“The Sin Eaters” by Sherman Alexie: A Dystopian Island in a Mostly Auspicious Archipelago

Abstract

The belated publication of Sherman Alexie’s story “The Sin Eaters” as part of the collection The Toughest Indian in the World (2000) is worthy of the interest of biographic-textual scholars for its singularity. Not only did the author delay its appearance due to the very sinister tone of the story, but he decided to include it at the very heart of a collection, which is very different both stylistically and thematically. Paradoxically, however, the dystopian vision of the United States in the late 1950s offered by “The Sin Eaters” is an effective “counterweight” to the rest of the materials compiled in the collection. Assisted by the ideas of experts in the field of dystopian fiction, the article analyzes the story as an adequate counterpart and complement to the other, more promising, pictures offered in the volume.

Keywords

• dystopian fiction
• "termination" policies
• biographic-textual analysis
• narratorial voice
• Native American fiction