Alexie: The Toughest Indian in the World

Alexie's story "The Toughest Indian in the World," is a story of a man who becomes disconnected with his Indian culture. This story is about an Indian man who lives a simple life and was raised with Indian morals of how people will "shoot you in the heart." Because of what he was taught by his father as a child, he learns that it is okay to pick up Indian hitchhikers. He is a reporter for a newspaper that writes human-interest pieces and while on a trip to interview someone for an article, he picks up an Indian hitchhiker heading to Wenatchee, his home reservation. They converse and he discovers that the hitchhiker is a fighter and that he was returning from a fight against the supposed "Toughest Indian in the World." This relationship takes an interesting and unexpected turn after the man offers the hitchhiker a place to stay the night. After they had gone to sleep the reporter awoke to find the hitchhiker in bed with him, naked and aroused. Although the reporter claims he is not gay he allows this encounter to happen and says "But I wanted him to save me." The question though is save him from what? This could show that he wants the hitchhiker to save him from the type of life he has been leading and in a sense, bring him back to the culture he left quite some time ago.