What You Pawn I Will Redeem

“If you put Junior and me next to each other, he’s the Before Columbus Arrived Indian and I’m the After Columbus Arrived Indian. I am living proof of the horrible damage that colonialism has done to us Skins.”

The above passage is a good example of how black humor functions in the story. In comparing himself to Junior, Jackson references the “horrible damage” of colonialism in a way that almost seems to trivialize it; he is after all only talking about physical appearance. Ultimately, however, the story suggests that this kind of humor, far from being flippant, plays an important role in salvaging something from a history of suffering and oppression. Meanwhile, Jackson’s reliance on stock characters (the “Before Columbus Arrived Indian”) serves as a reminder of the problem of stereotyping, which constitutes another form of indigenous erasure; it’s difficult even for Jackson himself to avoid disappearing into a caricature of a Native American man.   

“That would be the right thing to do [...] But I can’t afford to do the right thing. I paid a thousand dollars for this. I can’t just give away a thousand dollars.” 

When it becomes clear that the regalia likely did belong to Jackson’s grandmother, Rose of Sharon asks the pawnbroker whether he intends to give it back. His response encapsulates many of the difficulties Native Americans have encountered navigating Western legal and economic systems. Jackson’s claim to the regalia would seem to be the stronger, given both the clothing’s cultural and familial significance and the fact that it was stolen from his family rather than lawfully acquired. However, as the pawnbroker admits, Western notions of ownership and value aren’t equipped to take the morality of this kind of situation into account; what matters isn’t what would be “right,” but rather selling the regalia at the correct price (that is, at least the price for which it was purchased). The exchange is therefore representative of the broader ways in which Native Americans have been exploited by a system that not only has stolen from them, but has refused to take into account the values—moral and economic alike—of indigenous cultures.   

“I know it’s crazy, but I wondered whether I could bring my grandmother back to life if I bought back her regalia.”

According to Jackson’s father, the cancer that killed Jackson’s grandmother was likely caused by the uranium mine on the Spokane reservation. While this fact is in and of itself emblematic of the ways in which US policy has erased and endangered Native Americans, Jackson here proposes a different theory regarding the cancer’s origin: the theft of the regalia. This suggestion speaks to the importance of the regalia as a symbol of Native American identity; the loss of the culture it represents is part of the broader genocide of indigenous peoples. Likewise, as Jackson implies here, restoring that culture would in some sense mean resurrecting the Spokane people, his grandmother included.

“‘We should call the police,’ he said.

‘I don’t want to do that,’ I said. ‘It’s a quest now. I need to win it back by myself.’” 

Jackson’s reluctance to call the police when the Big Boss suggests it is probably in part pragmatic; as the pawnbroker implied earlier, the combined effects of classism and racism would likely undermine Jackson’s credibility. With that said, it’s noteworthy that Jackson describes his efforts to buy back the regalia as a “quest.” The story’s plot resembles that of a traditional quest narrative, and there are references to myths and fairy tales scattered throughout. The overall effect is to “redeem” both the suffering and struggles Alexie depicts and Jackson himself, who hopes to transcend his own failings by winning the regalia (as he later puts it) the way a “hero” would (Part 15, Paragraph 74).

“[Junior] was still passed out, and I put my ear to his chest and listened for his heartbeat. He was alive, so I took off his shoes and socks and found one dollar in his left sock and fifty cents in his right sock.” 

Although generally good-natured and generous—he does, after all, appear to care about Junior’s well-being—Jackson isn’t above taking the money Junior has stuffed in his shoes in order to buy lottery tickets. To Jackson’s credit, he seems to intend to repay Junior, but when he returns after winning $100, Junior has already left. The episode therefore highlights Jackson’s less than heroic qualities, ensuring that his redemption at the end of the story is more impactful.

“‘[W]e brown people are killing other brown people so white people will remain free.’

‘I hadn’t thought of it that way.’

‘Well, sometimes I think of it that way. And other times I think of it the way they want me to think of it. I get confused.’” 

The above exchange comes from a story Jackson recalls his grandmother telling him about her service as a nurse during World War II. One of the men she tended was Maori and responded with the remark about “brown people killing other brown people” when he learned that one of her brothers died in the Battle of Okinawa. What is particularly noteworthy is the man’s admission that—despite knowing on some level that he is being exploited—he sometimes finds himself viewing his service to a colonial regime as the regime itself “wants him to.” This comment speaks to another way in which indigenous people “disappear”: by having their sense of their own history and identity overwritten by the dominant culture. 

