emulate the author

Setting

Sherman Alexie applies setting in his novels by making the place more than just the background the characters live in and experience the environment. Alexie’s novels take place on Indian Reservation in Washington, his hometown, and he likes to connect the reservation in order to capture how these real life problems affected him like poverty, broken families, and health issues. Alexie likes to connect his life to his novels because the severity of the problems he had growing up are something that he believes people should be educated on (education about reservation life). With the more educated people on the topic he hopes that there will be less people that live on the reservations that live like he did. Alexie’s incorporation of these background settings his characters live in is a perfect disguise to educate people on the topic of poverty and reservation life. He believes that if he can make people laugh and enjoy the novel they can feel a form of sympathy and stop and think about points throughout his novels.

Tone + Word choice

Along with the setting he creates that connects to his past the tone he uses in his novels is an intriguing blending style of humor and serious topics. His writing style is quite sarcastic, honest, and emotional which can help readers understand/sympathize with the difficulties he had growing up just like problems talked about in the setting description. What is most extraordinary about the tone of his writing is that his stories aren’t sad and depressing like one would think, but they are quite funny and ironic to show how his character that he creates survives the hardships within the novel. For instance in the book Flight he creates this character named Zit that travels through time and experiences highs and lows of life as a whole. However, this teaches Zit and the readers the values of life and shapes an individual's outlook as a whole. This is just one example of how his characters have challenges that show resilience to these hardships just as Alexie was a child of giving up (his characters are made up of resilience and fire to fight for what's right and they have determination to become better just like he did). Now, the way Alexie incorporates word choice is definitely an interesting approach in terms of brutal honesty but in a meaningful way. Alexie likes to be direct to really capture the readers attention on how bad things really were and to make them have sympathy. This approach seems like the best route for this topic because Alexie’s goal is to get people to listen about reservation life and that it must change,therefore, without being so direct and straight up readers wouldn't exactly understand how vital this change actually is. Along with the jokes intending to make the reader laugh but also make the reader think about them. With making the reader feel for the character in that specific moment.

Characters

Sherman Alexie uses characters in his writing to reflect real life human issues and emotions that are especially within the Native American communities. The characters are often normal people dealing with poverty, racism, family problems, identity struggles, and feelings of notbelonging. Instead of having that perfect person he makes the characters have their flaws with a good amount of honesty which allows the reader to really connect with the characters. This can happen due to the idea that no one is actually perfect and everyone has their flaws, so the characters are much more connected to the reader then a normal perfect character is within a novel. These characters are always humorous and sarcastic on very dark topics like racism and life issues. The mix of dark issues and humor makes the characters feel realistic and have a much deeper impact. Through these more realistic characters Alexie can show both the hardships and the strength of people trying to survive and find meaning in a complex world.

Emulate

On the reservation everyone knew everybody which meant everybody also knew your worst mistake before you did. By the time I was sixteen, mine was already famous

It happened during the seventh grade talent show when I tried to sing a country song in front of the school. I believed I sounded like a quality artist. My cousin Leon said I sounded like a raccoon fighting for its last meal from the garbage man. The entire gym laughed so the counselors and principal had to sit down for a second. It daunted me just hearing their laugheters echo through the gymnasium.

For years later people still called me Karaoke Mike. I despised it.

Every morning I walked past the trading post where old men sat outside unpaid security guards. They drank repulsive coffee whilst telling the same old stories to each other over and over. This gave me a good laugh in the morning.

“There goes Nashville!” one of them yelped out. I waved like I was some famous person walking down the red carpet. My mom said surviving embarrassment was part of becoming an adult. She worked doubles at the clinic and still had enough energy to give life advice not even my sweet grandma would ask for.

“People only tease the ones they remember,” she told me.

“That doesn’t sound wise,” I said.

“It’s free wisdom. Don’t be picky.”

My little sister Emma was smarter than all of us combined. She was ten and already was correcting my grammar for her own pleasure.

One night she asked,” Why do you care so much about what others think about you?”

