The narrator in the ‘What You Pawn I Will Redeem’, Jackson, tells the story of his life and the inability to complete school, his multiple marriages and several kids with different women. He explains how he ended up in the streets, how he uses his wits to win the trust of hotel managers for the use of hotel bathrooms and his close friendship with two friends, Junior and Rose of Sharon both homeless people of Indian-Americans. One day in their normal street adventures they come across a regalia that looked like his grandmother’s, and upon talking to the pawnshop owner, a white man who looked younger on the second day of Jackson’s visit than the previous day, they agreed that he can only take back the regalia if he paid 999 dollars within twenty four hours (Alexie).
In the ‘Drinking Coffee Elsewhere Story’ Dina chooses to be a revolver in a game with her classmates, and the teacher thought that she was a mental. That meant visits by the Yale school counselors and multiple knocks on her door. She decided to keep them off by behaving weirdly, like keeping undressed when the counselors came to her room, until she was recommended to a psychiatrist, Dr. Raeburn. Over time she learns to tell the Raeburn what he wanted to hear, including her friendship with Heidi, a Canadian girl who came for help after she got heartbroken by a boyfriend.
The stories show the struggles of the minority group in their normal lives, with simple activities been overblown to reflect pre-held stereotypes about the strength of black characters, for example. The family backgrounds come to question, like the way Dina is asked by Dr. Raeburn about her family and romantic history “Tell me about your parents.” The fact that the interpretation of Dina’s behaviors was wrong is weighed by a desire to debunk her life and understand why she favored a lonely life. Dinah is aware of this selective profiling and assumptions, and she conjures a half-true story about a boy she liked when she was sixteen “Though I was sure Dr. Raeburn knew that I was making this part up, I continued. “We made out on his sofa. He kissed me” (Packer).
On the other hand, Jackson in the story ‘What You Pawn I Redeem’ lives in the streets with the constant consciousness that the only way to deal with the white people is to keep quiet. Though the Indians have lived in Spokane and areas near Washington for more than ten thousand years, they still deal with problems of racial discrimination and mistreatment that makes many of them to become hopeless and homeless. There are Indian bars and restaurants where the cultural practices and values are upheld in a country that is patterned by capitalism. ‘We’re common and boring, and you walk right on by us, with maybe a look of anger or disgust or even sadness at the terrible fate of the noble savage (Packer).
Despite the challenges that Dina and Jackson face in Drinking Coffee Elsewhere and What You Pawn I Will Redeem respectively, they still possess a sense pride in their cultures and hope for the future. Dina wishes that’s she can visit Heidi in Vancouver and have a good time with her while Jackson dances in the streets after he gets his grandmother’s regalia back. The stories end at an optimistic note that foretells the imaginations of the characters. Dina might have hated the idea of being gay while in school, but the way she narrated the times she shared with Heidi gives a glimpse of what she was missing in her life.
Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. "What You Pawn I Will". The New Yorker. N.p., 2003. Web. 6 Sept. 2016.
Packer, ZZ. "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere". The New Yorker. N.p., 2000. Web. 6 Sept. 2016.
