- This short story starts in Spokane on an Indian Reservation. Victor, after losing his job finds out that his dad has passed away. His father, however, lived in Phoenix, Arizona. Victor looks to the council for money or means to get to Arizona so he can claim his father’s truck and funds. The council (also under financial struggle) could only offer him one hundred dollars that. Knowing it was not enough to make it to Arizona, he was troubled. On his way to cash the check from the council when he says Thomas Builds-The-Fire, a childhood friend of Victors. Thomas since had become the annoying town crazy person, talking to himself, cars, dogs, and telling stories. Thomas knows about Victor’s dads passing. He was willing to pay to get Victor there if he took Thomas with him. After thinking over the offer, later Victor agreed. They left to Arizona, sitting next to each other on the airplane. Thomas talked to a tiny white woman on the plane ride. After landing the two boys took a taxi to Victor’s father’s trailer. Inside it smelled of his dead father who had been rotting for a week under the Arizona sun. Inside Victor only found a photo album and stereo worth keeping. They drove the pickup to the bank to claim the three hundred dollars. They also picked up Victors dad’s ashes, within one wooden box, and a cardboard box. Thomas tells a story about a time that Victor’s dad found him at a waterfall and drove him home. In this story, he said how Victor’s dad made him promise that he would look out for Victor. They then were on their way north again. Victor drove most of the way due to Thomas hitting a jackrabbit. After they made it back to the reservation, Victor dropped Thomas off and gave him the cardboard box, with half of Victor’s dad’s ashes inside. Even after the journey, Victor knew he couldn’t be friends and hang out with Thomas. Before Parting ways Thomas asked Victor to stop one day and listen to one of his stories, Victor agreed. It ends with a new story coming to Thomas.
- “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” by Sherman Alexie is a fiction short story that I believe uses the convention of a loss of innocence. In the story, Victor starts out with a bit of loss of innocence. Alexie starts the story off by saying, “Just after Victor lost his job at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he also found out that his father had died of a heart attack in Phoenix, Arizona”(278). Victor is having these two crises in his life at the same time. Although he wasn’t close with his father, it still hurt, and in order to get what he inherited, he would have to travel to Phoenix, Arizona. In the flashbacks you can see who he was as a boy, “‘You think about things too much,’ Victor said. ‘It’s just supposed to be fun…’”(280). Victor as a boy was easy going, willing to just have fun. This is a strong contrast to him later, in the journey to Arizona, “‘You always used to tell me I think too much,’ Thomas said. ‘Now it sounds like you do.’”(282).Thomas as a kid had that childlike innocence that many children do. As he goes through the trials of life, and the world outside the reservation, he loses that innocence. The literary elements of this work all collaborate to accomplish a common goal. For example, the way the flashbacks and victors stories work together to create well, accomplishing depth to the boys’ relationship and connection through each other and Victor’s dad.
- I personally enjoyed reading this story. It made me think about humanity. How we often follow the “social norms” and alienate someone who could be a great deal of help for us and them. In this story, Thomas was marked as the weird one, but without his help, Victor wouldn’t have ever made it to Arizona, and Thomas wouldn’t have the satisfaction of keeping his deal with Victor’s dad. I think that if we took time to get to know, and even serve those who are labeled “weird” we may be able to bless both our own and their lives in the process.
The Prayer Of A Stories Heart 