What You Pawn I Will Redeem

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The story I chose is Sherman Alexie's short story, "What you Pawn I Will Redeem". This story almost connected me with pieces of my past and everything I went through to get to where I am. I thought of many of the tough decisions and sacrifices I had to make including trying to make everyone else around me happy while on a journey to find myself. Growing up requires selflessness and maturity. The story brings the truth of the most common phrase that we all know to be true; what goes around comes around- good and bad. The main character, Jackson gave all that he had to regain his history and a sense of purpose.

In our society you see so many people stuck in poverty. Normal people would think of poverty as a disease that needs to be removed from society and that people should try their hardest to be removed from impoverished situations. The opposite is true for the main character Jackson in Sherman Alexie’s story. Jackson did not put forth a lot of initiative into saving the money he need to buy back grandmothers dancing regalia, he chose to spend it all on his alcohol addiction and friends. The little money he accumulates throughout the story from people he spends all of it all of it and he returns …show more content…
Jackson’s actions has the reader feeling frustrated because his actions seem to take him further away from his goal The author of this text thinks that “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is an example of how Indians coped with being in different places. The narrative by N.L Fletcher “Looking to the East: The Stories of Modern Indian People and the Development of Tribal Law” helped to give clarity on Indians who live on and off of the reservations. It claims Like Alexie, the Indians in his stories tend to be urban Indians mostly living in Seattle. They also tend to be educated—college graduates, dropouts, or current attendees. It’s evident that anyone can fall on hard times no matter what they

Analysis Of What You Pawn I Will Redeem

For our final week forum, I choose Jackson, who is the main character in the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie. Jackson is described as a penniless Indian residing in the city of Seattle, Washington. Reading the story, I would describe Jackson solely as “Friendship”. Throughout this short story there are parts where Jackson does a kind gesture and lends a hand and pays for complete strangers, in which he buys everyone a drink at the bar. "Five beverages for everybody!"(Alexie…

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What You Pawn I Will Redeem Analysis

What You Pawn I Will Redeem is an intrigue story, where the narrator started with a puzzle. “One day you have a home and the next you don’t, but I am not going to tell you my particular reasons for being homeless, …” (8) Jackson is a young man who left his hometown Spokane, Washington for college to Seattle. He failed college only after two semesters, failed marriages, could not even remember how many kids he had fathered. He admitted having mental problem, “Of course crazy is not the official definition…

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What You Pawn I Will Redeem Analysis

Why We Root for Jackson in “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” In “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” Sherman Alexie writes about the quirky misadventures of the humorous Jackson Jackson. When Jackson stumbles across his grandmother’s long-lost powwow regalia in the window of a Seattle pawnshop, the self-defined financially irresponsible Spokane Indian finds himself desperate for money to purchase the regalia from the pawnbroker. Jackson's determination to “win” his grandmother's regalia sets him on a quest…

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What You Pawn I Will Redeem Summary

In Sherman Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” his main character Jackson Jackson is a Spokane Indian, who when of age moved to Seattle to attend college. He is now a middle aged, homeless, alcoholic Indian, who “…flunked out,… worked blue collar jobs, married a few times, and fathered two or three kids.” Jackson is reckless with money, women, and alcohol, but continually takes care of those around him, while simultaneously using them to take care of himself. He begins a quest for money after…

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