Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Sherman Alexie's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is a vivid exploration of the complex relationship between violence, history, and identity. The poem takes as its entry point the eponymous horror film, famous for its extreme brutality, and uses it as a lens to examine the visceral history of violence-particularly against Native Americans like the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho mentioned in the text.

The poem begins with an epigraph by Stephen King, a writer synonymous with horror. King's reflection on the terrifying nature of the film immediately sets the stage for the complicated emotions that the speaker, who identifies as an American Indian, feels while watching it. The speaker confesses, "I have seen it and I like it: The blood," a statement that already implicates him in the violence displayed. He relates this bloodlust to the historical massacres faced by Native Americans, such as the one at Sand Creek, suggesting that violence is part of his inherited "vocabulary."

Alexie brilliantly parallels scenes from the film with real-life instances of violence. When the character Leatherface crushes a white boy's skull with a sledgehammer, the speaker is reminded of another "killing floor" in a slaughter yard. He then segues into the horror of the Sand Creek Massacre. This comparison is not made lightly; Alexie is pointing out the inherent violence that has shaped American history, and by extension, the American psyche. He insists, "Violence has no metaphors; it does have reveille," emphasizing the grim reality of brutality, a wake-up call that cannot be sugar-coated or abstracted.

The speaker's view of the film is further complicated by his admission that he has "been in places where I understood Tear his heart out and eat it whole." This line speaks to a primal, instinctual aspect of violence that transcends culture and history. It's a stark acknowledgment of the human capacity for cruelty. He then contrasts this with a softer, yet equally powerful, human emotion: "I have been in love." In doing so, Alexie reveals how closely love and hate, creation and destruction, can coexist within the human experience.

Interestingly, the speaker first encounters the film at a "reservation drive-in," a setting loaded with cultural and historical significance. Here, the history of America-its "voices and dreams"-is distorted, much like the horror portrayed on screen. The speaker admits to being "hungry for all those things I haven't seen," as if the film and the gruesome history it evokes open up a space for contemplating the darkness within and around him.

Finally, the poem closes with the line "hunger becomes madness easily," a phrase that encapsulates the complexity of human emotions, desires, and actions. It suggests that the need to consume-whether it's media, history, or another human being-can quickly spiral into insanity.

In "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," Sherman Alexie challenges us to confront the uncomfortable realities of our shared history and the disturbing capabilities of human nature. He forces us to question the narratives we consume, the histories we inherit, and the identities we claim. The poem itself becomes a jarring cinematic experience, capturing the viewer/reader in its frame and compelling them to face the horrific truths that lie beneath the surface of American culture and history.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...