The toughest indian in the world

Sherman Alexie’s short story The Toughest Indian in the World focuses on the character that the author refers to as “the fighter”. The author begins the story by stating that he is Spokane Indian and due to that he only picks up Indian hitchhikers. Alexie tells how his father would always pick up Indian hitchhikers and would say “make room” for what was usually fifteen to twenty Indians at a time. The narrator’s job as a reporter for a newspaper sets him on highway 2 for an interview he has to do which is where he encounters “the fighter” for the first time.  The author describes the Indian with “Long, straggly black hair. Brown eyes and skin. Missing a couple of teeth…A few whiskers masquerading a mustache” (26). As the Indian enters the narrator’s vehicle the narrator automatically know that he is a fighter. The narrator asks the fighter a couple of questions which lead him to know that the fighter is headed back to the rez (where many Indians were raised), that he had money from the fights he had won, that he was a Lummi Indian and that his last fight was the reason he decided to head back home. The narrator seems to have developed a certain type of admiration for this character and invites him to stay with him at his hotel since it is late. As the fighter and the narrator first enter their room the fighter sleeps on the floor and the narrator sleeps on the bed. Later that night the narrator realizes that the fighter has gotten into bed with him and was completely naked with his penis hard rubbing up against the narrator. The narrator and the fighter then proceed to engage in sexual relations. The narrator then walks into the bathroom and as he is surprised by what just happened the fighter asks him if he can stay the night, the narrator tells him he should probably leave. As the fighter walks out the door the narrator takes a hot shower then afterward falls asleep. The situation that happened between the fighter and the narrator leaves him feeling confused as he has never engaged in this type of situation with another man but also leaves him feeling like a stronger man.