Essay Sample on Mediation and Conciliation in Reservation Blues and Smoke Signals

It is no secret that everyone in life faces hardships and struggles. Whether it would be in families, identity, or community, life continues to throw its many challenges to those who are most vulnerable. Yet, hope presents itself for those who need it most, particularly in the form of mediators and conciliation. Within Sherman Alexie’s novel Reservation Blues, as well as the film Smoke Signals, directed by Chris Eyre, mediation and conciliation are heavily prominent. From friendships, to parental relationships, to hidden emotions, each character has their fair share of hardship. However, hope for the future can be found in any situation, as long as those who want the best for people remain in the world.

Throughout Reservation Blues, readers witness the trials of Thomas Builds-the-Fire in the Spokane Indian Reservation. In particular, Thomas goes through his life always around the presence of alcohol. One instance arises when readers finally meet Thomas’ father, Samuel, who is severely intoxicated in Thomas’ driveway. After having set Samuel on his kitchen table, Thomas, Chess, and Checkers all begin to have a rather serious conversation about their childhood, and how they experienced loss of innocence from an early age. As Thomas tells events of his life, such as his mother dying of stomach cancer and his dad burning all the furniture in the house, the Warm Water sisters offer him consolation through their own experience. Both Chess and Checkers had the experience of a father who abused alcohol, much like Samuel Builds-the-Fire. Checkers even brings up the fact that their father said he was the one who killed Hitler. However, Thomas immediately laughs, and responds by saying that his dad “told [Thomas] he was the one who killed Hitler’” (Alexie 120). Though it appears subtly, the humor within the scene acts as a form of mediation for the members of Coyote Springs. Throughout all of their lives, each character has experienced a loss of innocence and spirit due to “the wounds inflicted upon them by the unsparing hand of their” parents (Takaki 95). Yet, they are still able to find consolation through one another, and ease their pain and grief through humor and relatability. Without this use of humor as a mediator for their pain, Coyote Springs would not have a sense of hope. Without the ability to find joy in the midst of their suffering, there is little possibility for them to “keep marching on’” (Takaki 97). 

Alongside shared mediation also comes personal struggle. In Reservation Blues, round characters, as portrayed by Checkers Warm Water, “often display the inconsistencies and internal conflicts found in most real people” (D2L). As readers come to know Checkers, it is evident that she hides her true emotions, such as fear and anger, and puts on a strong front, which any individual can very easily relate to. However, she begins to develop a slight crush, or rather form of infatuation, with Father Arnold. As she begins to become more involved in the church, it is clear that Father Arnold unknowingly acts as Checkers’ personal conciliation between herself and her childhood. In the scene where Checkers visits the church and finds Father Arnold in the graveyard, she tells him of her concern about rejoining Coyote Springs. After they pray for the safety of the band, Father Arnold says to her that “it will be okay’” (Alexie 192). Yet, while he thinks he is merely acting as console and mediation for her anxiety about the band, Checkers acts upon her emotions, and kisses Father Arnold. Throughout her life, it is evident that Checkers has never truly experienced the love or affection she craved as a child, and seeks it out now from Father Arnold. She seeks him out as the mediator between the love she never fully received as a child, and hopes he can give her what she has always wished for: someone to genuinely love her. As a round character, Checkers displays the hidden conflict of wanting attention and affection. But whether or not she will find conciliation in Father Arnold will haunt her until she potentially gives up hope of ever finding true love in life.

Apart from Reservation Blues also comes Chris Eyre’s film Smoke Signals. In the entirety of this film, it is evident that “the trauma of shame, fear, and anger… manifests itself in rampant alcoholism” (Gover). Arnold Joseph is the prime example of this. In a majority of scenes, Arnold is seen intoxicating himself with beer, and hurts those that he loves when under the influence. From burning down Thomas’s family’s house, to hitting his wife and son, to eventually abandoning his family, the influence of alcohol to ease the guilt and pain in Arnold’s heart is an unfortunate sight for viewers. In essence, alcohol acts as Arnold’s mediator, so he can fight against his shame and guilt for his wrongdoings to his family. This relates to a scene in which Suzy Song and Arnold Joseph are walking on a gravel road, where they begin to have a conversation about what the worst thing they have done to someone in their life is (00:50:25-00:51:51). Suzy answers by saying that she “slept with her best friend’s boyfriend’” in college (00:51:52-00:51:53). She continues to carry the guilt of breaking the hearts of three people: her friend, her friend’s boyfriend, and herself. However, when Arnold begins to tell his answer, all he says is that he “broke three hearts too’”, where he is referring to Arlene, Victor, and himself (00:51:44-00:51:46). While in the past alcohol served as a form of conciliation for his shame and guilt, Arnold now finds consolation with Suzy, who sees him for the person he is trying to become, and how is trying to make up for his wrongdoings, even if he does not deserve redemption. Yet, throughout this particular scene, it can be easy to dismiss the crucial aspect of lighting. During the conversation between Arnold and Suzy, this soft lighting, which “can make objects, people and environments look appealing”, also serves as an symbolic and mediating element to the scene (D2L). For many, the influence and effects of alcohol serves as a dark and harsh reality. However, the use of soft lighting within this particular scene allows viewers to see the more authentic, and quite honestly redeemable, side of Arnold. The lighting allows not only Arnold himself, but viewers as well, to have hope for him to make amends with his family, as well as his morals. 

In addition to Arnold, viewers must also take into account the conciliation that occurs between Victor and his anger towards his father. At the end of the film, viewers witness Victor standing on a bridge above a raging river, holding his father’s ashes in a can, which he soon dumps into the waters below (01:22:10-01:23:00). In the scene, Thomas’s voice can be heard narrating over the scene, where he says, “‘If we forgive our fathers, what is left?’” (01:22:56-01:23:00). It is evident that for Victor, this question symbolizes his forgiveness to his father. All Victor’s life, he has thought of his father as nothing but an alcoholic, abusive, and neglectful person. He has carried immense pain, anger, and resentment towards his father. However, once he dumps the ashes into the river, it represents not only Arnold finally becoming free from the same he carried from breaking Victor’s heart, but also Victor becoming free of his anger and pain, and finally forgiving his father for his actions. The tossing of the ashes acts as conciliation between the struggles of Victor and Arnold, and allows them to finally have the relationship they desperately wanted with one another, even if they are not physically together anymore. It allows forgiveness to one another, as well as to themselves, and relieves the burden of anger and pain they have both carried for so long.

Mediators and conciliation can be found in a variety of ways, no matter what situation it may present itself in. For Reservation Blues and Smoke Signals, these concepts are no exception. Both Alexie and Eyre successfully portray consolation, healing, and forgiveness through mediators, and effortlessly demonstrate how hope can be found for any troubled spirit.