So since I was on a huge role in class the other day, I though that there would be no better blog post topic for me than to compare Alexie's collection to my favorite TV show of all time, The Walking Dead. I will try and make this post as spoiler-free as possible, for I highly recommend the show to all of you.
The Walking Dead isn't just a show about zombies, a title which unfortunately most people write it off as. Instead, it takes an interesting path of storytelling by showing the audience what would actually happen in a zombie apocalypse, not just people being killed/eaten. Throughout the show you see people die and people come, but they are all struggling to simply exist. The basic morals that we as humans live by today change so drastically, it gets to a point where the humans are just as monstrous as the zombies are. So that's just a little background for you, if you have Netflix it's there so do yourselves a favor and go watch it (after homework of course).
So how can a show about survival in the zombie apocalypse relate to Sherman Alexie's stories about Native American lifestyle? Well in a lot of ways actually. Now I already talked about some of my ideas in class, but I figured that I could go a bit more into depth here along with introducing more ideas. P.S. most/all of these are connected to Distances. P.P.S. it's also important to know that there is also a comic series of TWD, so I will be referencing that as well.
So I already kind of spoiled this in class, but hopefully none of you remember what I said and aren't spoiled. But the first connection that led to all of these was that of the radio and the telephone. So in Distances, the narrator finds this radio. He looks at it and instantly realizes it's broken, for he sees the shorted wires, the dead batteries, and the bursted dams. But still, he wonders if it works and what he would hear out if it if it did. His curiosity shows his desire for it to work, he wants to hear something, anything out of this radio. In a time of crisis and destruction (the Native Americans slaughtering the whites), the narrator wants to hear something
normal out of this radio. Something to snap him back to reality almost.
It was after noticing this that I drew my first connection, a telephone. So there's this pinnacle moment in season three where there's this massive outbreak. A lot of people die that episode, including one character who has a strong attachment to the main character. Obviously, the main character is distraught over this loss. He goes a bit insane, yelling at people, wandering around, even seeing visions of this deceased person. Until one episode he is walking through the prison (where the survival group is staying at the time) and hears a phone ringing. He rushes to the phone and picks it up, and begins talking to a woman. The woman tells him that her group is in a safe place where no one is in danger, and with plenty of food and supplies. Rick (The main character) automatically strives to know where they are, but the woman says she's out of time and will call him back the next day. The next day, he has another confusing phone call, this time with a man. The man gives no straight answers to Rick, and at the end when the man tells Rick has has to leave, he says something along the lines of, "Stay safe Rick." It is revealed in the next phone call that Rick has been talking to deceased members of his group, implying that this safe place they were talking about was being dead. In the comic Rick even unplugs the phone, and can still hear the voices.
Both Rick and the narrator have these two machines that they desperately want to hear something out of. Rick wanted to hear the voice of someone who could tell him where he could be safe, when he ultimately realizes that the only place he could ever be truly safe is death. The narrator never hears anything out of the radio, and at the end he turns up and down the volume, but only hears his own breath. The narrator comes to realize that he is hearing himself through the radio, and that he will never hear a message or a broadcast that will give him what he wants to hear. He will only hear himself, just like Rick, who will only hear what his brain tells him to hear, but never exactly what he wants.
Another perfect connection I made was that of a constant threat. In Distances, the epigraph talks about how the Native American's most important threat was the whites. Then one day, a massive flood came and killed every last white person. While it seems like the Native Americans should have began to live in peace from then on, they didn't. They began to fight amongst themselves, which eventually drove them to the point of splitting into two groups that would be eternal enemies. Due to implications, to assume that even if these two groups settles their differences, a new threat would arise, would be very likely.
This is a huge theme in TWD. While one who hasn't seen the show may think the main threat is the zombies, they are sadly mistaken. You see, the zombies are a threat... for a little. But quickly they group learns to deal with the zombies, and once they do the threat shifts to other human beings. You can't trust anybody but yourself in the apocalypse, for people will kill you just to get what you have. This threat against other humans remains at large throughout most of the show, with the zombies being there to mix with the human threat and create moments of utter chaos. But soon their main human threat is avoided (for the time being), and a new threat arises (won't say because spoilers). Then this new threat is dealt with, and another arises. In this world, they will never be safe. Things will never revert to the way they were. There will always be a threat at large.