“Me and all my cousins here are going to be drinking eighty shots. How many is that apiece?” 

Jackson’s words above are a good example of the way in which he thinks about his earnings. Having won $100 in the lottery, Jackson immediately gives $20 to Mary, and then he decides to spend the remaining $80 entirely on his “cousins”—all the other people present at Big Heart’s bar. While this handling of his winnings might seem counterproductive given his desire to reclaim the regalia, it reflects a different kind of moral and economic calculus; as Jackson tells Mary, sharing winnings with “family” is “an Indian thing” (Part 8, Paragraph 27), and Jackson considers all of those he’s sharing with to be part of his family. His actions, moreover, are ultimately validated when the pawnbroker, acting generously himself, chooses to give Jackson the regalia.

“Honey Boy pulled out his credit card, and I drank and sailed on that plastic boat.” 

Jackson’s comparison of Honey Boy’s credit card to a boat is noteworthy in light of the story’s ocean motif, which Alexie often associates with longing for a vanished past. The implication is that Jackson drinks in part to alleviate a sense of homelessness, even as (ironically) drinking constitutes one of the ways Jackson himself is vanishing.

“And he was always trying to figure out why he did it. He’d write and write and write and try to figure it out. He never did. It’s a great big mystery.” 

On the face of it, the anecdote Jackson tells Officer Williams about his grandfather and great-uncle doesn’t seem particularly relevant to Alexie’s story. The above passage, however, suggests a possible connection: In his attempt to uncover a vanished piece of history (in this case, his motive for shooting his brother), Jackson’s great-uncle turns to writing—that is, a form of storytelling. The anecdote therefore echoes the story’s ideas about recovering or redeeming the past by turning it into art.

“I’m giving it to you because I believe in what you believe. I’m hoping, and I don’t know why I’m hoping it, but I hope you can turn thirty bucks into a thousand somehow.” 

The above moment is one of several in the story in which Jackson is the recipient of others’ generosity. However, Officer Williams’ actions stand out in that he explicitly lays out the reasoning behind them: He hopes that Jackson will be able to “turn” his thirty dollars into the amount needed to buy back the regalia. The fact that this is (as Williams himself recognizes) very unlikely is in some sense the point; whereas conventional wisdom would suggest that Williams is throwing his money away, Williams wants to believe in a kind of economy in which generosity not only prevails, but generates its own kind of value. Figuratively speaking, this is exactly what happens, because while Jackson does not succeed in securing a thousand dollars, the generosity he shows in sharing Williams’s money with the Aleuts constitutes a kind of “work” the pawnbroker rewards.

“‘I’m wishing my grandmother was still alive.’

‘Every song I know is about that.’” 

Jackson’s exchange with the Aleuts in this passage illustrates the importance of song as a motif. While it seems unlikely that every song the Aleut man knows literally describes the feeling of missing a lost grandmother, song does have a strong figurative relationship to grief and longing in Alexie’s story. In some cases (as in the Hank Williams songs the Aleuts reference), the songs themselves are about loneliness and mournfulness; in others (including the Aleuts’ ceremonial songs), the very existence of the songs is a reminder of a culture and heritage that either has vanished or is vanishing. 

“Some Indians swore [the Aleuts] had walked on the water and headed north. Other Indians saw the Aleuts drown. I don’t know what happened to them.” 

The exit of the Aleuts from the narrative is perhaps the most literal instance of disappearance in the entire story. Whereas Jackson ultimately learns what happened to friends like Junior and Rose of Sharon, the exact fate of the Aleuts never becomes clear. Moreover, one of the explanations given for their disappearance—that they walked home on water—is supernatural and thus at odds with the general realism of the story as a whole; it’s as though the Aleuts, in seeking to return to their ancestral home, have become part of a past that has already disappeared into legend.

“And just when I’d given up, when I turned one last corner and thought I might die if I didn’t find that pawnshop, there it was, in a space I swear it hadn’t occupied a few minutes ago.” 

The above passage is one of several that hint at something supernatural about the pawnshop; it appears and disappears throughout the story in ways that seem difficult to explain rationally, given Jackson’s familiarity with the area. The pawnshop is therefore part of what gives the story its fairytale-like undertones while also tying into themes of redemption and resurrection. The pawnshop’s spontaneous reappearance hints that things that have vanished—people, cultures, histories—can perhaps be brought back. This idea is intertwined with the story’s broader interest in fairytale and legend, which it suggests serve as a way to create something such as meaning or beauty out of little to nothing.