Resentment

The resentment of Indians throughout the history of America is something that has always been there, however rarely recognized or discussed in any history classes or textbooks. We are simply presented with the facts of what happened, and never think to challenge what may have otherwise happened. Both of these books give refreshing insight into the Indian side, and challenge the American pride felt throughout our history. Particularly in Sherman Alexie's last section of his collection of poems, he gives insight into the destruction of Indian culture and society felt by the Native Americans.

In his poem “Inside Dachau” Alexie talks about his visit to the remains of a German internment camp. In a way, his description as an outsider of the camp is a metaphor for Americans looking back on the relations with Native Americans throughout our history. Especially with the comparison to the “death camps” in America, he seems to compare the actual death camps to the more symbolic ones felt by the native Americans. While both are at different extremes, they both represent the domineering white society and how through their ethnocentric ideals they have brought harm to other cultures. Towards the end of the poem, Alexie brings up the point that history always repeats itself, by questioning who will be the next victims. He seems to have some resentment towards the Holocaust in a way, because of how they received a sufficient amount of recognition for what happened in their history, and how the Indian culture still remains helpless victims of white supremacy. He compares himself to someone of Jewish background, and how Indians are still victims in a way. “I was just a guest in a theatre that will never close”(Alexie 122). Here he seems to feel that the pain of the Indians is still ever present, while that felt by the Jewish has been diminished a great deal more.