Brill's essay highlights this by writing "a boy named Victor - one of many characters who, along with Thomas Builds-the-Fire and Junior, are vaguely based on Alexie” (np). While Junior is only mentioned briefly in this story, Victor and Thomas struggle throughout the plot between being polar opposites and being two peas in a pod Victor Joseph, the name alone says a lot about Alexie, who was born Sherman Joseph Alexie has openly stated that Victor is a representation of himself by Brill she highlights this alter ego by writing “a boy named Victor – one of many characters who, along with Thomas Builds-the-Fire and Junior, are loosely based on Alexie" (np). While Victor appears to represent not only Alexie but the adoption of Western influences on Native Americans, Thomas Builds-The-Fire is a storyteller. Whose stories they are often ignored and Victor and the others find it annoying. “”It's like being a dentist in a town where everyone has dentures'” (61) But the honesty may be that Thomas Builds-the-Fire represents Spokane Indians as a whole. Both Victor and Thomas represent a connection to the past and the traditions they are losing, providing deeper insight into his relationship and providing a framework for his internal conflict with Alexie and his personal struggle with American Indian and Native American tradition. Westerners.