STORY PREPARATION
Introduction
Like the narrator of “Breaking and Entering,” Sherman J. Alexie, Jr. grew up on the
Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. He was born with hydrocephalus (water
on the brain) and was not expected to survive. Throughout his childhood, he suffered seizures,
yet he learned to read by age three and was gobbling up novels such as The Grapes of Wrath by
the time he was in kindergarten.
At his off-reservation high school, he was the only Indian, except for the school mascot.
He excelled in his classes and became a star basketball player, an experience that inspired his
first young-adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Alexie attended Gonzaga University and Washington State University, intending to
become a doctor, but after fainting numerous times in a human anatomy class, he shifted career
paths and tried a poetry workshop. Just one year after leaving WSU, his first two poetry
collections were published. He had a brief struggle with alcohol, but gave up drinking at age 23,
and has been sober ever since.
He is a prolific writer of fiction, poetry and essays, and the recipient of numerous awards,
including a PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Book of Fiction, the Before Columbus
Foundation’s American Book Award and a 2007 National Book Award in young people’s
literature. He is also a stand-up comic, a title-holder in the World Poetry Bout and a screenwriter;
the movie Smoke Signals, based on his short story, “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix,
Arizona,” received a Christopher Award for works “which affirm the highest values of the
human spirit.”
In February 2003, Alexie participated in the Museum of Tolerance project “Finding Our
Families, Finding Ourselves,” which showcased the diversity within the personal histories of
several renowned Americans and encouraged visitors to seek out their own histories, mentors
and heroes. Two of his books, War Dances and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian, were selected for the One Book, One Philadelphia citywide reading program in 2011.
Alexie lives in Seattle, Washington, with his wife and two sons.
“Breaking and Entering” is an engaging, surprising and thought-provoking story told in
the voice of a man who confronts an intruder in his basement and ends up confronting his own
ethnic identity and attitudes about power, privilege and race. Alexie uses the metaphor of
“editing” to illuminate what is left out and what is highlighted in the stories we all tell about
ourselves and one another; this story is sure to provoke lively discussion—and perhaps even
dissension—about race and racism, stereotypes and power.
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First impressions
After reading "Breaking and Entering," jot down your own questions, thoughts, confusions and
impressions. What intrigues you about this story? What catches your attention? Make some notes
on the story or in the space below.
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APPLYING THE METHOD
Poetics
Moments in the story where the use of metaphor, simile, repetition, rhythm or voice may prompt
discussion.
1. “ ‘Skip the door, young man!’ Mr. Baron sings in my stories—my lies and exaggerations—
skipping across the stage with a top hat in one hand and a cane in the other. ‘Skip the door,
old friend! And you will be set free!’” (p. 5, line 14)
2. “But oddly enough, in order to skip the door in telling this story, I am forced to begin with a
door....” (p. 5, line 24)
3. “…the footage was both incomplete and voluminous. Simply stated, there was far too much
of nothing.” (p. 6, line 8)
4. “This young woman had been exploited—with her permission of course—but I was still
going to do my best to protect her.” (p. 6, line 15)
5. “Still, even in the most compromised of situations, one must find a moral center.” (p. 7, line
8)
6. “It had become an evangelical pounding: Bang, bang, bang, bang! It had to be the four/four
beat of a Jehovah’s Witness or a Mormon. Bang, cha, bang, cha! It had to be the iambic
pentameter of a Sierra Club shill or a magazine sales kid.” (p. 7, line 11)
7. “…a few moments later, I heard a window shatter in my basement. Is shatter too strong a
verb? I heard my window break. But break seems too weak a verb.” (p. 7, line 21)
8. “As I visualize the moment—as I edit in my mind—I add the sound track, or rather I
completely silence the sound track.” (p. 7, line 23)
9. “And then one hears—feels—the epic thump of two feet landing on that same floor.
Somebody…had just broken and entered my life.” (p. 8, line 1)
10. “In order to be terrified, one must lose all sense of time and place.” (p. 8, line 9)
11. “I had been a complex organism—but I’d turned into a two-hundred-and-two pound onecelled amoeba. And that amoeba knew only fear.” (p. 8, line 12)
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12. “…as I hit practice grounders to the little second baseman of my heart, my son, my
Maximilian, my Max. Yes, I am a father. And a husband. That is information you need to
know.” (p. 9, line 4)
13. “…I’d never been the kind of man to defend his home, his property, his shit. In fact, I’d often
laughed at the news footage of silly men armed with garden hoses as they tried to defend
their homes from wildfires.” (p. 9, line 12)
14. “…since my family and I were not being directly threatened, what part of my self could I
have possibly been defending?” (p. 9, line 26)
15. “I’m an editor—an artist—and I like to make connections; I am paid to make connections.”
(p. 10, line 1)
16. “…when I saw him, the burglar, rifling through my DVD collection and shoving selected
titles into his backpack—he was a felon with cinematic taste, I guess, and that was a
strangely pleasing observation....” (p. 10, line 19)
17. “...he must have decided the opening with its jagged glass edges was not a valid or safe
exit—who’d ever think a broken window was a proper entry or exit—so he searched for a
door.” (p. 11, line 5)
18. “I’ve always been a nostalgic guy.” (p. 11, line 17)
19. “He was dead. I had killed him. I fell to my knees next to the kid, dropped my head onto his
chest, and wept.” (p. 12, line 1)
20. “His name was Elder Briggs. Elder: such an unusual name for anybody, especially a sixteenyear-old kid.” (p. 12, line 17)
21. “I was legally innocent, that much is true, but was a morally innocent? I wasn’t sure.” (p. 12,
line 28)
