On the Amtrak from Boston To New York City
The situation of the poem is described in the title "On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City," was about a white woman and a person with a Native American background who were on a train together. What was being taken place when the speaker is meditating about the "white" woman they were having a conversations with other passengers, including an older white woman about the brief history of the city as they pass landmarks of the Native American Culture. The subject of the conversation had to do with the frustration the man had with the woman being ignorant about what land was taken away from him and his ancestors. He had brought her orange juice because it was stated right after in the next sentence he respects all elders it could have been out of kindness. That shows that the character is being bigger than himself he himself knows that being rude to this woman will now solve anything.
The idea of Don Henley really made Alexie mad do to the fact that Native Americans inhabited the lands long before anyone else. Throughout the poem Alexie continues to talk to himself and use profanity whenever the white women would bring up the "white" men. For instance, when the woman asks him about Walden Pond. He says, "'I don't give a shit about Walden. I know the Indians were living stories around that pond before Walden's grandparents were born..." Using profanity here represents Alexie's outrage at the woman's ignorance. He continues: "I'm tired of hearing about Don-fucking-Henley saving it, too... If Don Henley's family hadn't come here in the first place then nothing would need to be saved." Again, the use of profanity shows Alexie's anger as a Native...