The reservation (allegory)
The reservation is an allegory of the fear of being alone. Corliss was an unusual Indian, for she “lived alone.” If she took “an Indian roommate,” Corliss knew she’d soon be taking in “the roommate’s cousin, little brother, half uncle, and long-lost dog.” Indians called it “tribalism.” They were so afraid of loneliness that they’d rather die “standing together in long lines than wandering alone in the wilderness.” Indians were “terrified of being lonely, of being exiled.” The reservation was their safe place, the territory that outsiders were not permitted to enter. That was the place where everyone knew each other.
Poetry (symbol)
Poetry is a symbol of refinement. Corliss often asked herself, “How can you live a special life without constantly interrogating it? How can you live a good life without good poetry?” She knew that her family and lots of other people “feared poetry.” That was “multicultural and timeless” fear, for they simply didn’t dare to think about it. Poetry had been always associated with refinement, something that only the highest classes of the society had a right to dream about. Corliss knew that poetry belonged to “the working class” too; she had a right to write no matter what her relatives said.
Being Indian (motif)
According to Corliss, that “has to be a tough gig” to be “Indian.”The way they were “treated and stuff” broke their “hearts” and made them homeless. One has to find a way to deal “with all that pain.” Every story describes hardship, dreams, everyday life, and happy moments of modern Indians. Some of them criticize their own folk mercilessly, some of them talk about what they “like.” These are the voices of “Indian” men and women, that is their chance to shows how they struggle to preserve their culture in the “white” world.
