Thomas Joseph and Victor Builds-the-Fire are the two main character of the movie “Smoke Signal,” directed by Sherman Alexie. Thomas and Victor are friends who grew up in Native American reservation. They have totally different character; Thomas is kind, gentle, optimistic and traditional character with nerdy looks and Victor is kind of realistic kind of person but he was also a rude person at first and has got some attitude problem but at the end due to the friendship of Thomas and the experience of their journey made him change his perspective towards Thomas and his own father.
Thomas has always felt the strong relation with Victor because Victor’s father (Arnold) saved him from the fire when he was an infant. He felt that he should be the part of Victor’s journey to get his father’s ashes as Thomas has strong feeling towards Arnold, he consider Arnold like his own father. So, Thomas helps Victor with all the money he needs to get to Phoenix. At the begging of their journey they could barely understand each other’s nature; however it was their first time out of reservation and each other was all they got during their journey.
Even after knowing that it was due to Arnold his parents died, Thomas had no feeling of hatred which made Victor respect him more. When Arnold left the reservation, it’s not only Vector who lost his father Thomas who use to hang out with Arnold also felt like he lost his father. It was the death of Arnold who brought both of them together and helped to build a good relation. From this what we can say is Arnold and the life of reservation was the crucial relationship between Thomas and Victor.
Hello, I agree victor mostly, had a bad attitude towards everything that involved in his life. He disliked Thomas, and thought he was a loser. He only cared about how to be cool instead from within. Thomas is the opposite, he shows Victor that life's not only about the outside, but from the inside. Thomas was always a positive person, he brought joy to people, and only thought good things about people.
ReplyDeleteAn example would be when, victor bashes his father, calling him a liar,Thomas immediately offense his father, he says he was a great man. He saw greatness in him. I believe, the only reason why victor changed was because of Thomas. Thomas helped guide him to become a better person, and to know more about himself.
Their relationship differed at some point, but towards the end, they wanted the same goal.
Thanks, Lesley
Hi Sujan,
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me that both Victor and Thomas are operating off incorrect beliefs about Arnold. Thomas thinks Arnold saved his life, which is only partially true since he's also the reason he needed saving in the first place. Because he was "saved" by Arnold, Thomas is in awe of him. Victor believes his father didn't save him from the fire, which reinforces his belief that Arnold doesn't love him.
I like your observation about the loss of both fathers. It seems like there's an argument to be made about this.
Thanks for your insights.
Take care,
Lauren
Hi Sujan,
ReplyDeleteIt was almost as if they had a brotherly kind of relationship. It was like a love hate reltationship. They did share the growing up life of the indian reservation together. They also shared a bond with Victor's dad Arnold. Thomas felt that Arnold was a father to him for saving him in the fire when he was an infant. It was cool to watch Victor and Thomas get so close and having only each other off the indian reservation. Thanks for your insight on the movie.
Dina
Hi Sujan,
ReplyDeleteI really liked what you shared about Thomas having a strong relationship with Victor do to the fact that Victor dad saved him from the Fire. I never really gave that part much thought, but your right; I bet Thomas felt a sort of kinship towards Victor because of that. That also might explains what Thomas is always talking about Victor dad and telling stories about the times or dreams that Thomas had about Arnold. I think that their trip together helped them become closer and even the fact that Thomas found out that it was Arnold who had killed his parents did not change his relationship with Victor it brought them closer because now they had each other and finally new the truth. They were now brothers not because they lived on the reservation but because they shared so many experiences together and the ashes or Arnold.
Thank you for pointing out some great stuff you gave me something to think about.
Stacy
I agree with you that both Thomas and Victor lost their dad, when Arnold left the reservation. Never really crossed my mind that Arnold was a father figure to Thomas. To me Arnold was just trying to make up for what he did to Thomas' parents. In the end Arnold's death had a surprising effect on bring Thomas and Victor closer together. The trip they take together really did help bring their relationship come together.
ReplyDelete