I read the short story entitled, Assimilation. It was about an Indian woman married to a white man within a short snapshot of a few days in their lives, Mary Lynn and Jeremiah. Firstly, there are a plethora of topics that could be discussed, from their interracial relationship, to their parenting attitudes to colorism to how she views herself and how she views white men, including her husband. In the span of less than twenty pages, Alexie does an excellent job of capturing so many things of Mary Lynn's life.
What I will briefly touch upon is one one of the quotes from the story: "Long ago, Jeremiah and Mary Lynn had both decided to challenge those who stared by staring back, by flinging each other against walls and tongue-kissing with pornographic elan." (Alexie, 14)
In a few words, this made me think of the realities of being in an interracial relationship (also, side note I have many thoughts of relationships being labeled as "interracial" as if in other relationships, both partners have the exact same culture and background because of sharing the same race. . .) and how political interracial relationships can be even without any intention of being so whatsoever. In the story, Jeremiah and Mary were just two kids in love who started a life together and two decades along the way, their backgrounds and racial identities shape their interactions, parenting and perceptions of the world and each other.
Alexie really does an incredible job of framing this in a humanly, yet raw way. I can't wait to continue to read his stories after finals week end!!!
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