Prompt #3
Like all high school heroes, their time as super stars inevitably
will come to an end. Being a basketball “hero” on the reservation is a way of
escaping from the actual reality of poverty and alcoholism that is rampant on
the reservation. “But what happens when
your heroes don’t even know how to pay their bills?” (pg. 49) and “’Not even
two in the afternoon and he [Julius Windmaker: Basketball Hero] and he is drunk
as a skunk.”’ (pg.50) Characters who are good at basketball are almost seen as
Christ-like because everyone sees them as someone who might “go all the way.”
But, like I said at the beginning their fame will run its course, they will
start drinking and lose all their acclaim when the next non-drunk superstar
comes along. In this story the exact thing happens to Julius. This story fits
perfectly intone of the overall themes of the book, imagination crushed by
reality. Everyone imagines these “heroes” being the first person to leave the
drab, sad life of living on the reservation.
I’m not sure about everyone else but when I
played sports in high school I would fantasize during class about getting a
super awesome college scholarship, going professional, getting super fat
endorsement deals, and having the whole wide world fall madly in love with me.
Obviously, that sadly did not happen but luckily I didn’t fall into alcoholism
and self-loathing like most of the characters in the book.
A favorite quote of mine is from a
bat that’s a man that we all know and love, Batman. He says “You either die a
hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” which most
basketball heroes do in this book. “’I thought Julius would be the one to make
it all the way.”’ (pg. 52) Imagine what stories people would tell if Julius
Windmaker would have been killed when he was at best and no one on the
reservation would have seen their hero fall to alcoholism as so many did before
him. People would never forget him and
what he could’ve been; he would have been made immortal.
By the end of “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation”
Julius has succumbed to alcoholism and the people on the reservation have moved
on to their next hero with potential, Lucy. Who knows if she ever makes it “all
the way” but it doesn’t really matter because one can assume she falls to the
same kryptonite as everyone before her. This story gives me a sense of
hopelessness. Do y’all feel Julius would have been made an all-time hero if he
would have dies when he was in his awesome stage of life?
(I hope y'all enjoy my superhero references!)
Connor, I liked how you used a quote from batman to show the life cycle of a hero in the novel. I remember learning about the life cycle of a hero a little bit in high school english class. There are a few similarities in this novel and other forms of literature. I think the ones we looked at were mythology? What I do remember is the background is important. Typically the characters started out with some sort of struggle or hardship. Obviously the Indians don't have it easy in this story. They live on a reservation and feel inferior to white people. The reader can see the rise of the hero as the basketball player makes their claim to fame, whether it's a single shot like Silas Sirius or a streak of success like Julius. I'm going to go ahead and reference Wesley's post as well. I think Victor shows some of the same qualities of a hero as well in the way that there seems to be a call to action from himself and James. (Assuming that it's Victor in this story) He realizes that the only time he's not drinking is when he's playing basketball. He shows this by saying, "When I play I don't feel like drinking so I wish I could play twenty-four hours a day seven days a week and then I wouldn't wake up skiing and quaking and needing just one more beer before I stop for good. James knows it too and he sits on the sideline lapping when my team score and clapping when the other team scores too" (128). The most significant part of the hero's life cycle is the fall, no hero goes through a story without facing some sort of struggle or antagonist. In Sherman Alexie's novel, the struggle seems to be alcohol and the "rut-like" life on the reservation. These people aren't going anywhere. There's a high-school class reunion at the tavern every week. I think that the reason the basketball players are looked up to so much is because of the hope that one of their people could be successful playing alongside white people. It seems a little funny that they never really give that hope up even though history keeps repeating itself. They are always left saying...they could've made it all the way, etc. I'm not sure if this is making any sense but that's what I thought of while reading the posts over the heroes.
ReplyDeleteConnor, a Batman reference is always welcomed in my opinion. As Wesley pointed out in his post, the Indians on the reservation still talk about Silas Sirius, who made one shot then walked off the court and never played again. It's not as extreme as dying, but its still the same concept, he stopped while he was a hero, and so he remained a hero. Its pretty hard to get a sports scholarship to college, but for all we know someone from the reservation may have actually been good enough at some point in their life, but it seems most of them fall prey to a self fulling prophecy; Hardship and despair are all they've ever known, and leaving the reservation and entering the white man's world seems like a scary concept, so they instead choose the comforts of familiarity and waste their talents.
ReplyDeleteMichael I like how you explain how the characters in the novel are afraid to venture out to the unknown. It is true that they choose staying on the reservation and falling into adictions because thats what there familiar with. This is true for most people that are addicts to drugs and alcohol. Many people who became famous playing sports and they lost it all because of drug addiction. Its because they confided with people they have known all their lives. Most of these friends are the ones that pushed them into drugs and addiction.
DeleteI loved The Batman reference and its true for mostly everyone especially athletes! how many athletes have promising futures that were cut down because of drugs and alcohol? its not just athletes, musicians and actors/actresses all of them have had problem. As Eugenio said its because they confided with people that they have known their whole life and are pretty much bring them down, if anyone on the reservation wanted to be a basketball superstar and go to college he would need to leave the reservation before he started drinking! if everyone is doing it, you can be sure the town's "hero" will be too.
DeleteTo add onto the whole addiction and drinking part of it Adrian and Victor are questioning if he has started drinking yet because I think they see it as a major factor that will slow down if he will actually make it past high school. Then a year later when they see him drunk on the day of a game they hope he would sober up for the game but his future as a basketball player has already been decided from that point.
DeleteThey hope he sobers up but they know what life is like there, and they did the same thing when there younger. Its kind of funny whene everyone wonders if they will be the one to go all the way, but they know that it never happens and prob never will. Its a sad reality in the reservation but no one sets out and changes it. Does anyone even care if anyone goes all the way? no one tries to help young superstar basketball players avoid drinking, they just dont care what they do.
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ReplyDeleteMy brother just showed me this article on ESPN that talks about Native Americans in college basketball and I think it sort of looks at the "making it all the way" aspect. Like where exactly does make it all the way mean? Does it mean completing High school or going on to other things like moving off the reservation and playing college ball. The Article really shows the struggle that goes into making it out of the reservation with basketball in say that "only five of the 5,051 Division I basketball players were Native Americans or Alaskan natives." While there are also Division 2 and 3 basketball teams it seems sort of shocking that only 5 will make to that standard.
ReplyDeletehttp://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=4821534
Wesley, thank you for sharing the article. That's a really great real-life example of what they may have faced on the reservation. That means that only one out of one thousand players were Native American. Do you think that they struggled to make it all the way primarily because of alcohol or racism?
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