Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven

1335 Words6 Pages
The Lone Ranger exists as a vestige to early 1930s Americana, where racism and prejudice remained a norm within society. However, today we still practice the mentality of The Long Ranger – racial tension. People believe they are judged by the social pressure existing and ideals collectively shared within communities. However, it is incorrect to free the individual of further perpetuating judgement through self-perception. In actuality, racism and judgement exists on a dichotomous two-way street frequented by both parties: reality and perception. Within his story “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”, Alexi evinces the role of the individual, while equally presenting the social pressure and interactions which exist. Notably, by utilizing…show more content…
It is a gross error to simply portray the narrator as a social outcast in which discrimination exists solely in his mind. Society, at some level, must be responsible for the social pressure that it lays on the individual and is similarly guilty of sustaining racial stereotypes which have existed for hundreds of years. When the narrator enters the 7/11 Store and faces a clerk who is both scared and leery of him, both views must be taken into account. To a degree, the narrator perpetuates the belief in the “criminality” of Native Americans by trying to whistle menacingly and imagining shooting the clerk in the back when he turns around to make the slushie. However, the clerk is also clearly reserved as soon as the narrators enters the store. The clerk should be expected to have preconceived notions, ingrained by society, which makes him believe that this customer could be dangerous based solely on appearance. It’s part of the survival instinct – figuring out when we need to fight or run. Further, the clerk second guesses the narrator when he orders a large size slushie, paying attention to the appearance of the narrator rather than his words. However, the prejudice is an effort and shared belief by both the victim and perpetrator. Therefore, the past exists in the present; reality exists alongside perception. Society and individuals are entities which are…show more content…
These is a stark contrast between those who are White and those Native Americans that exists within the story. Whites, as seen by the narrator, are self-assured, like the narrator’s girlfriend. The narrator believes that the Whites are always at the top of their game, outperforming all of the Native Americans. However, the narrator confuses coincidence with generalization. The narrator just happens to run into white police officers patrolling a neighborhood he’s driving through, meeting a timid clerk in a 7/11 store, and playing against an exceptional basketball player. The narrator has perceived his unique set of coincidences as a generalization of white people. He forgets that there are “normal white people”: grandmothers, mothers, children, and normal working-class folks. This generalization leads him to believe that Native Americans must appear “criminalized” to others. The narrator even paints himself as a quasi-domestic abuser through his alcoholic abuse and destruction of the lamp during the fight with his girlfriend. His own misfortune is extended to the Native Americans population, which he largely considers as a group of failures in adding to society. The narrator comments how he was “special, a former college student”, while most of the people on the reservation remain on the reservation with their families the rest of their lives (Alexi).
Open Document