Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)

STUDIES - László Dányi: Belonging and Perspective: An Interpretation of Two Native American Short Stories

absurdity becomes reality, where the apprentice medicine man is the dealer. For the people who work there the hall is not terrible at all, they are even proud of having a job and wearing nice uniforms. For her these people are paper-doll images. People who are exploited by commercialism make paperdoll images of themselves and sacifice their own culture. These paper-doll people with tabs, as it is mentioned in the story, have been spoilt to such a degree that they would seem unreal without the tabs. The gambling hall is a symbol of the consumer society in which people are alienated from each other, and their ancient culture; from animals, from plants, from everything that is human. They insert one coin after the other into the slot-machine and listen to the fake Elvis Presley singing. In the two short stories there is a strong similarity in perspective. The Indian backgound, the white American culture and the Eurocentric values are depicted through the consciousness of the two Native American characters. The difference is in the response to the alienated and hostile world. Arietta cannot express her objection and her astonishment orally. Her stubborn face and her gestures express the rejection of the values offered by the Rapiers. Only at the end of the story does she dare to object to her foster-mother and the objection pleases Arietta: "Arietta!" Mrs. Rapier screamed. "Look what you've done! You've ruined all those lovely things we bought. Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" Arietta flashed a genuine smile for the first time that day. "No, ma'am," she said. "No, ma'am, I'm not."

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0 Kimberley M. Blaeser's character is more deeply affected.The loss of belonging some place evokes spiritual hollowness in her. The author describes how the dominance of Eurocentric culture leads to the detachment of human beings and to the loss of common awareness of those people who once belonged to each other in a culture. The conclusion of the essay is that a surface perspective is not satisfactory because it will lead to labels like "'marginal', the 'poor', the 'victims'".

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1 If this pespective is followed, Indians will be viewed as people having a romantic life in the forest or as savages dancing around a fire; and 1

0 Riley, p. 140. 1

1 Allen, p. 304. 23