The human species have a unique concept called culture, the idea of culture makes individuals feel a stronger connection to other individuals who share the same culture as them. The connection is stronger because when you share the same culture you share many of the same values and ideas of the world, making you understand that person more than someone who does not share the same culture. In the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” as the reader follow the story of an American Indian called Jackson who has many personal problems and clear flaws, and the reader can see how he tries to protect things he values despite all the flaws he has. The author of this short story Sherman Alexie was explicit with Jackson’s character flaws and problems such as Jackson’s alcoholism and his lack of home. These flaws are very crucial to this story because they made Jackson fictional character into someone more realistic who shares the same problems some American Indians have right now, moreover, his alcoholism plays a large part in the story because it is the reason Jackson is extremely poor. Despite all his problems Jackson makes connections with people who share the same culture as him and makes and effort to learn more about his own culture from them; this is where Jackson’s character develops into someone who has interest in his own culture and wishes to learn more about it. The most important event in this story happened when Jackson found a pawnshop that was selling his late grandmother’s powwow regalia and when the pawnbroker agreed to sell it for one thousand dollars. Jackson being homeless and alcoholic could not afford one thousand dollars, however, he was determined to get back the powwow regalia and searched for means to get money throughout the story. The determination Jackson showed to get back his grandmothers’ powwow regalia contradicted the image of a lazy alcoholic homeless man, the regalia gave Jackson a goal that must be achieved throughout the short story until he finally accomplished his goal, however, why was it so important for a homeless alcoholic man to buy a powwow regalia that costs one thousand dollars. As a homeless man, Jackson lacked a place where he could belong, and that made him seek other individuals with similar culture as him and try to learn more about his culture that has lost its place in its own homeland. Afterwards he stumbled upon his grandmother’s powwow regalia which is a traditional piece of clothing that is very deeply connected with the American Indian culture and here he set his mind on reclaiming the regalia. Jackson is symbolizing two things in this story, one of them is how he has no home to belong to; the same as his culture where the American Indians cannot exercise their culture traditions freely, and the second concept is his grandmother’s regalia and how it symbolizes the American Indian Culture itself and how Jackson attempts to preserve it throughout the story.

The claim that the American Indians have not been able to exercise their traditions can be backed from events that occurred in the past. To understand how restricted the American Indian culture was the importance of language and how it connects to your culture must be explored first. The language is a unique tool used by humans to communicate their thoughts verbally and there are many ways to do that and in some cases people speak in a unique way distinctive to them alone. However, in most cases the way you speak distinguishes your language more than you personally and difference between each language vary from indirect speaking to being completely direct and on to the point. The example of direct and indirect way of speaking may seem insignificant, however, this small difference is also a part of your culture and it is enough to show how the people in your culture prefer how to communicate. Therefore, language is closely connected with culture and the restriction of speaking a language is a restriction of culture, and the United States government is guilty of oppressing the American Indian culture by trying to forbid American Indian from speaking their language in school. In the words of an American Indian “Because speaking Navajo was forbidden, many children did not speak at all” this is a clear attempt of oppressing the American Indian culture and preventing it from affecting the culture of the United States in anyway (Daniella Zalcman 73). Moreover, it should be noted that the American Indians did not speak one single tongue; in fact, they spoke many different tongues depending on their geographical location (Native American Languages). However, in the present only few tongues are widely spread, such as the Navajo tongue, and this was caused by the treatment the American Indians had to face in the past. Therefore, it can be said that the government of the United States government did not wish to assimilate with the American Indian culture but instead wanted to eradicate it and introduce their own culture to the American Indians and force them to practice it, such as preventing them from speaking their own language to force them to communicate with the English language. Therefore, Jackson’s homeless situation is symbolizing the lack of place for the American Indian culture, the United States government is placed on a land that originally belonged to American Indians and after its placement on the land the government aggressively targeted the American Indians culture.

Moreover, even in today’s world the American Indians rights are not completely protected and their culture is not respected and is violated for the sake of money. An example for this is the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation where a pipeline that is supposed to transport oil is going beneath the Missouri River causing fear for the health of the American Indians who drink from the river’s water. The American Indian’s culture respects nature and polluting a river for the sake of profit is something they oppose because it goes against their traditions and values. Furthermore, per the article Standing Like a Rock there is a treaty that guarantees their water rights around that area, and the oil pipeline is clearly breaching that right and causing harm to the river. The American Indian’s respect for nature is very helpful to the health of the earth and its safety for the future generations and they have this saying “think seven generations ahead” which is a way of thinking that could be used in today’s world where the earth is being polluted in an alarming rate. However, despite the danger of climate change the United States corporations continue with a reckless pace of using fossil fuels for the sake of profit and they are forcing those values even on the American Indians who wish to preserve nature. This is another example of how Jackson is symbolizing the lack of home for the American Indian culture in its own homeland, a rift is being formed between the two cultures due to conflicting values and differences. In the short story, Jackson was homeless without a place to go and not completely independent, which is the same thing for the American Indian culture where it cannot completely belong in the American culture because they have conflicting values. And this is shown in the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation where the American Indians are fighting to prevent pollution and an American corporation is fighting for profit and will not care about the pollution of the river. This is a clear example of how different the American Indians view world around them and how it contrasts the American culture that focuses on advancing technology at all costs, even if it means polluting the earth and possibly endangering its future.

