Discussion Board Answers
Part I.
When Jackson Jackson means that he has been “disappearing” slowly, “piece by piece,” (Alexie 401) he talks about his dissolving identity, on a number of fronts. First of all, his Native American culture has been trampled on by the brutal materialism of the American Dream, and his grandparents have passed away, taking with them his sense of personal history. As a result he has drifted from wife to wife and has now been homeless for six years. All it takes, though, is the return of his grandmother’s regalia for him to feel a sense of belonging: “I knew that solitary yellow bead was part of me. I knew I was that yellow bead in part” (Alexie 415). All that it takes is the act of kindness by the pawnbroker to return this tradition to him, to allow him to dance as his grandmother had.
Part II.
“The Third and Final Continent,” to be sure, does express some of the irreconcilability of cultural differences – the same dilemma that has wracked the souls of every generation of immigrants who have left their native land behind to come to the melting pot of the West. For Indian-Americans, there is never a feeling of full acceptance after assimilation into Western culture; at the same time, they cannot return to being full Indians, as those back home will judge them for having lost the way of authentic living. However, the struggles that each character faces in the story when it comes to building a cohesive sense of self is key to finding one’s place in a new land. It is possible, as Mrs. Croft demonstrates: she has made it to 100 years of age, not by clinging desperately to the past, but by finding ways to weave her present into her identity. However, it is a laborious process that requires humility and courage – two virtues that can contradict one another if not applied correctly.
Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem.” E-book, pp. 401-415.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. “The Third and Final Continent.” E-book, pp. 417-430.
