Salmon
Salmon the symbolic figures of nothing less than the deity of the Spokane Indians. As the author writes, to be a member of this tribe without wild salmon is like being Christian without a resurrected Jesus Christ. With the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, that is exactly what occurred as the once mighty population of the fish swimming in the Columbia and Spokane river were killed off and suddenly disappeared.
Rape
Literal rape is a topic that recurs throughout the narrative. The author learns that his mother was the product of the rape of his grandmother. Rape victims of “white priests, white teacher, white coaches and white security guards and soldiers” who come to the reservation are prevalent. Rape is so omnipresent on the reservation, in fact, that Alexie transforms it into a horrifically ironic symbolic undermining of the religion of that white society who invaded and terrorized the natives:
“Rape is
Our Adam & Eve”
Basketball
Alexie enjoyed success as a player on the reservation on the all-Indian team that would be routinely humiliated when playing off the reservation. He once played against John Stockton and after beating once, eventually walked off the court in despair following an energized Stockton’s revenge. Basketball typically is a symbol representing the dream of “getting out” and finding success for minority players. For Alexie, basketball becomes the symbol of what isn’t possible for a very specific minority. Indian players are not like other minorities; there are no real hoop dreams worth pursuing.
The Vacuum Cleaner
An Electrolux vacuum cleaner is only used in the middle of the night. And even then it is not every night, but those particular nights when Alexie’s mother cannot distill the pent-up domestic rage which seethes and needs to be let loose. The vacuum cleaner is an ironic symbol of passive-aggressive release of tension in that it is literally used for sucking up the rubbish produced inside a home, but the Mrs. Alexie uses it not for sucking up, but blowing out the emotional rubbish which domestic life produces.
Sherman’s Mother
Sherman refers several times to his mother as a “fabulist.” It is a fancy name for a fancy type of liar, not the conventional liar who is trying to get away with something by covering up behavior or intent. Nor does it describe the pathological liar who simply can’t stop from being untruthful. A fabulist is part liar and party storyteller; a spinner of wildly fanciful tales related as true, but which almost certainly are not, for the most, at least, authentically factual. The fabulist may commingle aspects of truth with aspects of pure fiction in order to make the story more entertaining or unbelievable. The fabulist—Sherman’s mother—is a perfect symbolic counterpart to the writer of fiction who never writes or gets paid for making up lies, but could have and probably should have.
