Authentic Experiences And White Wolf In Short Story Welcome To The Authentic Indian Experience

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The essay discusses the short story written by Rebecca Roanhorse,” Welcome to the authentic Indian experience”. The essay analyzes the notion of authentic experiences that Jesse faces. The essay tends to prove that the authentic experience Jesse faces through the action of White Wolf, are very similar to the real-life experience of the American Indigenous peoples, the essay will first analyze how Jesse was forced to appreciate the ‘Authentic Indian experience’ according to his boss. Then, the essay will discuss the authentic things that actually happened to him. Finally, it will be argued in conclusion that the authentic experience that Jesse faced through the White wolf represented the experience of the wider American Indigenous peoples.

Considering the authentic experience Jesse is forced to believe, it is rather the opposite of authentic which Jesse applies to his work. Jesse wants to provide the real indigenous experience but his ideas are rejected because the tourists that book him are not looking for the authentic experience. They are only looking for an experience that is shown in Hollywood films such as ‘The lone Ranger’ and the ‘Little big man’(Roanhorse 2). Thus, the real experience the tourists are looking for is that of the authentic Hollywood direction.

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After developing Jesse’s perception of authenticity at work, we move on to the authentic reality that Jesse faced when he met the so called ‘White Wolf’. Jesse met the White Wolf when the White Wolf signed for Jesse’s vision quest(Roanhorse 3). They became friends later on and started talking in the meetings they had at the local bar. The meetings at the local bar was Jesse telling the white wolf about his life and work. After a series of meetings, Jesse fells sick and is force to stay at home, not attending work or the meetings he had with the white wolf. When he gets better after nearly two weeks and shows up to work on Monday, he realizes that he had been fired from his job and his position is taken by someone whose last name is Wolf(12). After hearing this, he realizes he cannot go home as his wife might have a bad reaction to it. So he goes to the same local bar where he went to meet the White wolf and starts to drink. He gets drunk to the point where he is unable to speak(Roanhorse 13). He meets the white wolf in a short incident where the white wolf hits him because he thinks Jesse might be bothering Darrane, a person Jesse knew beforehand. Now, after an injury, he finds himself in a downtown gutter, with half his clothes gone and his car towed away. he reaches home somehow and finds many things missing, including his wife, Theressa(Roanhorse 13). But he does meet the White wolf once again, sitting in his kitchen and sipping coffee. The white wolf explains the situation to Jesse, that his wife has gone to her mother and wants him out of the house when she comes back(Roanhorse 14).

It is important to note that during this time(when Jesse gets fired to the time when he sits with the White Wolf at the kitchen table), Jesse feels time flying away. he comes home two days after he was fired. This is important to note because the author has presented his life as an experience. The author has made the reader put on Jesse’s shoes and feel what Jesse feels. In these two days, Jesse can be considered a tourist to his own life and the white wolf is the tour guide in this vision quest. The white wolf takes Jesse through the recent past that directly relates to him( Roanhorse 14). Considering these aspects of the story, it can be argued that his encounter with the White Wolf reflects the authentic experience of the Indigenous people.

if we consider the techniques Jesse used to maintain a stable job, it is rather clear he was not as authentic in having pre conceived notions about his Indigenous identity. He had to change his last name to sound more Indian(Roanhorse 2). He never really tried to impress the tourists with his original knowledge and stuck with the Hollywood identity of the indigenous people. While White Wolf, on the other hand, analyzes all information about Jesse’s life and takes his job. The author proposes how a perception of culture in one’s mind who does not belong in that culture can be dubious. That person might not have the right idea about this culture and make misconceptions about it, which, as discussed, are displayed in the Hollywood movies. This does forms root for hurtful feelings in the minds of people on whose culture these stereotypes are made. This feeling and perception is, according to the author, common to a wider American Indigenous Community. Thus, it is clear that the white wolf represents the wider American Indigenous community.

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