Lila Coco
Mr. Brogdon
English 1301
Lifting a Cover of Anger
In Smoke Signals Victor Joseph’s father Arnold, a drunkard, who leaves his son and wife,
suddenly dies while still far away. Due to being deserted by his father, Victor has developed into
a bitter young man who harbors a great deal of resentment towards his dad. This bitterness
Victor feels about his father leaving him, colors his life and makes him react negatively to those
around him. Victor’s broken heart from the departure of his father, leaves him with resentment
and harbored anger that spouts out directed at others, however, as the story comes to a close and
Victor’s father dies, Victor learns how to forgive his father and embrace life with open arms, and
a cover of anger lifted.
During Victor’s childhood he and his father had a difficult time. Arnold was abusive, and
an alcoholic. This lead to fights between him and his son, but ultimately, they loved each other.
Arnold and his son’s volatile relationship fell to a breaking point, as after one night of heavy
drinking, an upset Victor threw his father’s beer bottles against his car, causing a fight between
Victor’s father and mother that lead to Arnold deserting the family. Previous to this episode,
Arnold had been discussing with his son, how he was ‘magic’ and he could make everything
around him disappear. He even mentioned wanting to make himself disappear. Once Arnold told
this to Victor, Victor accidentally knocked over his father’s beer. This sent Arnold into a fury
during which he hit his son. This act of violence toward his son illustrates how early on Victor
learns about anger and how it can be expressed by his father. Throughout the story, Victor uses
violence as a way to express his anger. For example, Victor is found the next morning beating up
Thomas Builds-The-Fire.
When Arnold leaves the reservation and his family, Victor is left feeling as if he is not
good enough for his father’s love. Due to this feeling of being abandoned Victor forgets how to
love anything at all. Thomas accuses Victor of not even caring for his mother. That through all of
her hardship, the one person she has left, Victor, makes her cry. Victor’s bitterness forces him to
not be able to see all of the love that surrounds him. It is not until Victor and Thomas begin their
journey to retrieve Arnold’s ashes that Victor allows himself to lift his veil of resentment and see
how much the people around him care about him.
When Victor and Thomas reach their destination and Susie Song and Victor have a talk
about Arnold, the first layer of resentment is cut off. This layer of anger is showed being sheered
off by the metaphorical symbol of Victor cutting off his hair in solidarity and remembrance of
his father. This moment is the first most important step to the healing of Victor’s hurt heart. As
Thomas and Victor begin their trip home, there remains a great deal of anger that permeates
through Victor and gives him many more layers which must be taken off before he can forgive
his father and be happy.
In a moment of pure adrenaline as Victor and Thomas get into a car crash, Victor decides
to run the many miles to get help and save a life. This task was said to be impossible, but Victor
did not care, he ran and ran. Doing something for someone else and seeing the help he gave, and
the life he saved, gave Victor the self appreciation and feeling of self worth that he needed in
order to forgive his father. For without self worth, Victor could not break away from the feeling
that he was not good enough to hold on to his father’s love. Now, with this new found worth,
Victor spread his father’s ashes and forgave.
Victor is transformed in the story from an angry boy who did not believe he was worth
anything, into a young man who had learned to come to terms with the mistakes his father made,
and understand that it did not mean that he was not loved. That is not to say that Victor condoned
what his father did and said that it was okay, but rather he understood on a deeper level what it
meant to him now. That his father really “didn’t mean to.”