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Pathos
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
The novel is set on and around the Spokane Indian Reservation near Spokane, Washington. Although the novel is semi-autobiographical, Alexie sets it during the early 2000s instead of in the early 1980s, when he would have been Junior's age. This choice of time frame both helps more contemporary readers connect with Junior and also suggests that many of the social issues from Alexie's childhood have endured all this time.
The Spokane Reservation is located on part of the ancestral land of the Spokane people. However, as is the case with many American Indian nations, the Spokane have been forced to give up much of their land. The land they still have has been affected in serious ways by U.S.-sponsored industrial activity. Rich in uranium, the soil was heavily mined during the Cold War. While mining there ended decades ago, the groundwater remains contaminated with heavy metals from the process. Hydroelectric dams on the Spokane River have also altered the entire ecosystem in the name of agricultural development. The subsistence economy the Spokane people once thrived on is no longer feasible, even if much of the land remains beautiful.
Junior alludes to the way his people have tried to get by on the money the local casino brings in. There really is a casino on the reservation, as there is on the nearby Coeur d'Alene Reservation. Casinos are common on reservations. Junior mentions that White people associate these casinos with American Indian greed. In reality, they are one of the few ways American Indian communities can bring in any money at all to support their schools, infrastructure, and other basic needs. This is because, historically, gambling has been illegal in most of the United States. Reservations have their own laws, so gambling can be legal there. By building casinos, communities like Junior's can draw in White tourists who would otherwise avoid them. As Junior writes, though, the ready availability of gambling and alcohol and nearly nothing else makes for a community that struggles with addiction, poverty, and all of the issues that come along with them.
About 22 miles away from Wellpinit is a farm town called Reardan. This conservative town is one of many small towns in the Inland Northwest where education is lackluster and students rarely go far for college. Even so, the overwhelmingly white population of Reardan has resources and security most people from Wellpinit could only dream of. Junior decides to go to school in Reardan (just as Alexie once did) because he knows it will open up untold opportunities for him. Alexie eventually attended multiple well-funded colleges in Eastern Washington and became a famous author. He credits Reardan with introducing him to a world where higher education and a literary career were possible. At the same time, the novel refuses to write Wellpinit off. Alexie compares and contrasts the two worlds in the novel to one another to show that the people he left behind are just as deserving of respect, dignity, and opportunity as his classmates in Reardan.
Related Themes:
