Evolution

About the author

Sherman Alexie is an American novelist, short story writer, poet,
and filmmaker. he uses his Native American background as inspiration
for his poetry. In "Evolution," Alexie addresses the
compartmentalization and commodification of culture by supplanting
Buffalo Bill's stage antics with a business venture
Introduction
Evolution is about the relationship between the Native Americans
(Indians) and the Americans. The conflict in the poem is that Buffalo
Bill takes everything from the Indians and opens The Museum of Native
American Cultures and still makes them pay to enter.
summary
The poem “Evolution” by Sherman Alexie is about the business ventures
of a man called Buffalo Bill who does business with the Native
Americans on a reservation, opening first a pawn shop where they pawn
all that can be given away. Buffalo Bill then turns his shop into a
museum and charges those same Indians to visit the remains of their
identity. Pawn shops tend to represent sites of unorganized
accumulation, places that gather anything and everything with the
prospect of profiting from the vulnerability of others. This poem
describes the exploitation of Native Americans at the hand of Buffalo
Bill and his pawn shop.
In his poem Evolution, he talks about how the Native American culture
is being degraded. He starts the poem with Buffalo Bill opening up a
pawn shop across from a liquor store on a reservation. This was set there
for a reason, because people can pawn their items then go get liquor.
Then the poem goes into all of the things they bring into the pawn shop.
Some of those items being culturally significant items that they are
selling to have liquor. Towards the end of the poem “the last Indian has
pawned everything but his heart, Buffalo Bill takes that for twenty
bucks.” this shows how ruthlessly the Native Americans were exploited
and taken advantage of.

Lastly, Buffalo Bill makes a Native American Museum and charges five
dollars for Indians to enter. When the Indians have nothing, they then
realize that they have sold away their culture. The title, evolution, fits
this poem because it shows how much the worth Indians put on their
culture has evolutionized.

Interpretations of the Poem

*The poem uses exaggeration to show how much the Natives gave to the
White Man.

*The Heart being taken from the Indian symbolizes Bill taking away the
spirit of the Native people.

*This poem is a Lyric with no rhyme scheme.

Symbols
The location of the shop is an important symbol because it’s located
right across the border from the liquor store and is open 24 hours a day,
7 days a week. This symbolizes the drug abuse that Indians
have. Buffalo Bill symbolizes the power that the Whites have against the
Indians.
Themes 
racism , greediness.