22. “It was small, only forty or fifty people, but how truly small can a protest feel when you are
the subject—the object—of that protest?” (p. 13, line 4)
23. “…footage of me, the white man who owned a baseball bat, walking out of the police station
as a free man…It made me look pale and guilty.” (p. 13, line 18)
24. “I am not a white man.” (p. 13, line 23)
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25. “Oh, I don’t look Indian, or at least not typically Indian…Most folks think I’m just another
white guy who tans well.” (p. 13, line 26)
26. “I’m not trying to be holy here…One could easily mock my lack of cultural connection, but
one could not question my race.” (p. 14, line 6)
27. “People, especially other Indians, always doubted my race. And I’d always tried to pretend it
didn’t matter…but it did hurt my feelings.” (p. 14, line 11)
28. “So my voice played over images of Althea Riggs weeping and wailing, of her screaming at
the sky, at God.” (p. 14, line 27
29. “It didn’t take clever editing to make me look evil; I had accomplished this in one take, live
and uncut.” (p. 15, line 11)
30. “I was suddenly the most hated man in Seattle. And the most beloved.” (p. 15, line 14)
31. “And when the reporters ambushed her—her name was Tracy—she, of course, could only
respond that, yes, she felt as if she’d been violated.” (p. 15, line 25)
32. “I could in no way dispute the story—the cleverly edited series of short films—that had been
made about me.” (p. 15, line 28)
33. “Yes, I was a victim, but I didn’t for one second forget that Elder Briggs was dead. I was
ashamed and vilified, but I was alive.” (p. 16, line 1)
34. “So, Althea, do you want to get into a pain contest? Do you want to participate in the
Genocidal Olympics? Whose tragic history has more breadth and depth and length?” (p. 16,
line 25)
35. “But on that one day, on that one bitter afternoon, I took a swing—a stupid, one-handed,
unlucky cut—and killed a kid, a son, a young man who was making a bad decision but who
maybe had brains and heart and soul enough to stop making bad decisions.” (p. 17, line 4)
36. “Oh, Jesus, I murdered somebody’s potential.” (p. 17, line 9)
37. “How does one survive these revelations? One just lives. Or, rather, one just finally walks out
of his basement and realizes that the story is over.” (p. 17, line 12)
38. “Elder Briggs and I were suddenly and equally unimportant.” (p. 17, line 17)
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39. “They used their newly developed skills to make documentaries about poor brown people in
other countries.” (p. 17, line 19)
40. “It’s not oil that runs the world, it’s shame.” (p. 17, line 21)
41. “Weeks later, in bed, after lovemaking, she interrogated me.” (p. 17, line 25)
42. “My wife paused before answering, and in that pause I heard all her doubt and fear.” (p. 18,
line 7)
43. “I decided to drive to see a hot new independent film—a gory war flick that pretended to be
antiwar....” (p. 18, line 8)
44. “How is it that black men can make a word like motherfucker sound jovial?” (p. 18, line 16)
45. “I suppose I’d always been the kind of nonblack person who celebrated himself for not being
uncomfortable around blacks.” (p. 18, line 21)
46. “Nothing happened, of course. Nothing ever really happens, you know. Life is infinitesimal
and incremental and inconsequential.” (p. 18, line 28)
47. “…I’d often had this same encounter with young black men. It was some remnant of the
warrior culture, I suppose.” (p. 19, line 7)
48. “Since they thought I was a dorky white guy, I’d behave like one. I’d be what they wanted
me to be.” (p. 19, line 12)
49. “I knew I could…maybe even kill them. I knew I had that power. And I knew that I would
not use that power.” (p. 19, line 16)
50. “I waited until another driver pulled up behind me and honked his horn. I was supposed to
move, and so I went.” (p. 19, line 21)
Record your own notes: thoughts, other instances of poetics, etc. Additional space is on page at
end of this section.
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Tensions / contrasts
Meaningful tensions or juxtapositions in the story.
1. Information that is included/information that is left out: “So in telling you this story—
with words, not film or video stock—in constructing its scenes, I will attempt to omit all
unnecessary information. But oddly enough, in order to skip the door in telling this story,
I am forced to begin with a door…” (p. 5, line 21), “…by editing out the more gratuitous
nudity and focusing on faces and small pieces of dialogue…I was hoping to turn a sleazy
gymnastic sex scene into an exchange that resembled how two people in new love might
actually touch each other.” (p. 6, line 23), “As I visualize the moment—as I edit in my
mind—I add the sound track…” (p. 7, line 23), “Yes, I am a father. And a husband. That
is information you need to know.” (p. 9, line 6), “It was a powerful piece of editing. It
made me look pale and guilty.” (p. 13, line 20)
2. The “edited” version and the “truth”: “Though the director and the producer thought
she’d just been acting—had created her fear and shame through technical skill—I knew
better.” (p. 6, line 21), “As I visualize the moment—as I edit in my mind—I add the
sound track, or rather I completely silence the sound track. I cut the sounds of the city…”
(p. 7, line 23), “It was a powerful piece of editing. It made me look pale and guilty. But
all of them…were unaware of one crucial piece of information: I am not a white man.”
(p. 13, line 20), “Though I had, through judicious editing, been trying to protect the
young actress, the news only played the uncut footage of the obviously frightened and
confused woman.” (p. 15, line 22), “I could in no way dispute the story—the cleverly
edited series of short films—that had been made about me.” (p. 15, line 28)
3. Exploitation, power, victimhood and consent: “This young woman had been exploited—
with her permission, of course—but I was still going to do my best to protect her.” (p. 6,
line 15), “After all, I was being paid to work with exploiters, so didn’t that mean I was
also being exploited as I helped exploit the woman?” (p. 7, line 2), “And what about the
young man…though he was allowed—was legally bound—to keep his penis hidden,
wasn’t he more exploited than exploiter?” (p. 7, line 4), “And I was certainly pissed at the
local media, who had become as exploitative as any pornographic moviemaker.” (p. 16,
