The last post is the Johnny Cash song “The Ballad of Ira Hayes. Ira Hayes is one of the soldiers who is seen raising the flag at Iwo Jima. This image is the most famous images of war. This soldier, like Tayo was celebrated and respected when he was in uniform, but after the war they were haunted by their demons. Tayo and Ira both suffered from alcoholism. We see how in this country that we are so easily able to disregard Native Americans. They have been mistreated for centuries and even when they are apart of something so historic and unforgettable, they themselves are forgotten, by society. Tayo was able to get help for his demons, but Ira Hyes wasn’t so lucky.
“‘We fought their war for them.’ ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ ‘But they’ve got everything. And we don’t got shit, do we?’…They all shouted ‘Hell no’ loudly and they drank the beer faster and Emo raised the bottle, not bothering to pour the whiskey into the little glass anymore. ‘They took our land, they took everything!”(Silko 51)
We see how Tayo and his friends think the government and the country has treated them after the war. They were put back on the reservations. They weren’t given any thanks for their service and they handled this harsh return to reality by using alcohol. America forgot about them.
http://www2.chappaqua.k12.ny.us/sbfaculty/team8e/jeknisely/IwoJima_flag.jpg
http://thewebs.homestead.com/files/irahayesmarine.jpg
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