The Toughest Indian in the World

The story by Sherman Alexie was interesting to say the least. Although there was a graphic sex scene, that’s not the focus of the story. This story has a much deeper meaning. This story is about a man (Sherman Alexie) trying to find out who he really is in this white world that he lives in. He dates a white woman who is also a reporter and he tends to get caught up in all of the white ideals and views instead of sticking to his roots. It wasn’t until the car ride with the Indian that he begins to remember his heritage that he has grown apart from. During the car ride, Alexie trades the Indian a coke for a piece of deer jerky. Although it’s subtle, this shows how Alexie is growing up in a white world and how the Indian is growing up in his Indian culture. Now, everyone puts the focus on the gay sex scene, but that is just a small part of the story. After the scene, Alexie goes into the bathroom to realize what just happened. He knew that he had done something wrong and something that he had no desire to do again, but he had learned something about himself. At the end of the story it says, “If you had broken my heart you could have looked inside and seen the thin white skeletons of one thousand salmon.” Alexie is trying to convey the fact that he found apart of himself that he had forgotten about and that Indian had showed it to him. He begins to walk off into the distance barefooted as he had done when he was younger, searching for his old self. A soul flight.