line 9),”So, Althea, do you want to get into a pain contest?” (p. 16, line 25) “But what
about these black guys? What power did they have?” (p. 19, line 18)
4. The narrator’s various roles: “When I heard those feet hit the floor, I traveled back in
time—I de-evolved, I suppose—and became a primitive version of myself.” (p. 8, line
10), “Yes, I am a father. And a husband. That is information you need to know.” (p. 9,
line 6), “I’m an editor—an artist—and I like to make connections.” (p. 10, line 1), “I
confess: I am a killer.” (p. 17, line 10), “Since they thought I was a dorky white guy, I’d
behave like one. I’d be what they wanted me to be.” (p. 19, line 12)
5. What did happen/what might have happened: “Looking back, I suppose I should have just
run away…I could have dived through the dog door cut into the garage and made my
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caninelike escape.” (p. 8, line 15), “…why did I grab my son’s baseball bat and open the
basement door?” (p. 9, line 19), “I could have—would have—let him make his escape,
but he stopped and turned back toward me. Why did he do that?” (p. 11, line 29), “If [the
bat] had been cheap and wooden, perhaps the bat would have snapped upon contact and
dissipated the force.” (p. 11, line 25), “How could I have allowed myself to be placed into
such a compromising position? How could I have been such an idiot?” (p. 15, line 29),
“Nothing happened, of course. Nothing ever really happens, you know.” (p. 18, line 28)
6. Blackness, whiteness and non-blackness: “I mean, yes, I live in a black neighborhood—
and I’m not black…” (p. 10, line 15), “…I didn’t think, There’s a black teenager stealing
from me.” (p. 10, line 22), “ ‘He’s just another black boy killed by a white man. And
none of these white men care.’ As Althea continued to rant about my whiteness…” (p.
13, line 15), “I am not a white man. I am an enrolled member of the Spokane Tribe of
Indians.” (p. 13, line 23), “And his mother…had instead decided to blame me and accuse
me of being yet another white man who was always looking to maim another black kid—
had already maimed generations of black kids—when in fact I was a reservation Indian
who had been plenty fucked myself by generations of white men.” (p. 16, line 18), “I
suppose I’d always been the kind of nonblack person who celebrated himself for not
being uncomfortable around blacks.” (p. 18, line 21) “Since they thought I was a dorky
white guy, I’d behave like one. I’d be what they wanted me to be.” (p. 19, line 12)
7. The narrator’s attitude before the break-in/after the break-in: “Trust me, nobody
interesting or vital has ever knocked on a front door at three in the afternoon, so I ignored
the knocking and kept at my good work.” (p. 7, line 15), “I…became a primitive version
of myself.” (p. 8, line 10), “Oh, Mary, it was self-defense, but it was still murder. I
confess: I am a killer.” (p. 17, line 10), “But now, as I watched those black men jostle one
another up and down the aisles, I was afraid—no, I was nervous.” (p. 18, line 23), “But
this time, when those black men walked in slow motion in front of me, I did not smile or
laugh. I just stared back at them.” (p. 19, line 14)
8. Reactions to the narrator’s act: “I was suddenly the most hated man in Seattle. And the
most beloved. My fellow liberals spoke of my lateral violence and the destructive
influence of colonialism on the indigenous, while conservatives lauded my defensive
stand and lonely struggle against urban crime.” (p. 15, line 14), “…one just finally walks
out of his basement and realizes that the story is over. It’s old news. There are new
villains and heroes, criminals and victims, to be defined and examined and tossed aside.”
(p. 17, line 14), “My Max was always going to love me, even when he began to
understand my limitations; I didn’t know what my wife thought of my weaknesses.” (p.
17, line 22)
9. “True” Indians vs. the narrator’s identity/life: “Oh, I don’t look Indian, or at least not
typically Indian…Most folks think I’m just another white guy who tans well.” (p. 13, line
26), “I’m not trying to be holy here. I wasn’t a traditional Indian. I didn’t dance or sing
pow-wow or speak my language or spend my free time marching for Indian sovereignty.
And I’d married a white woman.” (p. 14, line 6)
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10. Good and evil: “Trust me, nobody interesting or vital has ever knocked on a front door at
three in the afternoon, so I ignored the knocking and kept at my good work.” (p. 7, line
15), “He had no criminal record---had never committed even a minor infraction in school,
at home, or in the community—so why had this good kid broken into my house?” (p. 12,
line 21), “I was legally innocent, that much is true, but was I morally innocent?” (p. 12,
line 28), “It didn’t take clever editing to make me look evil; I had accomplished this in
one take, live and uncut.” (p. 15, line 11), “…yes, the kid was a decent person. But he
had broken into my house. He had smashed my window and was stealing my DVDs…”
(p. 16, line 13), “There are new villains and heroes, new criminals and victims…” (p. 17,
line 14)
Record your own notes: thoughts, other instances of tensions/contrasts, etc. Additional space is
on page at end of this section.
Shadows
Questions, missing pieces, elements that are oblique or not fully explained.
1. What does Mr. Baron, the narrator’s film professor, mean by “skip the door”? What does this
phrase mean to the narrator? In what ways does his telling of the story “skip the door”?
2. Why did Alexie title this story “Breaking and Entering”? What is broken? Who or what
enters or is entered?
3. What does the narrator mean, in describing the film he’s editing, “there was far too much of
nothing”?
4. What does it mean to be exploited? Who is exploited in this story, and who is the exploiter?
Is it possible to give one’s permission to be exploited, as the narrator suggests is true of the
young actress in the independent film?
5. In what ways does the narrator “edit” his telling of what happened that afternoon? How do
his edits, omissions or inclusions of information affect our understanding of the event?
6. Why does the narrator pick up the baseball bat? Why doesn’t he simply leave his house?
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7. Why does the narrator note that the fact that he is a father and a husband “is information you
need to know”?
8. Before the narrator named the race of the burglar, did you picture him as white, black or of a
