Sherman Alexie's writing style and literary techniques
This paper discusses three stories from Sherman Alexie's book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven: "Every Little Hurricane," "What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona," and "The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire." The focus is on the writing style of these stories, specifically, on the rhetorical use of repetition. Through use of repetition, Alexie manages to create a hypnotic story-telling mode that draws readers into the world of the Spokane Indian Reservation in which the stories are set. The repetition occurs with the words themselves, as well as through the use of the stories that are told – or at times not told – but that retain their power in the lives of the characters.