Question 1

Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire’ relationship is unusual as depicted by the story, “This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona.” They had an estranged relationship as they had been separated from each other since childhood.Ever since their childhood ages, Thomas Builds-the-Fire and Victor had kept distance and met only when Victor wanted to claim the remains of his father. Apart from being friends, Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire have different personality traits where Thomas Builds-the-Fire is a storyteller who is more attached to his traditional set up of the society while Victor is modern and not attached to his societal culture.

Victor and Thomas Build-the father had a complicated relationship as they don’t agree on significant issues.  When Victor began the journey to claim his father’s remains, nobody admits to help him in the community except Thomas Builds-the-Fire. Although they have been childhood friends, Victor declines Thomas’ help, but they eventually go together in the journey after setting conditions for the travel. Thomas had a vision when he was thirteen years. This led him to the falls where Victor’s father saved him. He is fed at a restaurant and driven back to the reservation. This flashback made Thomas-Builds-the-Father to deduce the fact that people have to help and take care of each other (60).

The relationship between the two characters is based on the native heritage and history. In various flashbacks of childhood ages, Thomas had been known to be a storyteller that nobody was interested in listening to his stories. This was an embarrassment to his peers of the Native American origin specifically Victor. Thomas Builds-the-Fire had been criticized for, and Victor came to realize that this is a behavior that Thomas has not stopped. Victor s uneasy with these flashbacks of the real him, but they are instantly attached to him. Victor’sperspectives towards Thomas had massively changed when they returned to the reservation.

Question 2

Satire is the use of irony to criticize someone’s actions. Satire has been illustrated in the article by the state of the relationship existing between Victor and his family. Afamily is expected to be close to an individual. However, for the case of Victor, although the only father is mentioned throughout the story, Victor has no family contact with any members of his entire family as they even deny him help and say that they do not have any importance to do with him.

Satire is evident in the relationship between Victor and hislongtime friend Thomas. Their relationship was a complicated one. This was an avoided relationship. The irony is projected in the sense that friends are supposed to be too close and agree on major things. Friends are also supposed toaccept one another and take care of each other. However, Victor denied his friendship with Thomas Builds-the-Father. Even after Thomas helping him to reclaim the remains of his father back, Victor hated the fact, yet he is supposed to be thankful for such an act. Thomas realized the change of attitude in Victor and told him about that,(66).

Victor avoids any close contact and ties with his tribe. At the end of the story, Victor is amazed by the community by its relations with the tribe. Although one should be close to their tribe, Victor secludes himself from the tribe, and this results in him living a lonely and unhappy life.

Question 3

The story is an odyssey as it involves a journey fromone place to another. The story is about the journey of Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Father and their journey to Phoenix to seek the remains and savings of his father. The long journey is the basis of the story thus an odyssey.

Question 4

An excellent part of the story was the death of jackrabbit. The story starts by outlining Victor’s father”Stop the goddamn car,” Victor yelled, and Thomas did stop, backed the pickup to the dead jackrabbit (64).

The irony is that Thomas kills the jackrabbit at the beginning of the story as the death ofVictor’s is mentioned. The rabbit symbolizes Victor’s father. His death symbolizes the death of Victor’s father.

Question 5

Victor and Thomas could be half-brothers. There are high chances that the two could be half-brothers. Victor’s father at one time helped Thomas with feeding him at the restaurant when Victor’s father found him in the falls during a vision. This made Thomas deduce the fact that people should help each other. Victor also tells Thomas that they are even not friends. Thomas coming to help Victor was because he felt the pain as he too was raised by his grandmother after his mother died at childbirth. Thomas felt the pain as he became attached to the event thus given some portion of Victor’s father ashes to Thomas. Therefore, the two might have been half-brothers, but they both shared the same childhood memories(74).

Work Cited

Alexie, Sherman. “This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona.” The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven(1993): 59-75.

 
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