different race? Before the narrator named his own race/ethnic background, how did you
picture him? Do you read the break-in scene differently now that you know their races?
9. Why does the burglar run toward the narrator?
10. What does he mean by “I was legally innocent, that much is true, but was I morally
innocent?” What is the difference between “legal innocence” and “moral innocence”?
11. Why does the narrator describe himself as “not typically Indian”? How would a “typical
Indian” look, think or behave?
12. Why does the narrator insist on making a public correction about his ethnicity? Why does he
then call this action “callous and self-centered”?
13. What does the narrator mean when he wonders if Althea Briggs wants “to get into a pain
contest”?
14. What does he mean by “there are new villains and heroes, criminals and victims, to be
defined and examined and tossed aside”? In this story, who are the villains? Are there any
heroes?
15. What are the narrator’s “limitations” and “weaknesses”?
16. Why does the narrator’s wife ask if he “lost his temper” with Elder Briggs? What does she
think is the answer to that question?
17. Why does the narrator go to see a “gory war flick that pretended to be antiwar” right after
that conversation with his wife?
18. What does he mean by “nothing ever really happens, you know”? Does something “happen”
in this story? What?
19. Why, this time, does the narrator not wave and smile to the black men who saunter across the
street in front of his car?
20. What does the last line of the story mean to you: “I was supposed to move, and so I went”?
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Record your own notes: thoughts, other instances of shadows, etc. Additional space on page at
end of this section.
Issues
Themes, ideas and arguments raised by the text.
1. Editing in film, in storytelling and in life: What does “skip the door” mean to the film
professor, to the narrator and to you? What is “edited” in this story? Is that editing ultimately
a good thing, a bad thing or a neutral thing? How are various characters’ stories “edited”?
Who does the editing? Are we all editing our own stories, or are others doing that for us?
2. Exploitation and victimhood: In the independent film the narrator is editing, who is being
exploited? Is he participating in that exploitation by working on the film? Does he later
become a victim of exploitation when he is the subject of news footage? Is he a victim? Is
anyone, in this story?
3. Fear and reactions to fear: “I…became a primitive version of myself. I had been a complex
organism—but I’d turned into a two-hundred-and-two pound one-celled amoeba. And that
amoeba knew only fear.” (p. 8, line 10) How does fear affect the narrator’s actions? Does
fear affect the actions of the burglar, as well? When we are fearful, are we “primitive”
versions of ourselves?
4.
Self-defense: “…there are many men—and more than a few women—who believe I was
fully within my rights to head down those stairs and confront my intruder…There are laws
that define—that frankly encourage—the art of self-defense.” (p. 9, line 23) Was the narrator
acting in self-defense? Were his actions justified? Would you have exonerated him as
“legally innocent”? What about “morally innocent”?
5. Race and racial identity: How does the narrator define his racial identity? Why does he first
describe himself as “not black”? Would you feel differently about the break-in if the narrator
were white? If he were black? If the teenager who broke in were white or Indian? In what
ways do the characters act like “typical” members of their racial or ethnic groups? In what
ways do they defy stereotypes?
6. Choice and accident: Whose choices are responsible for what happened during the break-in?
What role did accident play in the encounter? Could each character have made a different
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choice that would have altered the outcome? Why didn’t they? What about the actress in the
film? Was it her choice to participate in that? What does the story’s ending suggest about
choice and accident?
7. Power: “I knew I had that power. And I knew I would not use that power. But what about
these black guys? What power did they have? They could only make me wait at an
intersection.” (p. 19, line 17) What power does the narrator have, in this situation and in other
parts of his life? Is it true that the black men crossing the street have only the power to make
him wait? In a larger sense, which individuals or groups have power in this story? How do
they use their power? What does the story suggest about power and powerlessness?
8. The media: “As Althea continued to rant about my whiteness, some clever producer—and his
editor—cut into footage of me, the white man who owned a baseball bat, walking out of the
police station as a free man. It was a powerful piece of editing.” (p. 13, line 17), “When the
reporters ambushed her…she, of course, could only respond that, yes, she felt as if she’d
been violated.” (p. 15, line 25), How is the narrator depicted in the news coverage of the
incident? How is Althea Briggs depicted? Is this portrayal accurate? Is it fair? Does the
media report or distort the truth?
9. Authenticity: Toward the end of the story, the narrator goes to see “a gory war flick that
pretended to be antiwar.” What else, or who else, is pretending to be something it’s not in
this story? Do any characters or situations turn out to be different, or more complex, than
they appeared at first? Do you trust the narrator’s version of the story? Why or why not?
What do you think Alexie is saying about authenticity, pretense and truth?
Record your own notes: thoughts, questions, other instances of “issues” in this story. Additional
space on page at the end of this section.
Experience
Questions designed as a bridge between the reader’s lived-life and the story.
1. The narrator says that “skip the door” has become “a maxim, if you will—that I’ve
applied to my entire editorial career, if not my entire life.” (p. 5, line 18) Is there any
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maxim, bit of advice or piece of wisdom that you’ve applied to your entire life?
2. The narrator says that “even in the most compromised of situations, one must find a
moral center.” (p. 7, line 8) Have you ever tried to find the “moral center” in a difficult
