can no longer handle the pain and give up. .
Although the Native Indians lived on their own land, their reservation, they were .
dependent on the Americans for food and money (177). Sometimes what they had was .
not enough but they managed to live. For example, Sherman Alexie described junior high .
girls throwing up their lunch in the bathrooms and, "[grew] skinny from self-pity" (177). .
On the other hand, while those junior high girls took advantage of their good fortune, the .
Indians had very little to eat; they were even hungrier than "dogs" (177). After Victor and .
his mother received food from the commodities line, they were, "happy to have food, and .
opened the canned beef that even the dogs wouldn't eat" (177). Similarly to the junior .
high girls, this was another "way to starve" (177). The Indians had so little food that they .
ate whatever they had, but that still was not enough so they still stayed skinny. The junior .
high girls had enough food to eat but they despised their appearance so much that they .
forced the food back out. Those young girls controlled how much they ate and how much .
they threw up; they had control. The Indians did not have any control of how much food .
they had, they were controlled by the Americans. .
Besides food, the Native Americans were always short of money. When Victor .
needed to travel to Phoenix, Arizona to claim his father's ashes and savings account, he .
needed traveling money. He thought there was no one to borrow from because "who does .
have money on a reservation- (59) He then turned to Tribal Council, who gave Victor .
one hundred dollars, which still wasn't enough for the roundtrip. In the end, Victor .
decided to let Thomas Builds-the-Fire help (64). .
Americans wanted the Indians to die off so they purposely give little food and .
money and continue to let them be uneducated. If Indians had money and education, they .
would have more control and power and would want to fight for their land.
