Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven portray the hardships faced by Native Americans at the hands of the overbearing force of traditional American culture. Alexie uses multiple perspectives in his book to convey the complexity of the situation on the reservation. However, its recurring themes such as survival, tradition, and underlying cultural ties tie the stories together, as does the overall message about the resilience of Native Americans and their culture. With these consistent themes, the multiple perspectives present in his stories demonstrate the validity of his cultural points through their repetition. In his composite novel, Alexie reveals the resilience of Native American culture by breaking it down into a mathematical equation that makes an important statement about the survival of Native American culture. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Alexie highlights the importance of imagination through her illustration of the survival process: “Survival = anger x imagination. Imagination is the only weapon in reserve” (150). The ability to imagine a better world or situation is a coping mechanism for Native Americans. One way they do this is through storytelling. This is shown when the narrator of “A Good Story” tells a happy story at his mother's request. He observes the poor situation he and his mother find themselves in at the beginning of the story, with no food in the cupboards and only sad stories. She makes up a lighthearted story for her mother and finally states, “Believe me, there's just enough goodness in all of this” (Alexie 144). Using one's imagination to create a simple story that painted a pleasant picture was enough to make life's hardships seem bearable. In this case, the use of imagination was “just enough.” Alexie attributes the power of such imagination to its necessity in Native American society in his epigraph for the chapter "Imagining the Reservation," which is a quote from Lawrence Thornton: "We must believe in the power of the imagination because it is all we have and ours is stronger than theirs” (Alexie 149). This quote comes from one of Thornton's novels in which a character finds himself in a situation similar to that of Native Americans because he is left to imagine his country as it was in the past for address the declining situation of the present. This quote itself conveys that imagination is stronger in Native American society because it is an integral part of their survival. The need for imagination is also exemplified in the story by the need for tradition and the need deeply rooted in stories as a connection to lore. This is shown when Victor decides to let Thomas accompany him to Arizona. He lets him go because he “felt a sudden need for tradition” (Alessio 62). Imagination is strengthened by its necessity, and its necessity is broad because of the roots that imagination has in their tradition of storytelling. With this in mind, Alexie's composite novel can be seen as a product of necessity and imagination with the purpose of bringing forward a piece of Native American culture. While conveying its necessity and power, Alexie conveys that the Indian imagination is tied to modern American culture. society. The narrator in “Imagining the Reserve” asks an important question regarding the effect of modern society on the Indian imagination: “How can we imagine a new language when the language of the enemy keeps our dismembered tongues tied to its belt?.