(by: Amber Schmidt and Kaitlin Havens)
Throughout Sherman Alexie’s “Ten Little Indians”, the theme of identity is brought up time after time. Frank Snake Church and Corliss particularly struggled with the ultimate battle of Who I Am vs. Who I Am Supposed to Be. Corliss, who “wasn’t supposed to read the books she read and [who] wasn’t supposed to say the things she said,”(Alexie 41) found herself an outsider in a room full of family due to being “too young and too female and too Indian to be that smart,” (Alexie 41.) Frank Snake Church however, found himself lost in his own home due a lack of family. Although Frank mostly is at war with himself and Corliss usually battles it out when members of her family and community, both characters could agree that the reflection they see in the mirror is not how they feel inside.
In What Ever Happened to Frank Snake Church, Frank finds himself lost after the death of his father. He decides to get into the best shape of his life and play college basketball as a “second wind”.. Playing ball was always his dream until the death of his mother when he was a teenager which resulted in him hanging up his basketball shoes for good in order to honor her memory. Alexie juxtaposes the idea of Frank giving up basketball to honor his mother with him retaking up the sport to honor his father. Compared to Corliss who reads poetry despite her father and uncles in Search Engine, Frank does what he does in remembrance of his parents. Frank Snake Church is chasing after his dream which in essence is chasing after his late mother and father while Corliss runs away from her father and tribe and chases a poet. Both Frank and Corliss go on a quest, but endure different demons, which include age and mental illness for Frank, which ultimately leads to a much different gain in self knowledge. Frank learns after his knee injury while playing with college kids that even though both his parents are gone, he is going to be fine.
In relation to the short story mentioned above, Sherman Alexie wrote Search Engine which is about a girl named Corliss who is also struggling with identity. She is constantly being patronized by her Native American father and uncles because she loves to read poetry. She accidentally stumbled onto a book of poems written by a mysterious Spokane indian, Harlan Atwater. She became very interested in him because she was also a Spokane indian. She asked around her tribe about this Harlan Atwater guy. No one seemed to know who he was, or know about the book. She ended up finding his phone number, calling him, and getting turned away by his rude attitude. She was determined, however, and found his address. She was nervous, but made a trip to Seattle anyway. She ended up getting lost and asked a homeless man for directions to Harlan’s house. Although not finished with her quest, the homeless man unlocks some self knowledge by introducing her to the idea she has a lot more in common with being homeless than she ever thought before. When she wandered up onto Atwater’s house, she had no idea what or who she was about to come in contact with. When Harlan opened the door, she was devastated with what she saw. She described him as being “homely.” After a heart to heart conversation with the poet, she finally realizes that she needs no one’s approval but her own, and must learn to let things go. She said to Harlan, “you’re a lost bird,” (Alexie, p. 40) which is exactly how she feels. In a sense, she is similar to Atwater because she does not exactly fit the description of a typical Spokane, like he does not. Harlan wanted exactly what Corliss has and vice versa. Corliss is unable to fully be herself because of the constant negativity towards her interests, but gains the self understanding and confidence in order to try anyways.
In these two short stories, Corliss and Frank both struggle with finding themselves. They are both looking for acceptance and for happiness. Corliss finds her happiness in poetry while Frank finds his in basketball. They both battle their demons and conquer them, regardless of what others think. However, they are also completely different. Corliss found Harlan and learned from what he told her, while Frank found Russell and got in shape to play basketball again to honor his late parents and discovered that he had become too old to continue playing. These stories broaden the outlook of the real world as well as teach the balance of what you want to do, can do, and are supposed to do.
Reference Citation:
Alexie, Sherman. “Search Engine” and “What Ever Happened to Frank Snake Church.” Ten Little Indians: Stories. New York: Grove, 2003. 1+. Print.