Smoke signals essay

In the film, Smoke Signals, there are many obstacles facing Victor and Thomas like their history and indian stereotypes, that help them come to terms with their past and find meaning in their Native American history and cultural traditions.

One circumstance where they struggled with stereotypes was on the bus. A girl was complaining about how she was on the olympic gymnastics team, but never preformed and Victor got suddenly angered by hearing this. He became mad because he thought it was unfair that she was given this opportunity without having to work nearly as hard as the Indians had. He also believed that she was using him and Thomas by talking to them, which he justified by the fact that if she was actually an olympian she would have much more money and wouldn't be riding the bus.

Victor was making this journey to retrieve the ashes of his father that had left them as a child but had died. He may not have had the best opinion of his father at times but his indian history and tradition of forgiveness and respect for their ancestors caused him to change his mind. Thomas, who had been previously not been on good terms with Victor, forgave him and decided to provide money and accompany him on his journey. Victor appeared to be very stereotypical with his long braids and obvious nervousness around the white police officer once they had been asked for questioning about an alleged assault. Victor, whos knowledge of Native American history came only from what his grandmother would tell him, was scared of the officer because he was white and was stunned that they walked out of his office alive. His opinion changed because he saw that just becuase white people had been extremely cruel to Indians in the past, they are not all filled with hatred and evil like he thought.  He has great respect for his grandmother, who he lives with since both his parents died in a fire, and she holds tradition by kneading and baking bread for him, despite her painful arthritis.

When the come home after retrieving his father's ashes, Victor gives half of them to Thomas as a symbol of thanks and appreciation. Victor's mother found power in her Native American culture by going to the house where his father lived, lighting sage, and burning it down. This was symbolic because she used sage as a way to cleanse his soul of bad demons and allow him a new beginning. When Victor gives her the ashes, she lifts them up to sky as a sign of respect and to help him rise. Victor, acting upon his tradition and history of what he has been told, found power by pouring the ashes into the raging waters of a river below. This would give his father the chance to go back to nature, which Native Americans greatly respected and cared for, and to "rise up like a salmon". Victor did not know for sure why his father had left him and his mother, but his efforts to figure out the truth behind his personal history revealed to him that his father never intended to leave them, but once he had he could not return. This helped