Amusements by Sherman Alexie

Crazy mirrors.

In Amusements, Victor returns as the narrator, this time spending the evening at a local carnival with his cousin Sadie. They stumble upon their drunk relative, “Dirty Joe,” passed out on the grass while the other ticketholders (mostly white) completely ignore him. To them, he’s just another drunk Indian acting a fool. Victor and Sadie decide the best solution is to bribe the roller-coaster operator and strap Dirty Joe into a ride, hoping the thrill will sober him up fast. It’s a funny premise with some great comedic moments, especially as the two of them argue over what to do with their inebriated relative. But beneath the dark humor, that familiar sense of sadness creeps in again, a common feature that runs through so many of Sherman Alexie’s stories.

Alexie has explored racial discrimination before, but here it’s handled with a a more playful edge. There’s a great scene near the end where Victor runs from security guards who immediately assume that, since he’s Indigenous, he must be involved in the roller-coaster stunt. They are technically right, but the speed of their assumption says everything. Victor becomes an easy target, not because of what he’s done, but because of who he is based on skin color. He hides in a fun house filled with warped mirrors that stretch and twist his reflection, turning the moment into a powerful metaphor. Victor sees himself fractured—caught between wanting to distance himself from his cultural identity and knowing he can never fully escape it. The story captures that painful tension of trying to blend into whiteness while carrying shame, fear, and embarrassment about being visibly Indigenous in a world that is always watching, judging, and ready to misunderstand him.