situation, one involving conflicts of interest or ethics? Did you find it?
3. Have you ever told or written down the story of something dramatic or traumatic that
happened to you, and left out or added details? What was your reason for doing that? If
you told the story to others, how did they react to your telling?
4. The narrator describes his fear: “I de-evolved, I suppose—and became a primitive
version of myself.” Have you ever felt that fear, or another very strong emotion, turned
you into a creature operating on instinct or a “primitive version” of yourself?
5. Have you ever confronted someone in a potentially dangerous situation, when you could
have simply escaped? If so, why did you confront that person? What was the outcome?
6. Have you ever had to defend yourself, your property or someone close to you who was
being harmed or at risk of being harmed? What happened? How did you feel about your
actions afterward?
7. Have you ever been in a situation where you felt threatened by someone of a different
race or ethnic group? At the time, were you aware of the person’s race or ethnic group?
Did the incident change how you felt about that race or ethnic group?
8. How do you define yourself, in terms of race or ethnicity? Would others, just looking at
you, define you in the same way? In what ways are you a “typical (African-American,
white person, Latino, etc)”? In what ways do you defy or transcend the “typical
_______”?
9. The narrator wonders what would have happened if he had run outside, if the intruder
hadn’t run toward him, if the bat had been made of wood instead of metal? Have you ever
had an experience and, afterward, wondered how it would have turned out if just one
thing had happened differently? What was the experience?
10. Have you ever caused physical harm to someone, either intentionally or unintentionally?
How did you react? What was the aftermath?
11. Have you ever felt that you were “legally innocent” but not “morally innocent”? What
was the situation?
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12. Have you ever been interviewed, photographed or featured in the media—in a newspaper
article, on the radio or television? Have you ever been part of an incident or situation that
made the news? How did you feel about the portrayal of people and circumstances by the
media? Was the story “edited”? What was omitted or emphasized, and what was the
effect? Did that experience change how you view the media?
13. Have you ever felt “misidentified” by someone, as the narrator does when the news
depicts him as a white man? Did you try to correct the misidentification? What
happened? Did you ever feel that someone else was “telling a story” about you that left a
false impression? How did you respond?
14. Have you ever felt the temptation to “get into a pain contest” with someone or with some
other group, to determine whose “tragic history has more breadth and depth and length”?
Or can you think of situations in the U.S. or the world where people or groups are locked
into that kind of “pain contest”? Why do people do this? Is there any resolution?
15. The narrator survives his “revelations” about himself by spending time alone, in his
basement. Finally, “one just lives,” he says. Have you ever had to confront painful
realizations about yourself? How did you do it? Did you eventually reach some peace or
understanding about what you had done?
16. Who are the “new villains and heroes, criminals and victims” in your neighborhood, city
or country? What conflict has become “old news”?
17. Is there someone in your life who will always love you, despite your limitations? Who is
that? Is there someone whom you will always love, despite his/her limitations?
18. Re-read the final scene, of the narrator in the candy aisle. What is your reaction to this
scene? How comfortable or uncomfortable are you in the presence of a group of people
whose race, ethnic group or gender is different from your own? What experiences have
contributed to this comfort or discomfort?
19. Have you ever tried to “act the part,” behaving as some individual or group of people
wanted you to be? How did you feel about the way you acted?
20. Have you ever been in a situation where you felt you had more power than others? Did
you use your power? Did you opt not to use it? Why? Are there other encounters when
you have been the less-powerful person? Which role do you prefer? Why?
Record your own notes: thoughts, other instances of experience, etc. Additional space on page at
end of this section.
Study Guide – Breaking and Entering – Sherman Alexie
–14
Coordinator Notes
Record your own notes: thoughts, other instances of poetics, tensions/contrasts, shadows, issues,
experience, possible discussion paths, questions you might consider.
Study Guide – Breaking and Entering – Sherman Alexie
–15 –
DISCUSSION PATHS
Introducing the story
before reading the story, you might want to:
1. Share biographical information about Sherman Alexie.
2. Invite participants to think about when they were first aware of their race or ethnicity. When
did they first encounter someone of a different race/ethnicity? What experiences have they had—
positive or negative—with people of various races/ethnicities?
3. If you plan to conclude the session by inviting participants to write, you might offer either of
these prompts: Think about a group with which you identify: African-Americans, women,
teenagers, kids with learning disabilities. Write about the ways in which you are a “traditional”
member of this group and about the ways you don’t fit the stereotypes. OR Write about an
encounter—positive or negative—between yourself and someone of a different ethnicity/race.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Poetics  P
Tensions/Contrasts  C Shadows  S
Issues  I Experience  E
______________________________________________________________________________
1. Exploitation and victimhood
“This young woman had been exploited—with her permission, of course—but I was
still going to do my best to protect her.” (p. 6, line 15), “After all, I was being paid to
work with exploiters, so didn’t that mean I was also being exploited as I helped
exploit the woman?” (p. 7, line 2), “And what about the young man…though he was
allowed—was legally bound—to keep his penis hidden, wasn’t he more exploited
than exploiter?” (p. 7, line 4), “And I was certainly pissed at the local media, who had
become as exploitative as any pornographic movemaker.” (p. 16, line 9)

