On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City

On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City, by Sherman Alexie, has a great look into race and ethnicity. This is an interesting poem, because it provides a new outlook on our country as it is today, from a Native American.

                The tone of this poem is very negative and angry. It is from the point of view of the author, who is from an Indian tribe out west, who is riding the train on the east coast. He has conversations with other passengers, including an older white woman who gives him a brief history of the city as they pass landmarks. From the very beginning of the poem, the author refers to this woman by the color of her skin. Her comment about the age of some buildings frustrates him, because he knows his people have architecture “15000 years older than the corners of the house that sits museumed on the hill” (57). She tells him about Walden Pond, which bothers him even more. At this point he begins to get angry in the poem and expresses the way he feels about other races. He reveals his anger in the quote, “I don’t give a shit about Walden” (57). He also reveals that he thinks whites are the problem of the country. When he talks about hearing how Don Henley saved Walden, he says, “If Don Henley’s brothers and sisters and mothers and father hadn’t come here in the first place then nothing would need to be saved” (57). Sherman Alexie appears to wish other races would leave his country.  He refers to all other races as, “the enemy” (58) and believes his biggest challenge every day is simply dealing with “the enemy.” The explanation for these harsh feelings has to be due to all that happened to the Native Americans in the past, and the way Alexie believes his people were treated. What do you guys think?

-Jordan