28 pages • 56 minutes read
Sherman AlexieThis Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Poverty and Indigenous American Economies
Poverty is a key theme in “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona.” The story begins on a reservation, where there is little indication that anyone has any sort of wealth or financial stability. Victor cannot travel to reclaim his father’s ashes and assets without airfare, but as he has just lost his job, he has no prospects in terms of personal income. Victor must therefore seek help from the Tribal Council, which is likewise having “a difficult time financially” (318). When the council suggests that he find someone to lend him the money, Victor’s response further underscores the ubiquity of poverty on the reservation: “You know there ain’t nobody around with that kind of money” (318). Even Thomas, who offers to help Victor by buying them plane tickets to Arizona, does not have enough money saved for a round trip: The two men instead plan to drive back in the pickup truck Victor is to inherit, relying on his father’s small bank account for the trip back.
The emphasis on poverty is in part a reflection of Indigenous reality, especially on reservations, the economies of which (like the reservations themselves) are both separate from yet intertwined with the broader US. Thomas’s use of government housing is an example; though reservations are technically sovereign nations, the historical oppression of Indigenous Americans has left both individuals and tribes with limited resources, often forcing them to rely on the US government. Generational poverty can be difficult to escape even for those who leave the reservation in search of opportunities. Victor’s father did not find prosperity away from his home, dying in a trailer with little money in the bank. The atmosphere of despair such conditions create is another factor conspiring to keep Indigenous Americans in poverty. Tellingly, the narrator observes that the only booming businesses on the reservation sell cigarettes or fireworks, implying that in the absence of real hope, people “waste” their money on addictions and cheap entertainment and thus become trapped in a vicious cycle.
That the capitalist economy that has impoverished people like Victor was essentially imposed on Indigenous Americans adds another layer of indignity to such poverty. Victor has little interest in his father’s money or possessions, which he knows to be paltry. Although he needs money to travel to Phoenix, money is not what motivates the trip. He does of course hope to “get” something out of the journey, but he seems to recognize that he may walk away disappointed; he reflects at one point that he has always wanted a “fair trade” in life, but the exchanges in which Indigenous Americans have had to participate are anything but “fair,” from ceding land to the US government to paying hundreds of dollars simply to recover the body of a loved one.
Nevertheless, the circumstances surrounding the trip do provide a glimpse into a “fairer” form of exchange: Victor’s reflection about fair trades comes on the heels of agreeing to listen to one of Thomas’s stories in gratitude for Thomas’s money. This money comes with no strings or expectations of repayment (much less profit) but is rather a way of “tak[ing] care of each other” (324). In providing it, Thomas hearkens to a more communal vision of economy, and Victor’s response promises to further solidify community bonds.
Alienation from Cultural Identity
“This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” takes place in a postcolonial world where centuries of genocide, displacement, and forced assimilation have disrupted Indigenous Americans’ relationship to their culture and history. Most of Alexie’s characters struggle with what it means to be Indigenous in such an environment. Even Thomas, whose stories and dreams connect him to Spokane tradition, experiences such alienation. Though it ends with him receiving a message after all, his story about going to downtown Spokane in search of an elusive vision encapsulates the difficulty of trying to maintain Indigenous identity in the contemporary US.
The story focuses in particular on its protagonist’s ambivalence toward his culture and heritage. Victor at times seems merely disinterested in Indigenous identity; in a flashback to a childhood Fourth of July, Victor brushes off Thomas’s remark about the holiday not belonging to them by saying that he’s overthinking something “fun.” Elsewhere, Victor longs for some sort of connection to his past and community, as when he runs into Thomas in the Trading Post: “Victor was embarrassed, but he thought that Thomas might be able to help him. Victor felt a sudden need for tradition” (320). Victor’s desire to bring his father’s ashes home also suggests an implicit desire for cultural continuity.
As the encounter in the Trading Post suggests, it’s primarily through Victor’s relationship with Thomas that Alexie explores Victor’s attitudes toward his cultural identity. The two were friends as children, but Victor at some point came to share the rest of the reservation’s frustration with Thomas and his storytelling. While on the plane, for example, Victor feels embarrassed that “Thomas, that crazy old Indian storyteller with ratty old braids and broken teeth, was flirting with a beautiful Olympic gymnast” (322). The passage suggests multiple layers of shame regarding his Indigenous identity—toward the poverty often associated with reservation life, but also toward Indigenous traditions themselves, which he sees as “crazy” or out of place in the modern world.
This internalized racism sheds light on the flashback in which a 15-year-old Victor beats Thomas up while their peers cheer him on. The attack is senseless and unmotivated, and Victor almost kills Thomas in a violent rejection of his own culture. In this time of Victor’s life, when he is entering puberty and trying to form the identity that will define his role in society, Victor distances himself from his native roots. Thomas’s survival and the intervention of Norma Many Horses represents the shred of cultural identity that persists despite Victor’s attempts to suppress it. The men’s tentative friendliness at the end of the story—Victor does not expect to treat Thomas differently, but he does promise to listen to one of his stories—suggests that Victor is still negotiating his Spokane identity.
Loneliness and Self-Isolation
Loneliness is a prevalent theme in “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona.” The depiction of Victor’s current situation never indicates that he has any close family or friends. His father abandoned the family at some point during Victor’s youth, and he does not seem to be close to his mother; Victor only learns secondhand that she was upset to learn of his father’s death. Thomas mentions Victor having “friends,” but Victor reflects that “The only real thing he shared with anybody was a bottle and broken dreams” (327), implying that these companions are mostly drinking partners. Victor’s isolation has practical consequences: Although Victor needs help to finance his trip, his lack of ties makes the journey impossible until Thomas offers assistance.
To a large degree, Victor’s isolation seems self-imposed. His reluctance to engage with Cathy likely stems from past experiences of racism—he expects her to disparage or look down on Thomas—but he has also let his relationships with other members of his tribe languish. The clearest example is his broken friendship with Thomas, which had fallen apart even before Victor beat him up. The story also implies that this self-isolation is cyclical and inherited. According to Thomas, Victor’s father left the family because he feared closeness: “Your father’s heart is weak. He is afraid of his own family. He is afraid of you. […] He wants to run and hide” (319-20). In turn, Victor’s abandonment by his father seems to contribute to his own desire to be alone. Victor’s father’s fate—dying in such isolation that it takes a week for someone to discover his body—warns of the consequences of this kind of alienation, which continuously wars with characters’ need for connection. Victor’s father, for example, asks Thomas to take care of Victor, and Victor laments, “Whatever happened to the tribal ties, the sense of community?” (327).
As this question suggests, the push-and-pull between connection and isolation overlaps significantly with the question of Indigenous identity: Having intimate relationships with others within a culture links one to the shared history of the group and promises the continuation of those cultural values. By alienating himself from these ties, Victor distances himself from his culture. However, Thomas also leads a lonely existence despite his greater connection to his heritage: His father died in WWII, his mother died in childbirth, and his stories—which ought to be a source of connection—instead drive people away from him. This dynamic epitomizes the difficulty of maintaining community connections for contemporary Indigenous Americans, but Thomas’s persistent efforts to reach out to Victor represent a glimmer of hope. When Victor agrees to take Thomas along on his journey he is, for once, not alone. When Thomas tells Victor that the message of his dream was to “take care of each other” (324), he helps Victor recognize the value of community bonds.
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By Sherman Alexie