What does it mean to be “exploited”? What does it mean to be the “exploiter”?
P, I

Is it possible to give one’s permission to be exploited? Is it still exploitation, then?
S, I

In the independent film the narrator is editing, who is being exploited? Is the
young woman a victim? Is she making a choice to participate? Who has power? C, S, I

In what way has the media become “exploitative,” according to the narrator? Do
you agree?
P, I, E

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt as though you were exploiting
others? How about a situation that make you feel exploited?
Study Guide – Breaking and Entering – Sherman Alexie
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E

Other than in the independent film, are there ways that characters in “Breaking
and Entering” exploit one another or are exploited by individuals or institutions?
Who, if anyone, are the victims in this story? How about in real life? Who are the
victims and the exploiters in politics, in schools, in the workplace, in the family? C, I, E
2. Fear
“I…became a primitive version of myself. I had been a complex organism—but I’d
turned into a two-hundred-and-two pound one-celled amoeba. And that amoeba knew
only fear.” (p. 8, line 10), “I only remembering being afraid and wanting to make my
fear go away.” (p. 10, line 23), “But now, as I watched those black men jostle one
another up and down the aisles, I was afraid—no, I was nervous…What if they
attacked me?” (p. 18, line 23)





What does the narrator mean by “I became a primitive version of myself”? In
what way are his actions or thoughts “primitive”? Why does he compare himself
to a one-celled amoeba?
How does fear shape the narrator’s actions, in this scene and elsewhere in the
story? How does fear affect the ways that other characters respond and act?
P
C, S
How does fear affect people physically and emotionally? Are there things people
do, when fearful, that they would not do otherwise? Are they responsible for their
actions, when motivated out of fear?
I
Think of a time in your own life when you were afraid. What did that fear feel
like, physically? What thoughts went through your head? How did you respond?
Has that fear had a lingering effect on your life or your behavior? How?
E
Some people believe that racism is rooted in fear—fear of “the other,” fear of
differences, fear of being hurt by someone who is unlike yourself. What do you
think of this idea? Do you think Alexie would agree or disagree? If it is true that
racism stems from fear, what are some ways to address and overcome it?
I, E
3. Self-defense
“…I’d never been the kind of man to defend his home, his property, his shit. In fact,
I’d often laughed at the news footage of silly men armed with garden hoses as they
tried to defend their homes from wildfires.” (p. 9, line 12) “…there are many men—
and more than a few women—who believe I was fully within my rights to head down
those stairs and confront my intruder…There are laws that define—that frankly
encourage—the art of self-defense.” (p. 9, line 23), “…since my family and I were not
being directlly threatened, what part of my self could I have possibly been defending?”
(p. 9, line 26)

In what way is self-defense an “art”? In what way is it “silly,” like the image the
narrator describes of men wielding garden hoses against wildfires?
Study Guide – Breaking and Entering – Sherman Alexie
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P, S


What “kind of man” defends his property and home? Why does the narrator say
he’s never been this kind of man? What kind of man does he want to be?
P, S
Do you think the narrator was acting in self-defense when he confronted the
intruder? How about when he hit the intruder with the bat? Would you have
exonerated him as “legally innocent”? Why or why not?
I, E

What “part of himself” was the narrator defending when he confronted his
intruder?

