Victor's Reconnection

Sherman Alexie’s idea throughout This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona is that stories are meant to be told for the reconnection of past and future generations.  Some may reject it and some may not, but it does not matter as long as the stories continue to get told (72). 

The beginning of This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona starts out with a disconnection, the death of Victor’s father. The disconnection of his community is seen by his move to Phoenix, Arizona and also because he has not spoken to his son in a few years, and when they did talk it was on the phone (59). Victor’s father can also represent the past, while Victor represents the future.

Another representation of disconnection in this story is the tribal counsel.  In the story Victor goes to the tribal counsel in order to get money to go retrieve his father’s ashes.  The tribal counsel’s response was

“Now, Victor, we do have some money available for the proper return of tribal members’ bodies.  But I don’t think we have enough to bring your father all the way back from Phoenix (60)”.

The tribal counsel is the one place one would think that would be able and willing to preserve the past, but they are not.  Due to the lack of money within the counsel they cannot help Victor reconnect his past.

            The one person that can help Victor with this connection is Thomas Builds-the-Fire.  Victor and Thomas had been childhood friends, and Thomas was willing to help Victor as long as Victor took him along to Phoenix.  After some thought Victor agreed.  Thomas is known for his story telling, but he was also an outsider because of it.  In a way Thomas’ gift was also a curse, because of the rejection it caused him. 

“Nobody talked to Thomas anymore because he told the same damn stories over and over again. (62)”

            Throughout the trip Thomas is telling Victor stories, and they both are reminiscing.  The most important story of them all would be the last one that Thomas tells.  It is a story about how Thomas first met Victor’s father.  Thomas had a vision that told him to go to Spokane, stand by the Falls, and wait for a sign.  The vision turned out to be Victor’s father, and Thomas’ dreams was telling him to, “Take care of each other (69).”  After hearing this Victor was quiet.  This was finally the reconnection he had been waiting for.  Thomas had given Victor an even greater gift than money.  He gave him memories. “ He searched his mind for memories of his father, found the good ones, found the a few bad ones, added it all up, and smiled. (69)”

            

Even though Thomas had given Victor the gift of memories through his stories, Victor still chose to reject him.  “ Victor knew that he couldn’t really be friends with Thomas, even after all that happened (74)”.  In the end Thomas understood.  He was not mad about Victor’s rejection, because some may reject it and some may not, but it does not matter as long as the stories continue to get told (72).