“What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie seems to give a greater contrasting story to "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Both stories are about a journey, but the destination and way the both man get there are completely different. Jackson Jackson's shows a spiritual journey as well as the physical journey. Jackson continues to strive to get his grandmothers regalia back but does so in a way that is different from most. He continually looks for money but never gets enough so he ends up spending it on others. In the end the aid of others and also his own charity towards his fellow Indians help him regain his regalia.
This Journey to reconnect with his family is also has some religious undertones as well. We can see that it is much like present day Christians believe that even though we may try we will always fall short of perfection; but through Christ sacrifice for us we can be forgiven. This resembles the act of kindness the pawn shop owner had towards Jackson. Jackson had come up short but through his efforts he had mercy on him and gave him the Regalia.
I liked this story better because it focused more on the positive side of humans in-spite of our short-comings. It also showed how we are connected to each other and how we can help each other through hard times.
No comments:
Post a Comment