from Phoenix and notes that he can have a reunion with his high school classmates any weekend at the local bar. His needs are simple; primarily what he wants out of life is a fair trade.

Victor’s father

Victor’s father, a protester of the Vietnam War who spent time in Walla Walla, Washington, and was at Woodstock when Jimi Hendrix played the national anthem. He takes his children to visit Hendrix’s gravesite and survives a serious motorcycle accident. He maintains that his wife is extremely beautiful. An absentee father, he travels around the country and dies in Phoenix.

Victor’s mother

Victor’s mother, who met her husband at a Spokane party and accepts his chronic absence from their marital life. She loves her husband in a steadfast way and weeps when he is found dead, even though they no longer lived together.

Thomas Builds-the-Fire

Thomas Builds-the-Fire, a childhood friend of Victor and Junior who is a consummate storyteller and self-proclaimed visionary. At the age of ten, he shares use of a bicycle with Victor; five years later, Victor deliberately beats him while drunk. He accompanies Victor to Phoenix and worries about killing the lone animal in Nevada on the return trip. His storytelling abilities have been evident since his youth, but there is not the audience for them that he believes should exist.

Junior Polatkin

Junior Polatkin, who is educated at a white school and lives off the reservation for a time. As a child, he is tormented by non-Indian peers. He is academically advanced, however, doing junior high school spelling in the second grade. A juvenile diabetic, his ketoacidosis is mistaken for drunkenness. After being named valedictorian of his farm school, he attends college. He has a non-Indian girlfriend in Seattle; they fight frequently and break up. He fathers a son and has parental visitation rights.

Norma Many Horses

Norma Many Horses, a powerful woman. She is self-sufficient, as handy on the back of a horse as on a basketball court, and considered to be a problem-solver. She works as a sports reporter for the local paper. She is an excellent dancer and acts as moral arbiter for tribal issues. Her fry-bread is legendary, and she is married to James Many Horses, for whom she cares while he is in the later stages of terminal cancer.

James Many Horses

James Many Horses, Norma’s husband. He is willing to ride in reverse in Simon’s car to retrieve Norma from the Powwow Tavern. He has a humorous attitude about life and his illness. He has been a jokester since his childhood.

Julius Windmaker

Julius Windmaker, a young reservation basketball hero who began drinking Sterno before graduating from high school. This caused him to lose his athletic edge.

The stories in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven feature a variety of characters. Some appear briefly, while others, like Junior Polatkin, are central to only one or two stories. Major recurring characters include Victor, Thomas Builds-the-Fire, and Jimmy and Norma Many Horses. Victor and Thomas, who are the primary teenage characters in Smoke Signals (the film adaptation of "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona"), provide an interesting contrast and are each compelling in their own way.

Victor is intelligent, athletic, and good-looking, but as he matures across several stories, it becomes clear that he is also troubled and unhappy. He struggles to keep a job, drinks excessively, and cannot sustain a long-term relationship after being left by a white woman he loved. Though not very talkative, Victor is perceptive and imaginative. He is acutely aware of the burden of his past—both his family's and his people's—which shapes his identity and weighs heavily on him. He often longs for his father, who abandoned the family when Victor was young. Despite using dancing and drinking to either escape or numb his pain, Victor remains the character most conscious of the challenges of being a modern Native American in America. In "A Drug Called Tradition," Victor reflects, "That's what Indian time is. The past, the future, all of it is wrapped up in the now. That's how it is. We are trapped in the now."

Thomas Builds-the-Fire provides an intriguing contrast to Victor. While Victor is cool, ironic, and talented, though somewhat aimless, Thomas is considered a "nerd." He is an outcast on the reservation because he tells outrageous stories even when no one wants to listen. Passive and friendly, Thomas seems to live in another world, one of the past or of the spirit. People often pick on him, but he takes it in stride. As children, Thomas and Victor are friends, but their relationship changes when, at fifteen, Victor beats Thomas for no apparent reason. They briefly reconnect when Thomas helps fund Victor's trip to Phoenix to collect his father's ashes. The contrast between them is further highlighted when, on the plane, Victor thinks, "Thomas, the crazy Indian storyteller with ratty old braids and broken teeth, was flirting with a beautiful Olympic gymnast. Nobody back home on the reservation would ever believe it." However, Thomas proves to be brave in his own way. He ends up in the state penitentiary for murder, yet even there, he can close his eyes and tell his stories. Like Victor, Thomas does not fit into modern life.

