Reservation Blues
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
Themes
All Themes Race, Culture, and Identity Hope, Despair, and the Blues Alcoholism and Patterns of Suffering Storytelling, History, and the Spiritual Community, Friendship, and Love
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Thomas Builds-the-Fire Junior Polatkin Victor Joseph Chess (Eunice) Warm Water Checkers (Gladys) Warm Water Big Mom Robert Johnson David WalksAlong Father Arnold Betty Veronica Phil Sheridan George Wright Mr. Armstrong The-man-who-was-probably-Lakota
Symbols
All Symbols Guitars Horses
Upgrade to LitCharts A+
Instant downloads of all 1915 LitChart PDFs (including Reservation Blues).
LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does.
Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts.
The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play.
Literature
Guides Poetry
Guides Literary
Terms Shakespeare
Translations
Ask
LitCharts AI
Ask
AI
Literature
Lit
Poetry
Lit Terms
Terms
Shakescleare Ask AI

Reservation Blues

by

Sherman Alexie
Download this LitChart! (PDF)
Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Reservation Blues makes teaching easy.

Mr. Armstrong Character Analysis

The powerful chief executive at Cavalry Records, who manages George Wright and Phil Sheridan. He has little patience for the mistakes of Coyote Springs when they play for him in New York, leaving the studio within minutes. Like the other two Cavalry Records executives, he too is a modern version of a famous U.S. Army Officer implicated in the slaughter of Native Americans. One of the better-known figures from that era, George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876) fought in the Indian Wars until he was defeated at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Significantly for Alexie’s novel, Armstrong once ordered his men to shoot 875 captured Indian ponies

Mr. Armstrong Quotes in Reservation Blues

The Reservation Blues quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Armstrong or refer to Mr. Armstrong. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Race, Culture, and Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

“These women have got the Indian experience down. They really understand what it means to be Indian. They’ve been there.”
“Explain.”
“Can’t you see the possibilities? We dress them up a little. Get them into the tanning booth. Darken them up a bit. Maybe a little plastic surgery on those cheekbones. Get them a little higher, you know? Dye their hair black. Then we’d have Indians. People want to hear Indians.”

Related Characters: Phil Sheridan (speaker), Mr. Armstrong (speaker), Betty, Veronica, George Wright
Race, Culture, and Identity Theme Icon
Page Number: 269
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Reservation Blues LitChart as a printable PDF.
Download
Reservation Blues PDF

Mr. Armstrong Quotes in Reservation Blues

The Reservation Blues quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Armstrong or refer to Mr. Armstrong. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Race, Culture, and Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

“These women have got the Indian experience down. They really understand what it means to be Indian. They’ve been there.”
“Explain.”
“Can’t you see the possibilities? We dress them up a little. Get them into the tanning booth. Darken them up a bit. Maybe a little plastic surgery on those cheekbones. Get them a little higher, you know? Dye their hair black. Then we’d have Indians. People want to hear Indians.”

Related Characters: Phil Sheridan (speaker), Mr. Armstrong (speaker), Betty, Veronica, George Wright
Race, Culture, and Identity Theme Icon
Page Number: 269
Explanation and Analysis:
Home About Contact Help
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Terms Privacy Privacy Request
The LitCharts.com logo.
Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account
You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to request a guide
Already have an account? Sign in
The LitCharts.com logo.
Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account.
You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to access notes and highlights
Already have an account? Sign in
The LitCharts.com logo.
Saving guides requires a free LitCharts account
Easily access your saved guides anytime.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to save guides
Already have an account? Sign in