Pawnbroker and Main Character

The setting is the 1990’s in Seattle. Jackson Jackson is a Spokane Indian.

According to Jackson Squared, his "people have lived within a one-hundred-mile radius of Spokane, Washington, for ten thousand years. " Several places are used as part of the setting: under the bridge, the pawn shop, an all-Indian bar. Tone The tone of the story spans a range of emotions. The character of Jackson determines the mood of the story. At times, he is humorous and even cheerful. Jackson can also be sarcastic, frustrated, and resigned to his fate.

Structure Alexie approaches this story using an hourly structure.His episodes cover about a twenty-four period which takes Jackson in search of the money he needs to make the purchase from the pawn shop. This approach lets the reader follow Jackson as he walks the streets. Throughout the story, Jackson comments on the Indian cultural. Theme The theme of the story homelessness permeates the story. Jackson’s plight saddens the reader because it is obvious that he is intelligent and could have made something of himself.

Although he seems to be slow-witted, he is a victim of his circumstances and the many drinks that he has consumed.He is obviously an alcoholic and has learned how to subsist on the streets. Every time that the reader feels that he is going to make and gets some money and spends it not only on himself but on his friends as well. Summary The story begins with the line, “One day you have a home and the next you don’t. ” Jackson Jackson has a small entourage of homeless people who slowly disappear throughout the story. Jackson passes by a pawn shop and sees a dance regalia that belonged to his grandmother.

It was stolen from her almost fifty years ago. He proves that it is the real thing to the pawn shop owner who tells Jackson that he paid $1,000 for the beautiful beaded dress.The owner tells Jackson if he can come up with $999. 00 then he will sell it to him. Jackson has 24 hours to get the money.

To the reader, this seems like impossibility. Jackson takes the challenge seriously. The story follows Jackson as he goes from place to place where people actually give him money that he either drinks or eats up. It is obvious how Jackson stays in his situation since all of the money that he receives, he uses up. The motivation for Jackson is the tie to his past.

Jackson wants the connection to his family of which he is no longer a part. After Jackson buys everyone a drink at the Big Heart Indian Bar, he winds up passed out on a railroad track. The policeman, who finds him, knows Jackson: You dumb-ass. You passed out on the railroad tracks.

What the hell’s wrong with you? You’ve never been this stupid. Jackson explains to the cop about his project to get his grandmother’s regalia costume back from the pawn shop. The policeman gives him some money, and Jackson feeds four of his homeless friends. Finally, he returns to the pawn shop.The pawn shop owner takes the $5. 00 that Jackson has kept.

Now, Jackson owns a part of his past as he holds it up to himself and dances down the middle of the road. Second I really enjoyed the story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie. What made it so enjoyable for me, was not only the main character Jackson Jackson (AKA Jackson squared), but also the friends which were mentioned throughout this story. The characters are always my favorite part of any story, and this story definitely had some great ones, but none better than Jackson, in my opinion.Thanks to the main character I got to experience first hand what it’s like to be, not only homeless, but also an Indian, and an alcoholic. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, and at the same time be constantly frustrated with him, while also laughing out loud .

The whole story was about him making money in order to buy back a regalia from a pawn shop. A regalia which belonged to his beloved Grandmother, who unfortunately passed away. Jackson was told that he had till noon the next day to make the money he needed in order to buy the regalia back, and so he set off to do so.The problem was that as soon as he made a little money he would immediately spend it. This, and the fact that he was on a schedule, frustrated me to no end. Regardless, I could never stay mad at him for long, because he always shared what he had earned with his fellow homeless Indiansor what he called "cousins.

" Except for one instance when he bought himself some cheeseburgers, which he immediately threw up, do to his stomach problems caused by alcoholism. Throughout the whole story, Jacksons situation seemed utterly hopeless, but he never once gave up hope, and he always found something to joke about.In the end he didn’t make the 999 dollars that he needed to buy the regalia back, but the pawnbroker gave the regalia to him anyway. At that point in the story I couldn’t help but feel extremely happy, and relieved for Jackson, which also left me trying to swallow down a lump in my throat. This writer did a great job of building up my compassion for his main character. The friends that Jackson meets throughout this story were, to me, hilarious.

The writer of this story did not go into great length to explain these characters, but he didn’t need to, because the few words that he used to explain each one, were more than enough.There was Rose Sharron who “was over 7 feet tall if you measured effect, and about five feet if you measured physical” (Alexie 88). There was also Junior, who was described as a good-looking Indian, like the ones from the don’t litter, public service announcement commercials” (Alexie 88). Then there was Irene Muse who was wonderfully fat, and whose body felt like a large, warm, and soft breast” (Alexi 95). Not to mention a handfull of other great characters. Every character that Jackson met made the story that much better, funnier, and sadder all at the same time.

For me there was a lot to like about this story, but the characters won me over more than anything else. Posted by fiberdawg on June 13, 2012 at 5:13 PM (Answer #1) THIRD What You Pawn I Will Redeem Interpretive and escapist are two types of literature; escapist is written for entertainment while interpretive is written to make one think. Plot is that most simple element in stories which is simply what occurs in a story. Character analysis helps shed light on the character and its conflicts.

Sherman Alexie conveys his story through literary terms such as plot and conflict in What You Pawn I Will Redeem. Jackson Jackson, the main character, is a round and flat character, showing characteristics of both. Jackson’s conflict is internal conflict because he wants to save money to purchase his grandmother’s regalia from the pawnbroker, but he also wants to spend money on his fellow Indians and friends. For example, Jackson receives money throughout the story; “’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.’‘I believe in magic. ’ ‘I believe you’ll take my money and get drunk on it’” (Alexie 25).

When he receives money, he always ends up spending it on alcohol and occasionally food, though he does share it with other Indians. Jackson is complex since he is generous with everybody, buying things for them, yet he steals from his friend to get more money. He is also a stereotypical homeless man; this claim can be seen by his actions in the story when he purchases liquor multiple times in the story.Jackson also is dynamic since he clearly changes because in the beginning he was just a homeless man with his friends trying to live day by day with nobody really paying attention to him, then at the end by stating that everybody stopped to watch him dance when towards the beginning he said he felt like he was disappearing.

Jackson also clearly has conflict with man versus mother-nature and man versus man-made environment since he is homeless and a drunk. An example of man vs. mother-nature ; “’I was cold and sleepy,’ I said. ‘So I lay down.’‘You dumb-ass, you passed out on the railroad tracks.

’ I sat up and looked around. I was lying on the railroad tracks” (Alexie 21). Also he has a man vs. man-made environment conflict when he is too drunk to find somewhere to sleep; he lets himself lay on train tracks. Jackson also seems to have problems with society, mainly certain white people. “One day you have a home and the next you don’t, but I’m not going to tell you my particular reasons for being homeless, because it’s my secret story, and Indians have to work hard to keep secrets from hungry white folks” (Alexie 8).

Jackson also has man versus man conflict with Honeyboy, who does come on to him at the bar, but he clearly states that he is not homosexual. “’You’re one of them two-spirits, aren’t you? ’ I asked him. ‘I love women,’ he said. ‘And I love men’” (Alexie 19). Clearly Jackson Jackson’s main conflict throughout the story is to obtain his grandmother regalia, which is given to him by the pawnbroker after seeing how he worked hard to try and earn it, even if he did end up with only five dollars again.

Jackson proved to be a round and flat character based on characteristics.