Two other significant figures on the reservation are Jimmy and Norma Many Horses. They appear more stable in their lives compared to Victor or Thomas, yet they face their own struggles. The humor that helps them cope sometimes overwhelms them. In the story "The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor," Norma leaves Jimmy because he constantly jokes about everything, including his terminal cancer. Jimmy, also known as James, was raised by Frank Many Waters, who rescued him from a fire when he was a baby. James did not speak for a long time during his childhood, and once he started, he struggled to know when to stop. Despite their challenges, Norma returns to Jimmy to support him in his final days, as their devotion to each other remains strong.

Norma is portrayed as a strong, independent, yet nurturing woman in several stories. She intervenes to stop Victor from attacking Thomas. She also holds Junior Polatkin to high standards, making him feel guilty after he mocks an ex-convict during a basketball game. Junior reflects that Norma never liked Victor much because he was a bully in his younger days. Norma is a distinctive woman who follows her own path and earns the respect of many on the "rez" due to her compassion, intelligence, and integrity. She stands out as the only fully developed and admirable female character clearly depicted in the stories.

Other characters, such as Victor's alcoholic and combative parents, are known primarily through painful memories. Some characters serve more as background figures in the stories, like Adrian, Lester Falls Apart, or Uncle Moses, who sits on the porch of his leaning house. Nevertheless, even these minor characters feel real and intriguing, the kind of people readers enjoy getting to know. They are all fully human—fallible, humorous, occasionally cruel, sometimes loving, often foolish, and often wise. The characters in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven are deeply engaging, making it impossible for readers not to care about them and their lives.

Through characters like Victor and Thomas, Alexie addresses several serious themes, including the struggles of being a Native American in contemporary white society, the complexities and significance of love, and the influence of imagination and language. The theme of identity holds particular significance for a young adult audience. Besides the usual challenges young people face on their journey to adulthood—such as broken families, violence, and addictions—the youths in these stories must also confront the reality of being Native American in a country that has historically destroyed their culture and continues to perpetuate racism. In the story "Indian Education," for instance, Victor recounts in a journal-like format the humiliations he endured over twelve years of schooling: being forced to wear unattractive U.S. Government glasses, being harassed and punished by a missionary teacher, standing in line for commodities like "the canned beef that even the dogs wouldn't eat," hearing a Chicano teacher claim that all Native Americans start drinking at a young age, and losing a basketball game against the best team in the state only to read "Indians Lose Again" in the sports section. Despite graduating as valedictorian, Victor saw no promising future for himself. At the story's conclusion, Victor remarks, "Why should we organize a reservation high school reunion? My graduating class has a reunion every weekend at the Powwow Tavern." For many Native Americans in Alexie's world, becoming a functional and relatively happy adult in American society seems nearly impossible.

Several stories focus directly on the themes of coming-of-age and the quest for identity. In "Witnesses, Secret or Not," the narrator begins:

In 1979 I was just learning how to be thirteen. I didn't know that I'd have to keep thinking about it until I was twenty-five. . . . I had to figure out what it meant to be a boy, a man, too. Most of all, I had to find out what it meant to be Indian, and there ain't no self-help manuals for that last one.

The boy witnesses his father being humiliated by the police, who regularly call him in to investigate the disappearance of a Native American named Jerry Vincent. When even a father, someone to look up to, struggles with his identity, the chances of coming-of-age with confidence diminish. Identity is further complicated by the weight of history, family, and the ongoing marginalization of Native Americans. Alexie underscores that white society remains ignorant and insensitive, if not outright racist. Adolescence is particularly challenging for American Indians, and the author provides no easy solutions.

