Student Question
Where is humor evident in "Indian Education" and what does Alexie mock?
Quick answer:
In “Indian Education,” humor is created by the narrator’s depiction of his relatable kindergarten conflicts. He is picked on, and he lists a series of humorous “Indian names” he must have been called, though he does eventually fight back. The “little warrior” image and his endearing fear of consequences is humorous as well. Later, he pokes fun at his White teachers, people who disparage his identity and disrespect his heritage, describing their ugly appearance and behaviors.
There is some humor in “Indian Education” when the speaker describes his experiences in school as a child. For example, he says that his Indian name was
Junior Falls Down. Sometimes it was Bloody Nose or Steal-His-Lunch. Once it was Cries-Like-a-White-Boy.
We likely feel a sort of sympathetic, good-humored pity for the little boy that was picked on at the playground, as it is such a relatable feeling for so many. However, the image of the “little warrior in [the narrator that] roared to life” one day and punched one of his tormenters is funny in a different, more satisfying way. And the image of the little six year-old chanting “It’s a good day to die ” on his way to the principal’s office is likewise humorous. It all seems, at first, like rather typical childhood and childish interactions on the playground. Anyone who ever fought a bully back...
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might relate to his fear of the consequences.
However, as the speaker ages, he begins to poke fun at the white teachers, like Betty Towle and Mrs. Schluter in second and third grades. Ms. Towle is a “missionary” who is “redheaded and so ugly that no one ever had a puppy crush on her.” She wants the narrator to be sorry for “everything,” and she implies that she will force him to “learn respect,” though she speaks to him with incredible disrespect both for him as an individual and as an Indigenous person. This more wry humor is effectively created via irony.
Likewise, Mrs. Schluter made him “stand alone in the corner” and wait for his punishment to end. “I’m still waiting,” he says. The line is humorously phrased, in a rather deadpan, tongue-in-cheek kind of way. The idea that he feels as though he’s been punished his entire life simply for his ethnic identity is more tragic than anything else. The contradiction between the ridiculousness of his teachers’ attitudes and his own experience creates a tense irony that sometimes feels like uncomfortable humor, and this seems very effective, as we should not feel comfortable with his experiences.