rs as the head of a dead American Indian being used as sport by whites. The story portrays the grittiness of life and the helplessness of the protagonist to change his surroundings, although his sobriety shows that he at least can change himself. He is sober, but he is not happy, and that unhappiness is due in large part to the fact that he still lives in a racist society that sees him as a second-class citizen at best.
The stories in this collection are honest in their refusal to whitewash the depressing nature of a life of a poor man of an ethnic minority that has suffered bigotry of every form in the past, and still suffers from racism today. Oddly, the title--The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven--seems to promise energy, action, and a dramatic telling of an exciting story, promises not forthcoming. The title is obviously meant to be ironic. The Lone Ranger and Tonto are allies, one white and dominant, one American Indian and subordinate. Alexie's title, however, has them as battling enemies--and in Heaven--equals in battle against one another as they had not been as allies. His idea of Heaven (or that of his protagonist) might be a full, violent exposure of the hatred and/or injustice between the whites and American Indians?
The reader might not be interested in the downtrodden characters in Alexie's stories, but the author clearly believes that they deserve to be portrayed, and to be portrayed honestly, without adornment, without false hope, so that the reader can see what the impact of racism against Native Americans has been, and so that many poor Native Americans can see their own lives portrayed honestly. Clearly, the author means the reader to feel uncomfortable looking at the harsh truth of his characters' lives and the fact that many victims of racism in one form or another live in a world where nobody trusts anybody else. American Indians and whites distrust one another; family members distrust one another...