Jimi Hendrix and the Traffic Signal

The story "Because My Father Always Said He Was The Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play "The Star Spangled Banner" At Woodstock" is told in the first person by Victor, a character who appears in the other stories as well. Victor describes some of the struggles of living on a reservation, but primarily family issues with his mother and father. The negativity stems from his father, as all of his relationships become strained at some point, either with his son or wife. The line "They fought each other with the kind of graceful anger that only love can create" reminded of the Virgin Suicides and Mrs. Lisbon. She battles her daughters to point of suicide to protect them from the world, apparently out of love. In this story, the characters also participate in unpleasant things that are not usually associated with love. The second story describes the perpetual cycle that I mentioned in my previous post. The characters reminisce their days as athletes in high school. Since then, not much has been accomplished and the days are spent drinking beer and thats pretty much it. Whenever a young kid shows any promise, they know nothing will actually come of it because once that kid starts drinking and embraces a stagnant lifestyle, they aren't going anywhere. Nobody ever leaves and nobody seems to think much of it either. Instead of being proactive and trying to improve, the characters that we see just brood and feel bad for themselves, and scoff at the idea of trying to go to college.