Despite the pain and confusion many characters face, there remains a significant amount of love on the "rez." For instance, Norma Many Horses returns to her husband to support him through his final days. She also reassures Junior that she still loves him, even though he shares many traits with Pete Rose. Victor has a deep love for his parents, and they reciprocate that affection. Frank Many Horses loves his adopted son, James, and strives to raise him well. Characters show patience and kindness towards their neighbors, whether by helping a drunken acquaintance, lending money, or throwing a community party with funds from leasing land rights to Washington Water Power. Generosity and tolerance are prevalent, and love for one another seems essential for survival on "the rez." The compassion and care these characters exhibit provide hope and joy amid confusion and despair.

However, love does not solve all problems, and it sometimes falters in the tumultuous lives of these Americans, much like in modern society overall. The most intimate relationships are often the most strained. For example, in the first story, "Every Little Hurricane," Victor's uncles Adolph and Arnold nearly beat each other to death in the snow. Victor's parents frequently argue. Later, Victor fights Thomas, who was once his closest friend, and he struggles to maintain a relationship with a woman. Parents and children clash; a mother throws her son outside in his underwear until he answers her questions. While love provides consolation and hope, it is also depicted as a mystery and a challenge. People often hurt those they love the most and frequently misunderstand those closest to them. The human heart remains an enigmatic place. The individual struggles, unique perceptions, and personal pain of each character make love difficult. Once again, Alexie offers no simple solutions to the most profound riddles of human existence.

Nevertheless, Alexie emphasizes in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven that hope, salvation, and possibility can be found through the power of imagination, particularly within literature. As the unnamed narrator states in the story "Imagining the Reservation": "Imagination is the politics of dreams; imagination turns every word into a bottle rocket. . . . Imagine a drum which wraps itself around your heart. Imagine a story that puts wood in the fireplace." Clearly, Alexie's vivid imagination and compelling use of language have shaped his identity as a Native American artist and brought him personal success.

Through transformative language and artistic expression, his characters often find hope and meaning. For instance, Thomas Builds-the-Fire discovers his identity as a storyteller and visionary. In another story, Victor's mother sings Native American songs to his father while he is hospitalized after a motorcycle accident, despite no longer wanting to be married to him. Dancing serves as a significant form of expression and identity throughout the stories, and characters frequently encounter dreams, visions, and narratives. Humor and language are used by characters to maintain dignity and foster a sense of community. An example of this is illustrated in "Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play the 'Star-Spangled Banner' at Woodstock," where Victor's longing for his father is given meaning through his imagination and language:

My mother didn't say anything. She just wrapped me in her favorite quilt and went back to sleep. I stood on the porch all night long and imagined I heard motorcycles and guitars, until the sun rose so bright that I knew it was time to go back inside to my mother. She made breakfast for both of us and we ate until we were full.

In an interview with Tomson Highway in Aboriginal Voices (January-March, 1997), Alexie mentioned that his mother told him at a very young age that language would be his salvation: "English will be your best weapon." These stories, often told in hauntingly beautiful English, breathe life into characters and offer hope to readers. He shared with Erik Himmelsbach of the Los Angeles Times (December 17, 1996), "I was in the Seattle airport, and this 10-year-old Indian boy came up to me and he said, 'I like your poem,' and he told me which poem he liked. And at that moment, all the wonder and magic of what art is supposed to be about is contained there." Alexie's own life supports this sentiment. In "Imagining the Reservation," readers encounter the following equation:

Survival = Anger x Imagination. Imagination is the only weapon on the reservation.

For Alexie, imagination, art, and literature create a space where the promise of a better life, or at least survival, exists. And survival, after all, may be quite an achievement.

Adrian

Adrian features in several stories but plays a key role in "The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Don't Flash Red Anymore." In this narrative, he and Victor sit on their porch, reflecting on how alcohol has devastated many lives on the reservation and shattered the dreams of numerous Indian teenagers, including Victor, who once hoped to play basketball.

Samuel Builds-the-Fire

Samuel Builds-the-Fire is Thomas Builds-the-Fire's grandfather and the protagonist in "A Train Is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result." In this story, Samuel loses his job on his birthday and begins drinking, despite having abstained his entire life. Like his son and grandson, he is a storyteller, but the younger generation on the reservation no longer has time for his tales, and his children have moved away. Samuel relocates to the city and takes a job cleaning motel rooms. Alexie uses this story to highlight how the Spokane Indians are becoming more like mainstream Americans by neglecting their elders and losing their storytelling heritage. The story concludes with Samuel passed out drunk on the railroad tracks.

