셔만 알렉시의 『인디언 킬러』: 미국인과 아메리카 인디언의 공존을 위한 트랜스내셔널리즘

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate the conceptions of transnationalism in Sherman Alexie’s Indian Killer. The following theories are applied to make it concrete the transnationalistic discourses in the novel: J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s New Man theory, Israel Zangwill’s melting-pot theory, Amy Chua’s cultural tolerance, and Arnold Krupat’s canon for Native American literature. There happens a series of killings in Seattle, Washington. All killings hold the same things in common: the victims are white; the corpses are scalped; they are scattered with owl feathers. The citizens in Seattle assume that the killers should be Native Americans because Hollywood films and TV shows have shown them the stereotypical images of Indians like cruelty, superstitious beliefs, animism, and primitiveness. Based on the three clues, John Smith, a young Native American adopted to white families, is pointed to be a possible suspect. According to Crevecoeur’s and Israel Zangwill’s arguments, John Smith is supposed to be acculturated into white cultures and melted down to get transformed into New Man, but only to recover his original ethnic identity as Native American. What is needed to him is, as Amy Chua suggests, cultural tolerance in American cultural milieu. His cultural identity can be also strengthened once he is educated by canonical texts made from Native Americans’ perspectives. Sherman Alexie’s transnationalism finally implies the shift from New Man theory into cultural tolerance.