The Reservation Blues
The main characters of "Reservation Blues" were affected in different ways by having the choice to stay on the reservation or actually leaving the reservation. The reservation was a place where the Indians could feel at home. Also the reservation was a place that could feel like a closed box to the Indians. Each Coyote Springs band member had a different reason for wanting to leave or stay and he or she each was affected differently also. Many of the other Indians as well as the band members ponder the question of if the band should have stayed on the reservation of if they should have left. There are many positive and negative things for the characters leaving the reservation. One of the positive aspects of leaving the reservation is that Coyote Springs was able to try and get past the "going nowhere life" that could happen if you stayed on the reservation. The main example of this were the fathers of Coyote Springs and how they were always drunk, gone, or made nothing out of their lives. Coyote Springs had seen too much of that and wanted out, they wanted to be famous. With being famous also comes money, something that is not very prominent on the reservation. Some of the negative things that happened were that the reservation
looked down on the band to the point where they even wanted to remove the band. Also the competitive New York and even Seattle was very intimidating to Coyote Springs. It was a new world almost and the book illustrated many of the differences between the whites and Indians. The book showed that the whites could, given the chance, walk all over the Indians or use them such as with Betty and Veronica did. When making a decision of leaving your homeland or staying you never know all the consequences of that decision or how to prepare for them. Coyote Springs seemed to be making a good decision to go out and try to make it big, they were a decent band. But, they did not know the tribe would turn against them, the hardness of trying to be a modern Indian when everybody expects the Indians to be like the ones in the movies, even some of the Indians themselves expect this. They did not know the magic of the guitar or the effects of living back on the reservation after they could not perform in New York. This experience and many others in life are mostly found out by trial and error and people learn from their mistakes. Coyote Springs was a good group of people, sometimes Victor and Junio
Some common words found in the essay are:
Coyote Springs, Reservation Blues, coyote springs, Spokane Reservation, Indian Victor, Victor Junior, Betty Veronica, , York Seattle, leaving reservation, stayed reservation, staying reservation, reservation coyote springs, similar people, reservation indians, reservation coyote, positive negative,
Approximate Word count = 802
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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