¶ … Indian and Feed
One way Arnold tries to change his perspective of race and poverty is through drawing. Drawing allows him a momentary, albeit fantasy, escape from his reality: "I draw because I want to talk to the world. And I want the world to pay attention to me" (Alexie, p. 5). Arnold goes on to state that his drawing pen is like his tool of choice, that he feels special when he wields it, and that he hopes to "be somebody important. An artist" (Alexie, p. 5). Illustrating offers him a way out of his reservation and his "identity" as an Indian. It offers him a window into a new world where he gets to set the perspective rather than have everyone else set it for him.
Throughout the narrative, Arnold also uses an extreme form of irony to convey the overall ridiculousness of "typing" people by race and/or monetary value or economic status. He calls out the doctor for thinking Indians are only half human and therefore only need half the pain medicine. He calls out his friend's racist father for warning Arnold that he better not get his daughter pregnant so that she has to carry a half-breed, despite the fact that Arnold is simply her friend and has no such intentions.
At every turn, Arnold calls out the hypocrisy of others (if only in his journal), pointing out the...
Sometimes people don't mind being intruded upon (as for instance when they
travel through an airport and wait in line to be "searched"). Anderson's book reflects this intrusiveness in a way, using environmental and technological themes. For example, the fact that Titus and Violet are on the
moon when their feeds crash just shows how the feed has them so locked into a
prison, which extends outside their minds to their own reality (the fake clouds, the deadly water), that they have to physically leave the planet before the author can even begin to take them out of their artificial world implanted in their minds. Otherwise, if their feeds were to crash while at home, the experience would not be as impactful. He has to put them on the moon first, so that they at least have a chance at coming to themselves in a way that their ordinary
environment would not permit.
There is also the problem of the feed distracting its users from real-world issues. Titus and his friends are so caught up m-chatting and communicating "telepathically"…
