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What is the meaning of the chapter "The Trials of Thomas Builds-the-Fire"?

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It is important to realise that this is a fantastical story that is used almost allegorically by Alexie to highlight the way in which Native Indians are still mistreated and discriminated against by white society. This is shown of course through the crime of Thomas having killed an American soldier in a past life in a battle that occurred so long ago. Thomas' stories allow him to speak about the fate that befell his people in the past, and this is implicitly juxtaposed with the way in which his people are still being oppressed in today's world. Notice the way in which Thomas's behaviour is described:

A storytelling fetish accompanied by an extreme need to tell the truth. Dangerous.

As Thomas tells his stories and speaks the "truth," it is the truth of white exploitation and discrimination against Indians that ends him up in jail as he tells the story of white dominance and how Indians suffered. The quote from Kafka at the beginning of the story underlines the way in which the American system of justice is so impartial and prejudiced towards Native Americans.

Answer

In this story, Sherman Alexie constructs an absurdist courtroom that serves as a microcosm of all the travesties of justice that have characterized legal proceedings against Native Americans. While Franz Kafka's The Trial provides one model for his overall approach in this story, Alexie does not simply transport Kafka's situation from Czechoslovakia to the Western United States. Rather, he elaborates some of Kafka's themes into a distinctly Native American framework.
Significant similarities are the flimsy nature of the charges, which often do not correspond to contemporary reality. Kafka's Joseph K does not even know what he was charged with, and he cannot find the courtroom where the proceedings should be conducted. Rather, after his arrest, every location and every experience he goes through is somehow connected to his ambiguous legal status. Thomas also faces charges for incidents that occurred decades before his birth: his presumed "guilt" is that of all native peoples. Although the specific behaviors in which people indulge in the courtroom are different from those Kafka presents, the absurdist basis is much the same. Events in themselves are meaningless, people cannot know what they are accused of, and life itself is a mysterious process akin to false accusations in an incomprehensible legal system.

Answer

The chapter chronicles a trial that Thomas-Builds-the-Fire goes through. The trial is years after any crime that Thomas-Builds-the-Fire committed. Thomas-Builds-the-Fire is arrested the day after he convinces the tribal chairman's wife to leave her husband. It is likely that the arrest and trial are done because of revenge and racism. The tribal chairman's wife leaves because the tribal chairman has been referring to her as a 'savage.'
One important detail is that the woman, who Thomas-Builds-a-Fire held hostage years ago, does not believe that he should be convicted. She rallies behind him so strongly that she is handcuffed and taken from the courtroom.
Thomas-Builds-the-Fire makes his defense in stories of tradition, telling of the meaningless slaughter of hundreds of wild horses because of fear. There are many other stories he tells, but this one shows strongly that the court is only operating out of fear rather than justice. That is one of the meanings of the story.

Answer

Alexie constructs a surreal courtroom scenario to portray the relationship between Native Americans' rich oral history and present-day social and economic situation. The persecution of Thomas Builds-The-Fire is patently corrupt, as members of the BIA jokingly decide what to charge him with, noting that "it has to be a felony charge. We don't need his kind around here anymore." It seems that Thomas's primary crime is storytelling: preserving the tales, values, and traditions of his people in the face of overwhelming white supremacy and government control. In this chapter, the ability to tell stories is literally all Thomas Builds-The-Fire has as he faces the courtroom. The Native Americans in the courtroom have visceral reactions to his stories, keenly feeling the defeats and triumphs as he describes them. This sense of tradition, solidarity, and identity is powerful and precisely why Thomas is considered so "dangerous." This chapter suggests that storytelling is key to the survival and identity of Native American peoples. It is a kind of rallying cry to persevere in telling and retelling these stories. As Thomas-Builds-The-Fire says, "There are so many more stories to tell."

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven Questions and Answers
by Sherman Alexie

What is the meaning of the chapter "The Trials of Thomas Builds-the-Fire"?

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