Smoke Signals

          Victor and Thomas are two young adults that live on an Indian reservation in Plummer, Idaho and connect through Victor's father, Arnold that Thomas calls a hero. Throughout this film Smoke Signals there are several symbols that appear to be based around the whole story. Since the fire had happened Thomas always called Arnold a hero for saving him but for Victor he always had trouble getting along with his father. "You know there are some children who aren't really children at all, they're just pillars of flame that burn everything they touch. And there are some children who are just pillars of ash, that fall apart when you touch them... Victor and me, we were children of flame and ash"(Smoke Signals). Fire and water is very symbolic throughout this film because the way fire can help with protection but can also hurt and kill things. As it is the opposite for water it embellishes the fire also a source in protecting and healing things from burning. Another symbolic appearance in the film is when Thomas compares Victor's father to a salmon towards the end of the film. Since July 4th, the day of the fire Victor and Thomas has never got along well. "Thomas I wish that fire had killed you"(Smoke Signals). Victor always hated Thomas because he thought that Arnold had saved Thomas instead of his own son but then finally realized towards the end of the film that he saved both of them. When it finally came to dumping the ashes in the river Victor gave some of his dad's ashes to Thomas like he was a brother to him."Victor I am going to make one more trip to the river and I am going to toss these in and your Dad's ashes will rise and rise into the heavens, just like the salmon. Funny I was thinking about doing the same thing myself. I mean I never thought of my dad like a salmon but it would be just like cleaning out the attic, like throwing things away when they have no more use"(Smoke Signals). When Thomas relates Arnold to a salmon because of how salmon swim upstream and spend their whole life swimming upstream and get beaten against the rocks. With Arnold being a native and growing up around natives they struggle daily through these obstacles about being different from other people. Like salmon, Natives spend their whole life trying to fit in because of what other people think of them but in reality we are all the same. 

         

          Natives are known to have a certain stereotype of being alcoholisms but that can be present with any other race as well. Throughout the film Arnold always found alcohol to be a pain reliever from what had been done in the past with him being in the war and setting the house on fire killing Thomas's parents. "Thomas you don't even know my father. Did you know that my father was the one that set your parent's house on fire? Did you know that my father beat my mother? Did you know that my father beat me too? All I know is that when your father left your mother lost you too"(Smoke Signals). Victor and his mother were the only ones that saw the true Arnold and the main reason of why he left. Arnold was very violent towards Victor, his mother, and even Thomas but Thomas only looked at him for being a hero. It was hard for Victor to like his dad as much as Thomas did and that's why Victor would get mad at Thomas for saying those things. "I never had a drop of alcohol in my life, not a drop. What kind of Indian are you?"(Smoke Signals) This is an important quote from the film because Natives are known to drink all the time and being a son of a native Victor didn't want to become like his dad. When sheriff asked if he drank he was very surprised that he had never drank before in his life because of the stereotype that natives have. "Do we forgive our fathers in our age or in theirs? Or in their deaths, saying it to them, or not saying it? If we forgive our fathers what is left?"(Smoke Signals) This last quote that Thomas said in the film was that even when our closest loved ones sometimes may be violent and mean we can always find a way to forgive them.