Response to "Fictive Fragments of a Father and Son" by David Mura

I once read somewhere a quote that said, "Isn't it strange that we know our parents our whole lives, but they only know us for a part of theirs."All parents have lives before their children, and it is up to the parents to tell their children about their lives before they had children. But if the parents, do not tell their children about their lives before they had them, the children will then just fill in the gaps with their own stories about what their parents lives were like before them.

David Mura

In the story "Fictive Fragments of a Father and Son" by David Mura, a son fills in the gaps to his fathers history as to know him better. The narrator's father in the story does not share much about his life before he was a father. The son knows that his father is a second generation Japanese American. The son knows that his father spent time in interment camps during World War II. It is with the stories that he knows, that the sons makes assumptions about his father and fills in the gaps with his own "fictive fragments" as to who he thinks his father was before.

The life of a parent before their children are born is very different from their lives as a parent. Being a parent changes a person's life. For some it means giving up on their dreams and then forcing them onto their children. For others they just try not to do as bad as their own parents, but end up making the same mistakes with their own children that their parents made with them.

I personally know very little about my parents before they had children. I've heard some stories, mostly from other relatives about my parents. The stories I mostly hear are told over and over again. On those rare occasions when I hear a story that I have never heard before, I feel as if I see my parents through new eyes.

It is very rare for my parents to tell me stories about themselves when they were younger. When they do tell me stories of what they were like before they had my siblings and I feel like I am seeing a whole new side of them. It is not that my parents are private people and don't like to talk about the past. They do tell us things when they ask, but if they have to talk about it they wont.

My mom and I

Both of my parents come from a family of six children. My father is the second American born generation  of Italian immigrants. My mother comes from a long line of English, French, Dutch and Irish born immigrants from the early 1800's.

My Mom and I

I can relate to the character of this story because I do not know the full extent the lives that my parents lived before they had me. I guess, like the narrator of this story, I do fill in the gaps with my own stories about my parents.

I know that my mother is the fourth child of six, she is considered the oldest of the three younger ones. Her and her siblings were always divided into two groups, the three older children and the three younger ones. I assume it was just easier to keep track of them that way, but in reality I have no idea. I know that my mother went to college for nursing, and today she is a nurse. But I have no idea what kind of student she was, who her friends were. I know she tells me to work hard at school, and her friends are the parents of my friends and co-workers.

My immediate family at my sister's wedding 

I don't know what my mother was like when she was my age. I know she was engaged to my father and working as a nurse, but that is as much as I know.

I love my parents very much, but they did have different lives before they met each other, got married and had children. It is very strange to think of my mother and father when they were my age. It's not that my parents are secretive about their lives before they had children, I guess my siblings and I just never asked.

Smoke Signals

The film "Smoke Signals" tells the story of two very different Native American men. I feel that the difference between the men can be seen as how some Native Americans see the world. 

The film was written, directed, acted, produced, and made by an all Naive American Team, that is what makes this film so unique. It is the story of two Native Americans, told with the help of an all Native American film crew and production team.  I feel that is what makes this film so original and true to the lives of Native Americans today. Most Native American stories that are told today are told through the eyes of white men, who bastardize their culture and life style. 

Just take a look at one of the most recent movies that came out, The Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger is supposed to have a Native American side-kick named Tonto. But the movie that was recently released had a white man playing Tonto. Yes Johnny Depp is a great actor, but he is a Native American actor. I read articles where the Native American people were in an outrage over the casting of Depp and were going to boycott the movie. Tonto is a huge figure in Native American Culture. The original actor from the television series was a Native American, and casting a white man because he has a better and longer resume over an actual Native American actor is just another blow by the white man to Native Americans and their history. Another instance for this happening is very recent. There is going to be a new Peter Pan movie, and the actress that they cast for the role of Tiger Lily is Rooney Mara, another white actor was chosen over a Native American actor, because she has a longer list of movies on her resume. The production studio claims that they cast her in the role because she was the best actress for the part. Yes Mara and Depp may be great actors, but they are not Native American. These are just the recent  instances of the white-washing of two very prominent Native American icons in film and television. That is why the film Smoke Signals is so important. It was written, directed, acted in, produced, and made by an all Native American team. 

Carsen Gray in Peter Pan 2003

To the right is a still from the 2003 version of Peter Pan. The actress who played Tiger Lily. Her name is Carsen Gray. She is a descendant of the Haida tribe. In 2003, eleven years ago, they cast a Native American to play the role of Tiger Lily, but in 2014, they cast a white woman to play the role. I see that as a step back for Native American Actors. There are so few roles for Native American actors. I see giving Rooney Mara the role that was made for a Native American as a slap in the face to the Native American culture. 

I see Thomas as the type of Native American who goes along with what the white man wants for and from Native Americans. Thomas represents what people think of when they think of a modern day American. He is a mystic, who loves to tell stories and live in the past. Thomas also represents what the white man wants the modern day Native American to be. I feel that he is complicit in his life on the reservations. He is happy to have a life at all.

 I see Thomas being saved by Arnold Joseph, as a metaphor for the white men who forced the Native Americans from their land. The burning house, the fire that Arnold started,  is the land that the white men have forcibly taken. Him realizing that he has started the fire, is the all the wars that have been fought over the land. When Arnold catches Thomas from being thrown from the burning house, I see that as the white man's last resort to having to deal with the Native Americans and putting them on reservations. 

Thomas is a good man, but he is complicit with his form of slavery. He takes what the white man has given to him, and does not question if there should be more.

On the other hand, Victor represents everything that the white man has tried to squash out of the Native American's. He is stoic and angry. He does not like people telling him what to do. Victor is represents everything that the modern day Native American really is, while Thomas is the dream of what the white man wants the Native Americans to be. Victor is angry for what has happened in the past. The history of his life reflects the plight of the Native Americans. He has suffered greatly, and is angry about it. 

Victor's life is that of a typical Native American living on a reservation. He has alcoholic family members, who try to drink away the troubles of their ancestors pasts, and being forced to live in a designated area. Victor is angry for all of that. Life has never been kind to Victor Joseph, just like history has not  been kind to Native Americans, since Columbus "discovered" America. 

I feel that the theme of fathers and sons is very strong in this film. I feel that way because Victor Joseph never saw his father as a father figure and role model , while Thomas always saw Arnold Joseph as a father figure and role model. Victor had to live with Arnold and see him every day, and see him for the scared and sad man that he was. While Thomas, who never really knew his father,  only has the stories that he has been told about Arnold, and a few occurrences over his youth to form an opinion about him. I feel that this represents that someone can idolize someone from afar, but if they truly got to know who they were, they might not idolize them at all. A father and a father figure are two very different things. 

I feel Arnold, could only be a good father to Victor by leaving him. He was only showing his son the bad side of himself with the drinking and the abuse. Arnold was also a good father figure to Thomas in leaving because he never let Thomas see the bad side of him, he only left Thomas with the good memories of him. Thomas never had to think about Arnold's abuse or drinking, he only was left to wonder why he left. I feel that Arnold also shows that he cares about his own mental state with leaving. Everyday he had to live on the reservation, and see reminders of what he caused, and it was killing him inside. By leaving, he was giving himself a new lease on life and could begin to heal from the past wounds that he had given himself. Arnold had to leave because the only way he could forget about the fire and all the pain that he had caused, was to drink. If he could not drink and had to stay on the reservation he would have gone crazy. 

This film shows the complexity of the lives of Native Americans. It shows that each new generation of Native Americans will have to deal with the pasts of their ancestors in a a different way, or they will loose their culture forever and cease to exist.