Freshman English 212Name:

"This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona,” by Sherman Alexie (1994)

READING COMPANION QUESTIONS

Pre-reading.

  • “Just after Victor lost his job at the BIA…”
  • The BIA—The Bureau of Indian Affairs is a government agency devoted to managing the protected Native American lands and providing education and health services to Native Americans.
  • “Who does have money on a reservation?”(1a)
  • Reservation—an Indian reservation—special land set aside for an Indian tribe
  • “So Victor called the Tribal Council”(1a)
  • Tribal Council—the governing body of the tribe
  • “…and walked over to the Trading Post to cash it” (2a)
  • Trading Post—general store/convenience store
  • "I was first alternate on the 1980 Olympic team" (6).
  • The American 1980 Olympic Team did not compete in the Olympics in Moscow when President Carter decided not to send them as a protest for Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.
  • “They ran then, hard as they ever had, faster than Billy Mills, faster than Jim Thorpe, faster than the wasps could fly” (9a).
  • Billy Mills and Jim Thorpe were both famous Native American Olympians.
  • “My father, he died on Okinawa in World War II” (13a).
  • Okinawa is an island in Japan, which, along with Germany, was the American enemy during the war.

Questions to pay attention to—no need to answer on the pager

  • When Thomas tells Victor, "I heard it on the wind. I heard it from the birds. I felt it in the sunlight. Also, your mother was just in here crying," what is he telling the reader about his magical qualities? [Throughout the story, consider whether Thomas is really magical.]
  • Why is Norma Many Horses able to stop the fight between Victor and Thomas when they were fifteen-year-olds?
  • Describe the conversation Thomas and Victor have with the gymnast on the airplane to Phoenix.
  • What does Victor say to Thomas just before the two boys go into Victor’s father’s trailer on page 8a?
  • What “ain’t going to be nice” (8b), according to Victor, speaking to Thomas?
  • When they were boys, how does Thomas fly?
  • Driving back from Phoenix, what happens to the jackrabbit? Why is this somehow funny to them?
  • What do the two boys/young men both decide to do with Victor’s father’s ashes?

Questions to answer.

  1. Why does Victor need to go to Phoenix, Arizona, and what is his problem when he goes to the Tribal Council?
  1. Give three details about Thomas Builds-the-Fire.
  1. What is the story about Victor’s father that Thomas told Victor when they were together in the seventh grade?
  1. The paragraph that begins on 3b, “Thomas Builds-the-Fire sat on the bicycle,” begins a flashback, Victor looking back at his relationship with Thomas. How does a strong reader know that this is a flashback?
  1. And their conversation with the gymnast on the airplane:

"She was really nice," Thomas said.

"Yeah, but everybody talks to everybody on airplanes," Victor said. "It's too bad we can't always be that way."

INFER: Explain what Victor means.

  1. SUMMARIZE: How did Thomas save Victor’s life when they were both twelve?
  1. What happened to Thomas and Victor’s father when Thomas went to Spokane when Thomas was thirteen? What were Thomas’s dreams saying? And what was the deal Thomas made with Victor’s father?
  1. What does Thomas mean when he says, “They are all I have. It’s all I can do” (13a)?
  1. Finally, what is the “fair trade” that was “all Victor had ever wanted from his whole life” (15a-b)?

Critical Thinking

LOGICAL REASONING/MAKING INFERENCES (Drawing inferences or conclusions that are supported in or justified by evidence). Is Victor magical in telling his stories? What is the reader supposed to think? Explain your thinking.