셔만 알렉시의 『열 꼬마 인디언』과 『독설』에 나타난 미래 인디언 표상

New Native Americans in Sherman Alexie’s Ten Little Indians and Blasphemy

Native American writer Sherman Alexie insists on “unsettling the Spirit of ’76” in his collections of short stories, Ten Little Indians and Blasphemy. By the Spirit of ’76 he means the Indian revolution spirit at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, the last war Indians won over the whites. America Indian Movement, the organization of radical and progressive Indians, made the centennial commemoration of the Spirit of ’76 in 1976 expecting that Indians will enjoy their complete sovereignty, independence, and de-colonization in 2076, the bicentennial year of the Spirit. Unlike its initial promises, the Spirit, however, has worsened the life conditions of Indians off as well as on reservations. Statistics tells that Indians live shorter, suffer from alcoholism and diabetes with higher rates, earn much less than poverty levels, and possess lower self-esteem. Alexie attributes the causes of the 3rd world-like Indian communities to the old fashioned ideas of the Spirit like tribalism, the priority of indigenousness over settlement, exclusive understanding of Indian authenticity, and strong resistance to get associated with other ethnic groups. Alexie exemplifies specific strategies to overcome the limited and obsolete Spirit in his short stories. Those Indians, Alexie assures, who are fully equipped with the post-Spirit can become re-born New Native Americans, navigating the despondent Indians into the promising ones.