Interpretation of “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” and “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”
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“The Man to Send Rain Clouds” is a story that reflects life on the new Native America particularly Laguna Indian Reservation in New Mexico, in the 1960s. Pueblo people had live in this region for more than twelve thousand years and traditional religious beliefs penetrated every aspect of life. Even when Christianity was introduced, it was incorporated into the older Pueblo rites. In this story, Leslie Marmon Silko explores the blending of Catholic rituals with traditional Indian rituals during the burial ceremony. Silko’s interest is the illustration of the tension of maintaining traditional Pueblo practices and the incorporation of the outside influences, in this case, the Catholic Church. Comparatively, Sherman Alexie in the story “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” also conveys the Native American experience by referring to popular culture. The characters the Lone Ranger and Tonto in this story symbolize the white American and the Native American respectively. Although the two characters are portrayed working together, the author envisions them at odds.
These two stories are connected to postcolonial and imperialism because they reflect how white American has tried to extend its territorial influence by forcing its white capital culture to the new Native Americans especially in the Indian reservations. For instance, in “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” which is a story about Native Americans describes the quality of contemporary Laguna Pueblo life. The funeral ceremony of the Pueblo people involves painting the faces of the dead so that they will be recognized in the next world and scattering corn and sprinkling them with water to provide food and water to the spirit on its way to the next world. After the death of the old man Teofilo, his burial is ceremony is performed in the traditional Native American way until Leon’s wife suggests to her husband that he should ask the priest to sprinkle holy water on the grave. However, at first, the priest in charge of the ceremony refuses the holy water as part of the Indian burial ceremony. This shows how the Catholic Church forced Christian rituals on the Native Americans in an attempt to convert them to Catholicism. Similarly, in “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” the author alludes to the centuries of historical context that inform interactions between Native Americans and the white Americans. The conflict between Lone Ranger and Tonto symbolizes the encroachment of white culture into the reservation. Tonto is also a portrayal of racial oppression that white Americans exert on the Native Americans. Tonto’s broken English and spiritual connection with nature illustrates the dated stereotypes about Native Americans.