After understanding how the American Indian culture has been treated the short story “What You Pawn I will Redeem” starts to have a deeper meaning and it can be felt that simple things are symbolizing things of great importance, and an example of this would be the powwow regalia and how it is symbolizing the American Indian culture itself. Furthermore, per Bucker “Matchcoats and/or their accessories came to provide native peoples with items of dress that were useful signifiers of native identity.” This quote strengthens the argument that clothes are important for American Indians to self-identify and how the regalia was a symbol for their culture (Bucker 728). Bucker is arguing that clothes are very connected to how you self-identify yourself and he explains in details what sort of clothes the American Indians used to wear and why, for example he explained that a high status American Indian would wear a feathered cape. Bucker is trying to help us understand the importance of clothes and how they relate to the culture of the American Indians. All the information Bucker provides in his writing about the clothes of the American Indians helps the readers understand how valuable the regalia was to Jackson and why it was so important for him to recover it, moreover, Bucker’s information helps the reader to see the regalia as a symbol of the American Indian culture instead of just a piece of clothing that Jackson wanted.

Moreover, Jackson’s determination to get the powwow regalia back is not caused solely based on his wish to preserve his culture, but also to reclaim a family heirloom that belonged to his grandmother. According to Johan Josefsson “This ‘left behind’ may have the qualities, or the potential, to be discovered and filled with meanings that convey values for the next generation.” (Josefsson 2092). Josefsson in his writing explained the value of heritage and why it is important for the next generation to inherit what is left behind from the older generation, and this is because the preservation of the heirlooms ensures that the future generation will be able to understand their culture and appreciate it. Without preserving what was left behind from the older generations could risk the loss of cultural traditions and that could lead to the endangerment of that specific culture. And for that reason, preserving what is left behind by the older generation is a practice that should be respected because no matter how trivial the thing you are preserving may seem in the end you could be protecting an important piece of information for the future generation to understand your culture.

These two articles give a new perspective as to why Jackson was so intent on getting back his grandmother’s regalia and why the regalia was so important to him. Therefore, understanding what the powwow regalia is leads to why Jackson is so determined to get it and why it is an important piece for the understanding of this short story’s point and what kind of message it is holding. The powwow regalia is a traditional clothing used by the American Indians for to do a dance that tells a story unique to the dancer and his/her own culture. The dance that is performed when wearing the powwow regalia is clearly a dance that has an inseparable tie with the American Indian culture and the fact the Jackson was so interested in the regalia showed how he wanted to express his own feelings about his culture through the powwow regalia by doing the traditional dance. Moreover, the regalia’s strong connection with the American Indian culture makes it clear that the regalia is symbolizing the American Indian culture in this short story. And the conclusion for this short story happened when Jackson bought the regalia and started dancing whilst wearing his grandmother’s powwow regalia with these thoughts in his mind “Outside, I wrapped myself in my grandmother's regalia and breathed her in. I stepped off the sidewalk and into the intersection. Pedestrians stopped. Cars stopped. The city stopped. They all watched me dance with my grandmother.” (Alexie). This highlighted Jackson’s happiness for preserving his grandmother’s regalia, a piece of his culture, and how he used the regalia to do the traditional dance and express his culture in the middle of the street. 

The most important two concepts of this short story revolved around the symbolism of Jackson’s situation as a homeless man and his grandmother’s regalia and what it stood for, and how the two things connected and completed each other’s meaning. The first symbol of this story was the fact that Jackson is a homeless man, and this can be related to the American Indian culture’s lack of place to belong. The lack of place for the American Indian culture in its own homeland has caused Jackson to fight for preserving his culture wherever he can, and when he found his grandmother’s powwow regalia he found something that he should preserve at any cost. And that is how the regalia became a symbol of the American Indian culture, by feeling that his culture has no place Jackson saw the regalia as a symbol for his culture and determined to buy it from the pawnshop no matter what the cost. The regalia symbolized his culture and he could not have it without paying the price, however, being a homeless man it was not an easy task for him to attain the one thousand dollars necessary to buy the powwow regalia. However, Jackson did not give up and tried to save up one thousand dollars throughout the story. The evidence in this essay explored the importance of preserving what is left behind by the older generation and how the traditional clothes relate to your culture, therefore, Jackson desperate attempts to reclaim his grandmother’s regalia were not simply to get back a piece of clothing but preserve something more than just that. The regalia was something left behind by his grandmother and by preserving it he would get the chance to leave it behind the new generation and so on, to ensure that his culture would preserve its identity by not caring about the heirlooms or relics of his ancestors. Therefore, by protecting his late grandmother’s regalia he is making an attempt to give a place to his culture within America, and this was highlighted by his dance in the end of the short story while wearing how grandmother’s powwow.

This short story is symbolizing problems that the American Indian culture was and still is going through in the United States and how it is affecting the way the American Indians are living their lives. Jackson’s homeless situation can be related with the events in the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, and the reader can relate his homeless situation as symbolism for the lack of home for the American Indian culture which can be related to the oppression their culture went through in the past such as the restriction of their language. Furthermore, the powwow regalia in the short story is serving the important role of symbolizing the American Indian culture itself, and how the regalia must be preserved for the sake of the newer generations to not lose sight of what their culture and traditions are. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is a short story that tells the tale of a man who faces obstacles for the sake of preserving something important to him and how it gave him a purpose throughout the story instead of continuing to live day by day as a homeless man. The author of this short story, Alexie, chose to leave a room for the reader to interpret the story and understand it by thinking of what he is trying to symbolize.
