Elizabeth Diaz

IB English with Quinn

Outline for IOP

Presentation: http://prezi.com/utvxmf6ede9f/?
utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Thesis: Alexies novel is structured as several short stories to show how people are connected
through memories, even if they never meet again, in order to allow exploration of different
characters that would not be possible through the restrictions of a singular story arc.
Sonder (n.): The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as
your own.

Structure of the

A series of short stories that interconnect through the use of the same

Novel

characters.

Why?

By using individual stories Alexie is granted more freedom to diverge from

a main plot and allows the exploration of different characters that do not
necessarily have anything in common.

Memories? Even after people are long gone, sharing memories not only reconnects the
teller to their past and those they shared it with it also connects the listener
to the speaker and those they had shared their memories with.
-

Norma introduced when she broke up a fight between Victor and

Thomas, she wrote the article for Juniors winning game and was like a
mother to him and the whole tribe, and she is married to James Many
Horses. She left James and he shares his memories of her (The
Approximate Size of my Favorite Tumor).
- Memories of Victors dad are shared in This is What it Means
to Say Phoenix, Arizona by Thomas in order for him and Victor to

reconnect.
-

This allows the explanation of Victors childhood

and also a look into his fathers character.

Thomass stories are memories of the past, near and far. He

retells the tales of war and the sorrow brought by war in colonial times
(The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire), and he recites the memories of
Victors father. Each memory brings his audience together, because each
memory he shares is a part of someones past, cultural or personal.
- A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some
Result- Thomass Grandfather, Samuel Builds-the-fire, his memories
connect him back to the reservation, and to storytelling.

How it works?

The roots of all the memories and what holds the novel together and is
what every character has in common is the reservation.
- Even as the focus of the short stories moves from Victor to
Thomas to Junior, the reservation is the constant that keeps it all
related.

The structure of the novel and the use of memories give Alexie the freedom to educate the
reader through different ways, from sharing history from the 1800s to sharing personal
memories.

Question:

Have you ever had a moment where you realized you became part of someone
elses history? Where you became the extra in the background of their life?
That you could be mentioned in someone elses memories?

Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Atlantic
Monthly, 1993. Print.
Dictionaryofobscuresorrows. Sonder. Tumblr. Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, n.d. Web.
03 June 2016.