: “Weaponry.” He looked down at his torso, to which he now attached a quantity of guns.
This device magically was able to provide what he commanded?
They shared no more DNA than strangers.
What I am getting from this paragraph is that he can know all this information just by looking at the people and using his device.
He touched the node on his finger to the node at his temple, raising the volume.
Whatever he is using is allowing him to control it via his brain. Reminds me of the past two texts we read by Saunders because of their futuristic and sci-fi feel.
If a white person loves an Indian then the white person is Indian by proximity. White people must carry an Indian deep inside themselves. Those interior Indians are half-breed and obviously from horse cultures.
Still not 100 percent Indian. Also, this shows that the Indian can not be full Indian, they have to have white in them, but a white man can have Indian in him/Indian attributes.
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.
Goes back to what I said earlier about the white man stereotyping the Indian man. Alexie is telling us that white people for years have laid out all of these stereotypes listed and depicted them in U.S. film, television, and stories. White people have destroyed Native American Indian culture, taken away their identity, and made it all about the white man again. This poem reminds us that white people have killed Indian culture and exploited them at the same time. In the end, we lose Indians altogether and they become nothing but a whisper in the wind.
must
Nonnegotiable, they are obliged to. Which isn't right because not all Indians can see visions or be healers.
white man, then he has to be so white
White man is superior
White women dream about half-breed Indian men from horse cultures.
Is this Alexie saying that perhaps the reader of the novel, a white woman, will fall in love with the main character (the half-breed and horse culture man)
secrets
What kind of secrets? I did not understand this.
so white that we can see the blue veins running through his skin like rivers. When the Indian woman steps out of her dress, the white man gasps at the endless beauty of her brown skin. She should be compared to nature: brown hills, mountains, fertile valleys, dewy grass, wind, and clear water.
This reminds me of Pocahontas in a way. She was a Native American who saved a white Englishman, John Smith, who was being held captive. Later in life she was held captive, converted to Christianity, took the name "Rebecca" and married a white man. Even her story has been romanticized, which is what Alexie is showing here. Even from the Disney movie, we know that Pocahontas was "one with nature" and was beautiful.
Indian man then he must be a half-breed, preferably from a horse culture.
Repeated here and throughout the poem. Alexie is really pushing this to the reader, that the Indian can not be full Indian, but a mix of Indian and white, and only come from one specific culture.
If the hero is an Indian woman, she is beautiful
Why does the woman have to be beautiful here, but earlier in the first couplet, the Indians were "tragic"?
The hero must be a half-breed, half white and half Indian, preferably from a horse culture. He should often weep alone. That is mandatory.
Here he is saying that the hero of the story, the one who saves the day, must not be fully Indian, but a mix of half-Indian and half-white. They also must breed and herd horses. They can not show emotion, but instead let their emotions out when they are alone. These lines start the stereotyping of Native American Indians through the white mans eye, which is what Alexie is portraying in the lines of this poem.
All of the Indians must have tragic features: tragic noses, eyes, and arms. Their hands and fingers must be tragic when they reach for tragic food.
Alexie repeats "tragic" to show that all of the Indians in the novel must have features that are sorrowful. He wants the reader to feel the feeling of sorrow caused by the suffering of the Indians.
Or was myself – too small?
Since our discussion in class yesterday, I still am thinking about how this may relate to her time spent in the seminary and how since she was in the "no hope" group that this poem may be a reflection of that. How she wanted to break free from the seminary, break free from her home (since she may have had epilepsy so she would be kept indoors) and live a life where she could achieve all that she had aspired. But in the end, maybe none of that happened? And now she is writing this poem to express her remorse of not achieving what she wanted.
Was it Goliah – was too large – Or was myself – too small?
In these lines I think she is asking the reader to answer her and say did her aspirations not work out because the world as a whole is too big for her to conquer and that on the other hand, was she not good enough, not assertive enough, or bold enough (although in line 4 she did say that she was very confident in herself.)
I aimed my Pebble – but Myself Was all the one that fell –
She took a shot at the world, maybe she took a shot with a job interview or something, but it did not work out. Whatever her aspirations are did not work out.
I took my Power in my Hand – And went against the World – ‘Twas not so much as David – had – But I – was twice as bold –
When I read this I imagine the speaker holding a little slingshot and she is facing this huge world in front of her. Maybe she is coming out of high school or college, but either way she is young and does not have much with her, or maybe much to offer, but she wants to conquer the huge world in front of her (her Goliath.)
bold
Whatever Dickinson or the speaker is fighting, they are saying they are more bold than David was. Which is saying a lot because David was a youth and would fight off lions and bears and wanted to fight Goliath. But because David had the Lord on his side, he knew he would win the fight against Goliath.
‘Twas not so much as David – had –
When David went to fight Goliath he had a staff in his hand, 5 stones in a bag, and a slingshot. Also, David had the Lord on his side, as Goliath had defiled God with the Philistines.
Power
I wonder why this word is capitalized?
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