Thomas Builds-the-Fire

Thomas Builds-the-Fire is a visionary and relentless storyteller whom most people on the reservation ignore. He plays a significant role in "A Drug Called Tradition," "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," and "The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire." In the latter story, it is revealed that he once held the postmaster hostage with the idea of a gun. He is on trial for speaking the truth after two decades of silence. During the trial, he speaks in the "voice" of a young pony that survived an 1858 horse massacre, the warrior Qualchan who was hanged, and sixteen-year-old warrior Wild Coyote at the Battle of Steptoe. Thomas Builds-the-Fire symbolizes the Spokane Indians' connection to their past and the traditions they are losing.

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse, a mid-nineteenth-century Lakota Indian renowned for his bravery in battle and fierce resistance to white encroachment on Lakota lands, appears in "Crazy Horse Dreams" as a symbol of the strength and valor Indian men once embodied.

Lester Falls Apart

Lester Falls Apart is a humorous character who appears in various stories.

Victor Joseph

Victor Joseph, named after two renowned Nez Perce chiefs, narrates several stories in Alexie's collection and is a central figure in others. Alongside Junior Polatkin and Thomas Builds-the-Fire, he serves as an alter ego for Alexie, who frequently draws from his own life for Victor's tales. Readers are introduced to him in "Every Little Hurricane," where at nine years old, he anticipates a hurricane's arrival on the reservation during New Year's Eve. The themes he explores in this story—tribal members fighting while drunk, poverty, unemployment, and humiliation—are recurring throughout the collection. Once a basketball star on the reservation, he now drives a garbage truck for the BIA and struggles with excessive drinking. However, he eventually quits drinking after recognizing the harm it has caused to himself and others.

James Many Horses

James Many Horses is the protagonist in "The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor." In this narrative, he is dying of cancer but incessantly makes jokes about it. This behavior leads his wife, Norma Many Horses, to leave him, only to return later because her new partner was "too serious." Like many of Alexie's characters, James is sarcastic, self-aware, and fatalistic, even joking with his doctor about his looming death.

Norma Many Horses

Norma Many Horses plays a key role in "Somebody Kept Saying Powwow" and "The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor." Married to James Many Horses, she abstains from drinking and loves to dance. To Victor, she represents an ideal Indian woman, deeply committed to her community and resilient in the face of their challenges. She is respectfully called "grandmother" by others.

Aunt Nezzy

Aunt Nezzy, a middle-aged cousin of the narrator known for sewing buckskin dresses, appears in "The Fun House." After her son, Albert, and husband laugh at her when a mouse crawls up her leg, she storms out in disgust and swims naked in a local creek. Upset by her family's lack of appreciation, she decides to make changes in her life. At the story's end, she tries on a beaded dress that is too heavy and buckles under its weight. Refusing assistance, she stands up on her own. The dress symbolizes salvation. At the beginning of the story, Nezzy remarks about the dress: "When a woman comes along who can carry the weight of this dress on her back, then we'll have found the one who will save us all."

Junior Polatkin

Junior Polatkin, named after a nineteenth-century Spokane chief, is another of Alexie's alter egos. Readers first encounter him in "A Drug Called Tradition," where he, Victor, and Thomas (all serving as Alexie's alter egos in this tale) take a drug and experience numerous visions, including stealing horses to earn their Indian names.

Sadie

In "Amusements," Sadie assists Victor in placing Dirty Joe on an amusement ride while he is unconscious from drinking.

Victor's Father

Victor's father features prominently in several significant stories within the collection, such as "Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play 'The Star-Spangled Banner,'" "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," and "Witnesses, Secret and Not." He is depicted as a heavy drinker and occasionally emotionally distant, yet he deeply loves his family and is admired by his son. After his death in "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," Victor travels to Phoenix with Thomas Builds-the-Fire to collect his father's ashes.

Julius Windmaker

Julius Windmaker is introduced in "The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Don't Flash Red Anymore." Once a promising fifteen-year-old basketball prodigy, he starts drinking and loses his passion for the sport. His character represents the way many other reservation Indians have destroyed their lives and aspirations due to alcohol.