Kelsey Beauchamp

IB English with Quinn

Outline for IOP
Introduction:
Thesis: Alexie utilizes storytellingspecifically an oral stylein order to communicate
the importance of shared experiences to connect history with the present.
What is storytelling?
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, sound and/or images, often by
improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every
culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and instilling
moral values.
Storytelling isnt just books but its also TV shows, movies, the art we look at, the
songs we listen to, and even the small conversations we have with one another
How many of you were told stories as a child? Either by your
parents/grandparents/relatives?
How did that make you feel?
Possibly tell own family story
Body:
History of Native American storytelling
The one things most tribes had in common was the fact that they all had a form of
oral storytelling
Storytelling was used to pass on history, culture, and the beliefs of each
nation. This was especially important when white settlers began to
forcibly remove them from the land of their ancestors. Storytelling was a
way to stay connected to their past.
The Shaman (Storyteller) = Thomas Builds-The-Fire
Brings the people together
It was the second-largest party in reservation history and Thomas
Builds-The-Fire was the host (Alexie 12).
In the literal sense, Thomas brings together the people of the
reservation to celebrate with on another
Thomas looked at these five men who shared his skin color, at the white
man who shared this bus which was going to deliver them into a new kind
of reservation, barrio, ghetto, logging-town tin shack (Alexie 103).
Thomas brings together all those put-down by society with his
stories, giving them a sense of connectedness even as theyre being
taken away from their homes/cultures

Sometimes a Shaman would require a gift to tell a story

He look so happy to be spending the time with us that I gave him the new
drug (Alexie 14).
Tell us what you see, Mr. Builds-The-Fire, Junior said (Alexie 14).
The first story Thomas ever tells is after Victor and Junior gave
him a gift
Five Roles of the Shaman
Communicator: The Shaman provided help and advice to members of the
tribe
Take care of each other is what my dreams were saying. Take
care of each other (Alexie 69).
Thomas explaining the vision he had on how to save his
tribe
Educator: The Shaman was the keeper of myth, tradition and tribal
wisdom
We are all given one thing by which our lives are measured, one
determination. Mine are the stories which can change or not
change the world. It doesnt matter which as long as I continue to
tell the stories (Alexie 73).
Thomas explaining how he wasnt given a choice to
become a storyteller
Healer: The Shaman had Spiritual Healing powers and the ability to treat
sickness caused by evil spirits - hence the Westernised name 'Medicine
Man'.
And your father will rise like a salmon, leap over the bridge, over
me, and find his way home (Alexie 74).
Thomas explaining what will happen to Victors father now
that hes gone
Prophet: The Shaman had the ability to perform various forms of prophecy
I heard it on the wind. I heard it from the birds. I felt it in the
sunlight. Also, your mother was just in here crying (Alexie 61).
Takes place after Victors dad died, and Victors confused
on how Thomas knows about what happened
Mystic: The Shaman possessed the ability to communicate with the spirit
world, leave the body and enter the supernatural world to search for
answers
Hell, he looked around our world and then poked his head
through some hole in the wall into another world. A better world
(Alexie 14).

Creation Stories
One of the most well-known traditions in Native American cultures
Definition: symbolic narrative on how the world began and how people first
came to inhabit it
Biggest creation story in the novel is the short story Distances
After this happened, after it began, I decided Custer could have, must
have, pressed the button, cut down all the trees, opened up holes in the
ozone, flooded the earth. Since most of the white men died and most the
indians lived, I decided only Custer could have done something that
backward. Or maybe it was because the Ghost Dance finally worked
(Alexie 104).
Distances speaks of how a great flood swept through the earth
and destroyed all the white men. What was left are two different
tribes: the Urbans and the Skins. There are also the Others who are
god-like in a sense.
Dancing
Storytelling also included dancing as a way to connect tribe members and
illustrate their history
We dance in circles growing larger and larger until we are standing on the shore,
watching all the ships returning to Europe. All the white hands are waving
good-bye and we continue to dance, dance until the ships fall off the horizon,
dance until we are so tall and strong the sun is nearly jealous. We dance that way
(Alexie 17).
Junior is the one telling the story of Thomas dancing the Ghost Dance
which is rooted during the time when Native American were at their
lowest (forced into reservation, where diseases were reeking havoc and
their children were being sent off the boarding schools) and this dance was
claimed to bring about the renewal native society and the decline of the
Whites
Shared Experiences
A Drug Called Tradition
Trial of Thomas Builds-The-Fire
Conclusion:
Ask how many people in the room have either a book, or a movie, or a song that they feel
connects with them on a deeper level than normal. Ask them why that is.
Explain:

 Storytelling is a way to give a voice to the voiceless. They help alter society's
views on certain people.(Give examples of stories that changed society). It allows
us to not feel alone in the world. They give us the past, and tell us how not to
repeat it: theyre a warning of the wrongs and how we can fix them. Storytelling
is the basis to all of us, whether we believe it or not. THESIS. End.
Presentation Strategies:
Have everyone sit in a circle to create a sense of community and to show them what it
would be like to be a part of traditional oral storytelling.
Register:
Use of references/allusions to traditional, native american oral storytelling