Relaince (Final draft) due oct 22

    In the story of “Chango,” Bony is a grown man, living in the comfort of his parents home. He finds a severed monkey head “Chango.” Time that could be used to better his own life is then spent with garbage. “Train Time” is a short story of Major Miles and Eneas, Eneas lives on an indian reservation taking care of the elder indians. Major miles finds interest in the boy because he is so willing to share his time to take care of others. The story of “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is a vignette about a homeless indian man, Jackson Jackson ( or Jackson squared) and his quest to buy back his grandmothers regalia he found in a pawn shop window. The regalia had been stolen from his grandmother long ago because it had been so long Jackson felt it was his duty to return it to his family. He is given 20 dollars by the pawn store owner to start him off on his journey. These three short stories are evidence that people in society are often too dependant and reliant causing them to be selfish and lazy, those that are independent are successful.
     Bony find a friendship with a monkey head he discovered in his parents front yard. He lives off his father and mothers money, Bony does not have a job, house or family of his own. He is an example of someone who is too dependant, he cannot survive in the world without the safety of his parents. His parents often ask him when he will start caring about his life. They tell bony to do something with his life. His father's opinion is clear “Bony needed to stop lying in his calzoncillos [underwear] every morning and go out and find a job, earn some money” (Casares, Chango, 42). Bony is solely dependant on his parents for his shelter nourishment and entertainment. He is a man, not a young boy. He has found little success in his life, and has become very lazy and selfish, not only does he not do anything for his own benefit but does not care that having a monkey head in the yard takes away from his mother’s business, “What were her customers going to say? Who would want to buy perfume from a woman living with such an ugly thing in her front yard” (Casares, Chango, 42). Bony has no sympathy for his mother, of course she isn’t pleased with her son keep trash by allowing a dead money to stay at there home. Bony was shows nothing but apathy for the situation, “He was getting by, except for his parents hassling him about finding a job he didn’t have any complaints” (Casares, Chango, 42). Not only does Bony not care that his actions are negatively affecting his family but is annoyed with them when they show love by encouraging him to do better with his life. Bony has become selfish and completely lazy.
     Eneas is the opposite of lazy, he fends for himself and still finds the time and energy to take care or the Elder Indians. Major Miles recruits/finds kids on the Indian Reservation to send to school outside the reservation in order to give them an opportunity to have a successful life. “Something about the boy made Major Miles forget his determination to depart. Perhaps it was his wordlessness, his uncomplaining wordlessness” (McNickle, Train Time, 93). Eneas does not complain about the work he does. This made Major Miles care about him, Eneas wasn’t some punk for a kid. Major Miles “had decided that day that he would help the boy in anyway possible, because he was a boy of quality” (McNickle, Train Time, 93). Eneas showed independence in his life, this was noticed by others and rewarded. Major Miles picked Eneas to be sent to school and receive an experience that would almost guarantee a successful life for him.
     Jackson Jackson wanders through town everyday, one day he stumbles upon a pawn store that has a traditional Indian Regalia in the window. He enters the pawn store to find out how much the pawnbroker is asking for the item. He explains to the pawnbroker that it was stolen from his grandmother when she was young and that he cannot spend much money on it because he only has five dollars in change, the pawnbroker decides to sell the regalia to Jackson for a very low price if he could come up with the money by noon the next day. Then the man handed him twenty dollars and wished him luck. “I carried the twenty-dollar bill and our five dollars in loose change over to the 7-eleven and spent it” (Alexie, What You Pawn I Will Redeem, 442). The first thing Jackson did with the money given to him was spend it, he continued this irresponsible behavior for the rest of the day till the point he drank himself silly at a bar and was waken up by a police officer the next day on the train tracks. He begged and begged for money “Do you have any money I can borrow?” (Alexie, What you Pawn I Will Redeem, 443). The money he received from begging he spent, he was reliant on others to pay for the regalia, but then the money went wasted. Jackson returned to the pawn shop at noon that day with only five dollars and then the pawnbroker gave it to him for the five dollars. This indirectly encourages the selfish lazy and irresponsible behavior exhibited in the story of Jackson Jackson.
     These stories are evidence that laziness and selfishness are a result of people in society being reliant on others and in turn they reap what they have sown and eventually find themselves living an unsuccessful life full of disappointment and dismay. To avoid this, it would be wise to follow the example of Eneas in the story “Train Time” by being self reliant and caring about others, then will be the reward of others caring for those that care for themselves and show it by being independent.