Alexie’s “Pawn Shop” character
The character chosen from a fiction piece (Alexie’s “Pawn Shop”) is Jackson. He is a homeless Indian guy who also lacks a permanent job. He sells newspapers for a certain media company, but the wages are very low. Jackson’s role in society is limited by various factors. First of all, he does not have a place to live. He spends some nights on the streets, bars, and dangerous places such as railroads. His role is also limited by the lack of relatives who can help him out. He is also stereotyped because of his drunkenness that he cannot work.
Jackson pushes against the boundaries by looking for a job to sell newspapers. He also makes friends with other Indian guys who were homeless to have company since he does not have a family with him. “I wander the streets with a regular crew—my teammates, my defenders, my posse” (Alexie, 2013). Despite being a homeless guy, Jackson enjoys his life just like other people. Society belies that one cannot be happy if they are homeless and do not stay with their family. Jackson, however, is happy with his life despite the challenges he goes through.
The character from a nonfiction piece is Douglas. His role was mainly limited by slavery and the fact that he could not receive an education. Douglas had to work for various white masters as a slave. He was, therefore, not allowed to read or write and there were no such opportunities for him. Douglas was also stereotyped as a black person since no one could have thought that he would learn how to read and write. However, he later learned how to read and could read about slavery in most cases. The articles on slavery inspired him to keep reading. “The paper came, and I read it from week to week with such feelings as it would be quite idle for me to attempt to describe. This paper became my meat and my drink. My soul was set on fire”(Stone, 2014). No one would believe that Douglas had been a slave.