Rough Draft

Before I post this, I want everyone to know that this is a VERY rough draft. This is more to show the bare bones form of the paper. I promise the final product will not be anything like this, save for the structure. I'm aware that this paper has no real introduction and a very small conclusion, but I promise it will be fleshed out by the time I turn it in.

Without realizing it or not, Jackson Squared (the narrator) of What You Pawn I Will Redeem is motivated almost completely by his heritage.

First of all, one of the biggest telltale signs of his motivation by heritage is how he acts in a physical sense. Jackson’s actions show that he is more concerned with his past then he wants the reader to believe. His main motivation (if one does not dig deeper) throughout the story is that he wants to gain his grandmother’s headdress. However, if he did not care about his family, he would not have even bothered to try to get it back. In the end of the story, he dances while wrapped up in the aforementioned headdress – a clear sign that he is connected with his heritage. Another physical sign is the company that Jackson keeps. In the beginning, his original friends are Rose of Sharon and Junior, both of whom are Indians. As the story progresses, he meets two other Indians in a bar and gets drunk with them, perhaps playing to a stereotype.

Another sign of Jackson’s motivation is in the way he talks and describes people. First of all, he often shows these signs in his thoughts. When Jackson looks at someone, he will often bring up what tribe that person is from as if to say that it is important to him. Why would he do this if he was not concerned with the pasts of these people? He will also blame some of his mess-ups on being Indian or try to play up to stereotypes. His words also betray how concerned he is with his heritage and the pasts of the people who surround him. Jackson uses humor more than once as if to try to make people comfortable with the fact that he is a homeless Indian – something seen rather frequently in the West. He also makes a point in the beginning of the story talking about where he is from and what tribe he is from.

Finally, some of Jackson’s own personal details and private thoughts point to the fact that his family and tribal past are incredibly important to him. His family is something he focuses a lot during the short story. It seems that he almost wants to apologize to all the women he’s married and his children, but he cannot seem to bring himself to do it. However, the person he concentrates the most on during the story is his grandmother. She is incredibly important to him and he tells many stories, bringing her up multiple times. The reader also gets the feeling that Jackson Jackson wants to somehow make amends with certain things in his life. One realizes at the end that he does seem to make an apology to his grandmother by dancing in her headdress. Perhaps, though, the one person he makes complete peace with is himself. It seems that when he gets the headdress, he finally forgives himself for the things he has done in his life.

For some people, past is something that is hard to face. They will run from it or try to deny it, but Jackson Jackson seems to embrace it.