This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona

“What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” is structured in a way that combines the Indigenous American tradition of oral storytelling with elements of memoir, which are integrated in the form of flashbacks. The protagonist, a Spokane man named Victor, embarks on a quest-like journey to reclaim the ashes of his estranged father and return them to Spokane Falls. This journey illuminates Victor’s search for who he is, which comments broadly on Alienation from Cultural Identity—specifically, the displaced or disrupted identities of Indigenous peoples in postcolonial America.

Victor’s attitude toward his heritage emerges principally in his interactions with and thoughts about two characters: his deceased father and Thomas Builds-the-Fire. Notably, Victor is estranged from the former, who represents a quite obvious tie to his cultural identity and history. Besides symbolizing Victor’s alienation from his roots, this estrangement also suggests a possible cause of that alienation (or at least a contributing factor): Victor did not know his father intimately, creating ambiguity regarding his place in Indigenous society. However, despite the lack of financial incentive or a strong emotional attachment to the man, Victor feels an obligation to bring his father’s ashes home, thus reuniting his father with his ancestral people and homeland. This situation sets the story in motion and implies Victor’s desire to understand and connect with his history.

If Victor’s father symbolizes his ancestral ties to Indigenous culture and identity, Thomas Builds-the-Fire represents a more immediate link. Thomas Builds-the-Fire communicates most of his feelings and intentions through storytelling, evoking many tribes’ strong oral traditions; he also has a clairvoyant quality, guessing the feelings and intentions of others with great accuracy. That Victor describes him as “that crazy Indian storyteller with ratty braids and crooked teeth” both highlights Thomas’s symbolic role as a stand-in for Indigenous identity and illustrates Victor’s troubled relationship to that identity (322).

Victor’s treatment of Thomas sets the tone for this study of cultural alienation. Outwardly, Victor is suspicious of Thomas for being unapologetically unusual, even though Thomas is the only person, at least at the Trading Post, who offers Victor condolences on the loss of his father. When Thomas offers to help Victor, Victor refuses the offer despite needing the money, making a point of saying that they are not friends in this very public setting. This epitomizes Victor’s reluctance to accept Spokane tradition, even among those of his own culture.

Ultimately, circumstances must force Victor to acknowledge and accept Thomas. The reality of reservation Poverty and Indigenous American Economies necessitate that the men pool their resources to fund the trip to Phoenix. As the two men travel together, further details of their prior friendship emerge, underscoring Thomas’s significance to Victor’s history—personal and cultural. The flashback in which Victor, without any sense or reason, beats up Thomas marks a turning point in both: It represents the moment Victor attempts to wholly disassociate himself from his Spokane identity. Victor even claims that if Norma had not come along, he would have beaten Thomas to death. As Norma embodies the resilient aspects of Indigenous American culture, her intervention hints that Victor’s cultural roots go too deep for him to alienate himself completely from his community and past.

The physical journey to and from Phoenix both echoes and complicates Victor’s emotional journey. At first, Victor is stuck on the reservation, unable to leave even with the limited help of the Tribal Council. He reluctantly unites with Thomas, who pays for their flight to Arizona. This puts them both among white Americans who Victor feels treat them kindly only out of politeness. The quick plane ride is fraught with insecurities and embarrassment as Victor tries to cope with his “otherness.”

Once in Phoenix, Victor and Thomas reclaim his father’s pickup truck—a literal and figurative inheritance. It is a small incentive for Victor to go to Phoenix and the mode in which he returns home: Without this legacy from his father, neither the trip nor the realizations it sparks in Victor would be possible. As he and Thomas set off for home, Victor drives for 16 hours straight, suggesting that he is taking control of his own journey. However, as the men note, their desert surroundings are bleak and devoid of plant life, water, or animals. The barrenness of this setting reflects Victor’s inner self, which is isolated, lonely, and depleted. The death of the jackrabbit, which occurs while Thomas is driving, indicates the consequences of letting others control one’s own journey, as well as the chaotic and uncontrollable elements of that journey. Victor takes over driving at Thomas’s suggestion, and the two men return home without further incident.

The conclusion of the story reveals Victor’s search for identity to be open-ended. Although the plot’s conflict is resolved in returning home, Victor’s internal conflict remains. Before returning to his house, Victor drops Thomas off, and they have a moment of honest communication. Thomas knows that Victor’s journey is still in motion and that his acceptance of their friendship and his Spokane identity is not complete. However, Victor’s shame when admitting to himself that his treatment of Thomas will not change illustrates his growth and suggests his own recognition of the journey to self-acceptance as a painful, ongoing process. That Victor gives Thomas half of his father’s ashes in an acknowledgment of their shared history also demonstrates his growth. They both decide to take the ashes to Spokane Falls, but not together, illuminating the division that remains between them. Similarly, when Thomas asks Victor to listen to one of his stories, Victor agrees to do so—but just once. This indicates his partial openness to acknowledging his roots and hints that he would like to escape his Loneliness and Self-Isolation.

The bittersweet tone of the piece reflects the relationship Victor has with Thomas and with his past. Victor grapples with his inner conflict, lashes out, and then recoils in apologetic shame. The plot seems at times to lunge forward, then fall back into reflection, then lunge forward once more. Flashbacks interrupt the narrative in much the same way that Victor’s suppressed cultural history constantly interrupts his life. This structural technique illuminates the rocky and continual journey of self-recognition and acceptance. The flow of the structure is also waterlike, evoking the spiritual setting of Spokane Falls, which is itself central to the tribal identity that Victor is grappling with.