Scholars criticize Sherman Alexie's fiction for displaying the harmful stereotypes that the culture is desperately trying to rid itself of. There are several main characters in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven who are persistently drunk, broke, and do not live generally happy lives on the reservation. In “Writing Ourselves: The Reclamation and Preservation of Native American Identity in Literature,” Richard Mace insists that “Alexie shows them drunk, falling and drowning in a puddle left by a tire track, and drunks with dirty pants lying on their train tracks. waiting to die” (234). These typical images of American Indians show little respect and offend many current Indians, but Alexie points out that something needs to change. Alexie's decision to include the pitiful image of the American Indian reveals how the culture is still willing to fight even though it has been defeated repeatedly throughout history. I believe that Alexie includes these negative descriptions in the stories to produce a positive one