As a quick reminder, Thomas Builds-the-Fire is the one who travels with Victor, the main character, to go pick up Victor's dead dad. They aren't exactly friends, but they were at some point when they were both kids. The main thing that Thomas is known for is telling stories, however, he doesn't have a lot of friends in the reservation so he mostly spends time by himself, like in this quote, "Thomas would remain the crazy storyteller who talked to dogs and cars, who listened to the wind and the pine trees." He doesn't have a lot of people to share his stories with, so when he hears that Victor's dad died and he needed money, Thomas pitched in some cash and told him that we wanted to come with, for some company.
I think that Thomas has some similarities to the current COVID-19 situation because his isolation sort of reflects our isolation during social distancing. For example, Thomas spends a lot of time by himself instead of with other, just like people are having to do now with social distancing. He has to get by by talking to himself as he wants to tell stories just like some people now are watching a lot of movies or playing video games. There is a small difference here though, as we do have means to virtually communicate with others which is something Thomas can't do, as people just ignore him. Another thing that Thomas shares with us is how he acts during the trip. For example, he talks for pretty much the entire plane ride with an Olympic gymnast because "people talk on planes." He loves this because he gets to tell his stories to someone who hasn't heard them before. This is similar to when people have opportunities to connect with other people during quarantine, they love the opportunity.
Overall, the isolation Thomas faces is similar (not the same) as the kind we are facing now.
Your post draws some really interesting connections between "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" and our current moment, as we've had to become more isolated in response to the coronavirus pandemic. I certainly feel likelier to "[talk] to dogs and cars" and feel like I spend more time "listen[ing] to the wind and the pine trees" these days. And you're right that the opportunity to talk to someone new has become particularly exciting (like Thomas on the plane). Thanks for sharing! -Ms. O'Brien
ReplyDelete