“Becasue I live here on the reservation where everyone knows everybody.” I stated

She nodded like I had just explained how gravity works on Earth compared to space. That Friday the tribal center announced a community fundraiser… The Talent Show again.

I laughed when I saw the poster. Then I kept laughing because panic looks a lot like comedy if you know what you're doing.

Now, I of course would never sign back up for such action. But, my mom volunteered me before asking.

“Karakoe Mike is done. The racoon gave up on his meal and the garbage man took it.” I told my mom

“Oh stop it, I'm sure it will be great, who knows.”

I was not fond of this idea in any way shape or form. I just wanted to move past the talent show embarrassment and continue forward with people forgetting about it. However, it wasn’t the fear of embarrassment that irked me this time. It was the thought of disappointing my mom. She has bestowed faith in me that this time around the talent show would be great. I trusted her. I wasn’t ready for the show at all, but it was next week. But, I was now determined to do my best for my mom.

“I do not care if I embarrass myself anymore, I care about making mom happy because she believes in me and likes to hear me sing.” I told my sister.

“You do know that do not can become don’t right?” She fired back

“I know that but just let me have my moment.” I responded.

Setting within emulation

I kept the central idea of the environment of the Native American Reservation and that background. This is a very vital detail for Alexie’s novels because they always take place on a reservation. Along with his idea of education of that lifestyle must be there without this setting always being in his writing his message is never heard. The way that I used the reservation really is showing how everyone knew everybody and that is very important to a similar style of writing like Alexie’s. I wanted to keep that idea of poverty showing how Mike's mom has been working lots of hours hinting at the idea of a little source of income. I also believe with a pinch of Mike’s sister giving some humor actions really tracks back to how Alexie connects to his readers through humor. Overall, Alexie’s settings take place on these Native American reservations and without the incorporation of that, well you wouldn’t be emulating much of his main source of style.

tone + Word choice within emulation

My incorporation of tone and word choice are very similar to the way Sherman Alexie writes. I used humor to talk about something that was actually really embarrassing and painful for Mike. Instead of just telling Mike he was bad at singing, he describes it as sounding like a racoon fighting for its last meal which makes the moment feel exaggerated but also more real. Alexie does this too; he uses funny, sometimes harsh descriptions to show difficult experiences without making them feel overly heavy (good balance). The tone is very controversial in terms that Mike is telling someone a story out loud. That’s something I noticed in Alexie’s writing as well. I don’t use complicated words or formal language I instead keep things simple and direct, which can make the story feel more personal and honest for the reader. For example, the lines of “I despised it” or “That doesn’t sound wise” sound like things a real person would actually say. This kind of word choice helps show the reality of the situation within the novel just as Alexie does in his. I also have created a tone shift throughout the story, which is another thing I see Alexie do within his novels. At the beginning I focused on the humor and joking about the nickname for Mike and the old men at the trading post. But underneath that Mike actually feels embarrassed and frustrated. As the story progresses my tone becomes more serious especially after they talk about Mike’s mom and how he doesn't want to disappoint her. That shift shows growth and moving from caring about what everyone is thinking to caring more about someone who believes in me. The way I include family also connects to Alexie’s style. Mike’s mom gives advice in a casual, slightly humorous way and Mike’s sister challenges him with her blunt honesty. But by the end the word choice becomes more sincere showing the change that has been made. Overall, the tone and word choice directly reflect Alexie’s influence because of the mix of humor with real life emotions that really connect to the reader.

character's within emulation

In the story the characters reflect the style of Alexie by showing humor and family connection that shape who they are. They present themselves as a character who uses jokes and exaggeration to deal with embarrassing situations especially after a talent show that everyone knows about. I think it can relate also because of how the community is shaped and everyone knows what is happening. Also, Mike shows resilience by overcoming the fear of embarrassment and fighting for what he thinks is right (his mother believes in him and he wants to make her proud). The way he goes from such an embarrassing point to bouncing back really connects to Alexie’s style because that's how all of Alexie’s characters are, resilient. They also have rough home life with Mike’s mom having to work a lot to provide for the family. Now, the characters within the emulation are very similar to the characters Alexie creates for their resilience and driving force to pursue the correct path.

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