Reader response Indian Killer

I found the Indian Killer to be an interesting book. I liked how easy it was to follow; the characters were very real and relatable.I see the discrimination that Sherman Alexie was trying to show us; however I also saw unreasonable fear of something or someone different. In his book the whites are afraid of the Indians and the Indians are afraid of the whites. It is that kind of unreasoning fear the can and usually does turn into hatred and prejudice. I believe that it is this kind of fear and hatred that helped spark some of the violence in this book. This fear and hatred is not limited to being between races, Indians hate and distrust between the different tribes. The Crow hate the Apache, the Apache distrust the Hopi, and it just keeps going. Indians tend to be forced to choose between being "Indian" and receiving an education that can improve their lives. If they go to school and try to succeed in the "white" world they are treated as less than the ones that drop out of school and learn and live by the old ways. You can see this in more than just the Indian culture; it happens in almost every there is. The ones that try to blend are pushed out by their own race and the ones that hold on to and follow their heritage are treated badly by general society. Hatred is also driven by desire. The desire to be something you are not because you think they have it better. The Indians in this book thought it was easier to be white and the whites thought that is was better to be Indian with their history and sense of self.
I think that there were really two killers in this book; there was John Smith and then there was the spirit of the repressed Indians. John was the vessel that the spirit used to do the job in Seattle, and will now move on to another vessel.