Was the narrator acting in self-defense when he called the television station to
state that he was not a white man? Was that a wise or unwise thing to do?
I

Have you ever acted in self-defense? What was the situation?
E

Are there situations where you think people are justified in acting—even in
hurting someone else—in self-defense? Are there times when such action goes
too far?
I, E
4. Racial/ethnic identity
“Oh, I don’t look Indian, or at least not typically Indian…Most folks think I’m just
another white guy who tans well.” (p. 13, line 26), “I’m not trying to be holy here. I
wasn’t a traditional Indian. I didn’t dance or sing pow-wow or speak my language or
spend my free time marching for Indian sovereignty. And I’d married a white
woman.” (p. 14, line 6)

When you think of Indian people, what images and associations come to mind?
Why does the narrator say he is not “typically Indian”? Do you agree?
P, S, E

How does the narrator define his racial/ethnic identity? Why does he first describe
himself as “not black”? When he said that, what race did you think he was?
P, C

In what ways do other characters in this story act like “typical” members of the
groups to which they belong (white people, black people, Indians, men, teenagers,
women)? In what ways do they defy stereotypes?
C, I
Think of the groups to which you belong (racial/ethnic, religious, gender, etc). In
what ways are you a “typical” member of these groups? In what ways are you not
typical?
E
Have people ever “misdiagnosed” your race, gender or nationality? What does
that feel like? How did you respond? Have you ever tried to “be what they wanted
me to be,” as the narrator does at the story’s end? How did that feel?
E



Does this story perpetuate stereotypes about certain groups of people, or challenge
them, or both? Point to places in the text that make you think so.
C, I
Study Guide – Breaking and Entering – Sherman Alexie
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5. Race and racism
“I mean, yes, I live in a black neighborhood—and I’m not black…” (p. 10, line 15),
“…I didn’t think, There’s a black teenager stealing from me.” (p. 10, line 22), “ ‘He’s
just another black boy killed by a white man. And none of these white men care.’ As
Althea continued to rant about my whiteness…” (p. 13, line 15), “And his
mother…had instead decided to blame me and accuse me of being yet another white
man who was always looking to maim another black kid—who had already maimed
generations of black kids—when in fact I was a reservation Indian who had been
plenty fucked myself by generations of white men.” (p. 16, line 18), “I suppose I’d
always been the kind of nonblack person who celebrated himself for not being
uncomfortable around blacks.” (p. 18, line 21)

What is the narrator’s attitude toward black people at the story’s start? How about
at the end? If it changes, why does it change?
P, C

Why does the narrator describe himself as a “reservation Indian who had been
plenty fucked myself by generations of white men”? What was your reaction to
that self-description?
P, I
When Althea Briggs condemns the narrator as “yet another white man who was
always looking to maim another black kid,” was her anger justified? Was her
description fair?
S, I
Why does the narrator “celebrate himself” for not being uncomfortable around
blacks? Should this quality of his be cause for celebration?
P, I



Is the narrator a racist? Is anyone else in the story a racist? Why do you think so?
I

What was your first encounter with someone who was of a different race or ethnic
background then you? What attitudes did your family pass on about people of
different races/ethnicities? Do you hold those same views or different ones?
E
Would you feel uncomfortable if surrounded by a group of people of a different
race/ethnicity than you? Has that ever happened? Describe the occurrence.
E


Is this story likely to change anyone’s mind about race, racism or ethnicity? Why
or why not? Did it change the way you think in any way?
6. The media
“As Althea continued to rant about my whiteness, some clever producer—and his
editor—cut into footage of me, the white man who owned a baseball bat, walking out
of the police station as a free man. It was a powerful piece of editing.” (p. 13, line 7),
“When the reporters ambushed her…she, of course, could only respond that, yes, she
felt as if she’d been violated.” (p. 15, line 25), “…one just finally walks out of his
basement and realizes that the story is over. It’s old news.” (p. 17, line 13)
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I, E

How is the narrator depicted in news coverage of the incident? How is Althea
Briggs depicted? Are these portrayals accurate? Are they fair?
C, I

The narrator notes the role of the “clever producer—and his editor” in crafting the
television footage. As an editor himself, is the narrator guilty of the same kind of
distortion? Is it different, because he was “trying to protect” the young actress? C, S, I

What does he mean when he says that “the story is over. It’s old news”? In what
way is the situation described in “Breaking and Entering” old news? In what way
is it different from situations you have read about or heard about via the media? P, S, I

Have you ever been interviewed, photographed or featured in the media—in a
newspaper article, on the radio or on television? Have you ever been part of an
incident or situation that made the news? How did you feel about the portrayal of
people and circumstances by the media?
E
In general, do you think the media (radio, television, newspapers, Internet
bloggers) tell the truth or distort it? Can you think of a situation locally, or in the
world, where you felt the truth was distorted by the media? How can we learn
what “really happened”? Is there a single “truth” to be reported or told?
I

