Coulombe Essay Summary

In his essay, Joseph Coulombe is arguing against critics of Sherman Alexie’s writings and the meanings of his texts, more specifically The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Critics believe that Alexie is indeed a skillful writer, but he avoids trying to inform his white readers and almost makes his Indian readers feel ashamed of their culture. They also believe that Alexie just goes along with the clichés of Native Americans in his writings and make them susceptible figures to be laughed at. Coulombe disagrees entirely with critics for many reasons, mostly focusing on the element of humor used by Alexie and how he writes with a purpose. The humor that he uses in his short stories is seen by Coulombe as honesty; he exposes social awareness without being too serious. By writing in this way, Alexie helps his readers reassess what they may believe about certain stereotypes that they have been taught by society to believe. Though his readers may just prefer what is definite, he does not write in the way people expect which is what makes readers and critics uncomfortable. Coulombe points out that Alexie’s characters can be real people who have actual problems and that they sometimes use humor to hide from their own realities. Sometimes hiding from one event or problem brings out the importance of another. The humor Alexie uses in his characters aims for their independence. What Alexie has done in this collection of short stories is show how the world is realistically by creating real tribulations within his fictional characters. Coulombe argues that though this humor and these events may seem harsh to some people, Alexie tries to show what is important in a happy life. He also argues that Alexie does indeed write with a purpose and tries to show that all people are connected no matter what race we may be. He does this by saying humor is something that all humans have in common and can therefore relate to each other this way.