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A Study Guide for Sherman Alexie's "Powwow at the End of the World"
A Study Guide for Sherman Alexie's "Powwow at the End of the World"
A Study Guide for Sherman Alexie's "Powwow at the End of the World"
Ebook38 pages27 minutes

A Study Guide for Sherman Alexie's "Powwow at the End of the World"

By Gale and Cengage

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A Study Guide for Sherman Alexie's "Powwow at the End of the World," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 28, 2016
ISBN9781535831314
A Study Guide for Sherman Alexie's "Powwow at the End of the World"

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    A Study Guide for Sherman Alexie's "Powwow at the End of the World" - Gale

    11

    The Powwow at the End of the World

    Sherman Alexie

    1996

    Introduction

    Sherman Alexie is of Spokane/Coeur d' Alene heritage. He prefers being called an American Indian rather than a Native American. His prolific literary career and instant fame as a writer in his early twenties were surprising, given his childhood poverty on the Spokane reservation. He has been celebrated for his versatility in many genres: poetry, songs, short stories, novels, and screenplays. He has produced films and become a popular performer in poetry slams, on TV guest appearances, and as a stand-up comedian. His themes have dealt with racism and the crippling colonial legacy for Indians. Alexie is noted for his humor in pointing out the incongruities of white and native worlds.

    His poem The Powwow at the End of the World is a satiric statement about the fate of his tribe in the Columbia River basin as their salmon culture was destroyed by settlers, gold and uranium miners, the Grand Coulee Dam, and nuclear reactors. Not until the end of the world, he imagines, will his tribe and their harmonious way of life on the land return. The poem can be found in the collection The Summer of Black Widows, published by Hanging Loose Press in 1996.

    Author Biography

    Alexie was born on October 7, 1966, in Spokane, Washington, to Lillian Agnes Cox (of the Spokane, Flathead, and Colville tribes) and Sherman Joseph Alexie (of the Coeur d' Alene tribe), one of six children. He underwent brain surgery at six months for hydrocephalus (a condition in which cavities in the brain are expanded by excess fluid). The doctors said he would be mentally retarded, but instead, he was precocious, learning to read by the age of three. He grew up in poverty with an alcoholic father on the Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, where he went to primary school. To prepare for college, Alexie transferred to Reardan High School, a primarily white school, in 1981. He excelled and flourished, becoming captain of the basketball team, class president, and a debater. He enrolled in Gonzaga University in Spokane from 1985 to 1987 to become a doctor, but, overwhelmed, he began drinking to excess.

    In 1988, he transferred to Washington State University in Pullman,

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