Let's take a break from Distances, and talk about a comparison I found with A Drug Called Tradition. Specifically, Victor's drum given to him by Big Mom. Big Mom gives Victor this tiny drum, and tells him whenever he needs her, he can just give the drum a tap. But Victor himself says the he never tapped the drum, yet he keeps it with him all the time to make him feel safe. "I guess you could call it the only religion I have, one drum that can fit in my hand, but I think if I played it a little, it might fill up the whole world." (Alexie, 23). Victor acknowledges the drums tiny appearance physically, but it's large significance symbolically.
In TWD, there are two examples of this "reassurance item" we'll call it. The first is a comic only thing, and that's Rick and his phone. Yes, this is the same phone as the one I was talking about earlier, but unlike in the show, Rick actually takes the phone with him wherever he goes. At one point he is talking to a lady (who I'll call X for now because spoilers) who tells him about
her "reassurance item", which I'll talk about in a moment. X tells Rick about her item, for he has noticed her using it before. When X finally opens up to someone about it, she is worried Rick will think she is a complete oddball, but he reveals his phone to her, telling her that
while he knows what he hears from it is what's in his head, it still makes him feel safe. Sound familiar? Rick, just like Victor, acknowledges that it's physical value is nothing, since it doesn't work and he only hears what his brain tells him to hear, but it's symbolic value is huge, for it makes him feel safe.
X's item on the other hand isn't an item but a spirit. X's item is her dead boyfriend, and let me explain. No it's not a zombie, it's not anything physical at all for that matter. But X talks to her boyfriend as if he were alongside her all the time. She is often seen by others talking to herself, when in reality she is talking to her boyfriend. When talking to Rick, X tells him that
she knows he is dead and not actually there, but she can still hear him and talk to him as if he were standing right beside her. Again, the acknowledgement of physical and symbolic values.
The last comparison I'll make in this post is with watches. Watches have importance in both A Drug Called Tradition and Distances. In A Drug Called Tradition, there's the story about Indian time, and how no Indians wear watches because their "skeletons" wear the watches for them. The most important lines from this part of the story are "See, it is always now. That's what Indian time is. The past, the future, all of it is wrapped up in the now. That's how it is.
We are trapped in the now." In Distances, the narrator says he remembers watches. He recalls how precisely they measure time and how he measures time by his own breath, akin to how he only heard his breath through the radio.
In a recent episode of TWD, Rick and another character (call them Y), discover a house with two people living in it. These two people ask Rick if they can stay with his group, and he goes through his quiz that he gives to people that want to join. They pass, and since Rick and Y are looking for medicine, Y suggests that these two help look and cover more ground to prove their worth. Rick reluctantly agrees, and gives his
watch to the boy, telling the boy to meet him and Y back at their current location in two hours. Two hours pass, Rick and Y see the girl of the group dead, and the boy has not returned to the house. Rick is now without his watch. At the end of the episode, Rick kicks Y out of the group and leaves her where they were searching for meds (She did bad things). Y gives Rick their watch before he leaves, and the episode ends with Rick driving back the the prison, looking at the watch.
In both instances, we are shown how little time means. In TWD, Rick tried to use the watch/time to get the boy to meet back up with him, which didn't happen. That's how we know that time is of little worth. But then Y gives Rick their watch, and Rick stares at it. Rick realizes that while it may not be important, it's still real. In a world gone to hell, something's will never change. This also applies to Alexie, how you don't have to keep a watch on you, for it's of no worth. The world/your skeleton will keep time for you, but it's still real. (Note: I don't exactly know where I was going with this point. It's been a long post, hopefully it makes sense)
I could probably make thousands of more connections but I'm pretty sure my brain just melted. That, and no one would read my post, since it's already long enough. So, quick notes:
1. Watch The Walking Dead, please, it's worth it
2. I think this is longer than Emma's *high-fives self*
3. Have a nice day
