Gerald Vizenor (b. 1934)


One of the more prolific Native American writers, has influenced more writers than perhaps any other contemporary figure.
Known for employing the trickster—for him an elusive figure who refuses to be pinned down in any role, or into any constraints.
Known also as a “postmodern” writer—constantly employing word-play as a technique in his writing. Although we can see from his “Shadows” that this is not empty wordplay—it has for itself a kind of tradition, a kind of meaning in its very elusiveness.
International cultural influences. One with the Haiku in Japan (to which he was exposed while in the Army in post-WW2 Japan). The other the legend of the Monkey King in China (on a visiting professorship in the 80’s).

Short Story Reading Worksheet

Historical/Regional setting: The Res. In Minnesota

Social/ economic/ class factors
Social: a thriving social scene, where poverty is the rule, and yet there is a sense of community between the various members of the nation, inhabitants of the tribe. Much of the glue that holds them together is a kind of joke at the expense of the the govt. (i.ed. waiting for their claims check)

Cast of Characters (Brief descriptions
Uncle Clement—“Almost”
Narrator--Pincher
Pig Foot
Black Ice

Primary Action of the story:
Primary action is the preparation for the carving contest.
But the story is almost primarily abou the characters, with their quirky background and the aspect of having assigned nicknames.

Quirks, twists, surprises: The Ice trickster liberated from the block of Ice. In a story so relentlessly imaginative, no real surprises that surprise.

Tone or voice of the story:
Kind of a tall tale, a yarn. Maybe a “Wonder Years” voice-over.

Some significant lines from the story.
Definition of “trickster on the top of 699.

What the story conveys (the moral, the message, the larger implications).
There is a premium on the “Almost,” which in a way is almost playing by the rules. Even the Ice Trickster is too large for the contest, almost, but like Cotton Hill must lose its shins.
In the end, the contest provides a back door to the means of Pincher getting his Bicycle.