Slow Dancing with Skeletons Essay -- Literary Analysis, Jerome Denucci

What role do memories serve? How do a persons dreams influence the decisions he must make in life? What are in the messages that raft receive from their inner voices? In Slow Dancing with Skeletons, Jerome Denuccio writes that one of Sherman Alexies characters, Thomas Builds-the-Fire observes, Your past is a skeleton walking one tone behind you, and your future is a skeleton walking one ill-treat in front of you these skeletons are made up of memories, dreams and voices. (280). This passage realise could allude to the fact that a persons dreams and memories will unceasingly be there for him, whether times are good or bad. These skeletons extend a part of the human trinity, and unable to be extracted from considerations and decisions made with to each one step taken. Additionally, Alexie is saying that what happens in the past ultimately stays in the past there is no altering what has already occurred. The use of memories, dreams, and voices are intricate and influenti al in allowing readers to understand the minds and motives of Alexies dynamic characters. This Is What It office to Say Phoenix, Arizona, centers on the death of Victors estranged sire in Phoenix, and Victors attempt to recover the ashes and meager slew that lies there. Moreover, the story builds on the memories that Victor and Thomas recollect as they locomote to and from Arizona. At one point, Thomas recalls a dream that he has at the age of thirteen the voices and visions in his dream summon him to travel to Spokane go over fifty miles away to wait for a sign. He expects to see a vision at the falls, but only encounters Victors father who feeds him and takes him back home. The memories, dreams and voices Thomas has are important, because the... ...ation of the old-world Indian with a more updated identity of a Neo indigenous American. In some other instance, Junior recalls a time when Norma and he are sitting in the Powwow Tavern and Victor comes in drunk yelling, So mebody turn out in the parking lot kept saying powwow. And you know how I love a good goddamn powwow. (270). This memory is crucial, because it humorously depicts the vastness of alcoholism and the damaging tolls it takes on the engagement. The constant drinking on the reservation also has a detrimental effect on the traditions and culture of the Native Americans. These Indians, so consumed with their drinking, lose all sense of themselves and their traditions.All of Alexies characters are continually searching for the right way to balance their skeletons. The Native Americans of the Spokane Indian stockpile live in a world of lost dreams.