7. Choice and accident
“Looking back, I suppose I should have just run away…I could have dived through
the dog door cut into the garage and made my caninelike escape.” (p. 8, line 15),
“…why did I grab my son’s baseball bat and open the basement door?” (p. 9, line
19), “I could have—would have—let him make his escape, but he stopped and
turned back toward me. Why did he do that?” (p. 11, line 29), “Why had he made all
the bad decisions that had led to his death?” (p. 12, line 23), “But on that one day, on
that one bitter afternoon, I took a swing—a stupid, one-handed, unlucky cut—and
killed a kid, a son, a young man who was making a bad decision but who maybe had
brains and heart and soul enough to stop making bad decisions.” (p. 17, line 4)

Why doesn’t the narrator “just run away”? Why doesn’t the intruder “make his
escape”? Were these actions choices? Instincts? Inevitabilities?
C, S

Did “bad decisions” lead to Elder Briggs’s death? If not, what did lead to it? What
role did choice play in the outcome? What role did accident or bad luck play?
P, C, S

What about the actress in the film the narrator is editing? Was participating in the
film her “choice”? Why or why not?


S, I
Could any character in this story have made a different choice that would have
altered the outcome? Who, and in what circumstance?
S
Think about where you are in life right now; is that a result of your choices, of
accident, of luck (good or bad), or a combination of those things?
E
Study Guide – Breaking and Entering – Sherman Alexie
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

In general, do you think people’s choices or the accidental things that happen to
them are more responsible for their circumstances in life? Are there limits to the
choices one can make? Explain what you mean.
C, I
What does the story’s final scene—with the narrator in his car and the black men
crossing the street—suggest about accident and choice? In this story, do some
characters have more choices than others? Who, and why?
C, I
8. Good and evil
“…even in the most compromised of situations, one must find a moral center.” (p. 7,
line 8),“Trust me, nobody interesting or vital has ever knocked on a front door at
three in the afternoon, so I ignored the knocking and kept at my good work.” (p. 7,
line 15), “He had no criminal record—had never committeed even a minor infraction
in school, at home, or in the community—so why had this good kid broken into my
house?” (p. 12, line 21), “I was legally innocent, that much is true, but was I morally
innocent?” (p. 12, line 28), “It didn’t take clever editing to make me look evil; I had
accomplished this in one take, live and uncut.” (p. 15, line 11), “…yes, the kid was a
decent person. But he had broken into my house. He had smashed my window and
was stealing my DVDs…” (p. 16, line 13), “There are new villains and heroes, new
criminals and victims…” (p. 17, line 14)



The narrator describes Elder Briggs as “a good kid.” Do you agree with that
description? Why or why not?
P, I
What does the narrator’s attitude toward the knocking tell you about him? Do you
agree that his editing job was “good work”?
P. S
Why does the narrator feel that his declaration on the news makes him “look
evil”? Is he evil? Why does it make him both the “most hated” and “most
beloved” man in Seattle?
P, I

Who are the “villains” in this story? Who are the “heroes”? Why do you say that?
I

What is the difference between being “legally innocent” and “morally innocent”?
C, S

Can you think of a conflict, locally or worldwide, in which one group is depicted
as “good” and the other as “evil”? Who decides which group is “good” and which
“evil”? Who are the “villains” and “heroes” in your community?
I, E


Do you think all people contain elements of “good” and “evil”? Give examples
from your own life or people you’ve read about.
Have you ever tried to find the “moral center” in a difficult situation, one
involving conflicts of interest or ethics? Did you find it? What is the “moral
center” of the narrator’s situation involving the independent film he’s editing? Is
there a “moral center” in this story? What is it?
Study Guide – Breaking and Entering – Sherman Alexie
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I
S, I
9. Power and shame
“They used their newly developed skills to make documentaries about poor brown
people in other countries. It’s not oil that runs the world, it’s shame.” (p. 17, line 19)
“I knew I could hit the gas and slam into them and hurt them, maybe even kill them. I
knew I had that power. And I knew that I would not use that power. But what about
thse black guys? What power did they have? They could only make me wait at an
intersection. And so I waited.” (p. 19, line 16)


What do the “newly developed” editing skills of the white teenagers enable them
to do? How does the narrator feel about how his students use their skills? Why
does he feel this way?
P, S
What does the narrator mean by “it’s not oil that runs the world, it’s shame”? ,
Does shame propel the actions of any characters in this story? Who, and when?
P, S

Why does the narrator opt not to use his power in the final scene?
S

Are there other instances in the story where the narrator has more power than
others? Does he use that power? How?
C
Are there instances in the story where the narrator has less power than others?
How do others use their power? What is the outcome?
C
In your own life, are there situations when you have been the person with more
power? Did you use that power? How? And what about the reverse—situations in
which you were the person with less power? What was that like? Which position
do you prefer?
E
What are the advantages and disadvantages to being part of a group that generally
has more power in society? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being
part of a group that generally has less power? Give an example.
I




What do you think Alexie is saying about power and powerlessness? Do you
think it’s possible to change how power is distributed in our society? How?
S, I, E
10. The “edited” version vs. “the truth”
“ ‘Skip the door’ is a good piece of advice—a maxim, if you will—that I’ve applied
to my entire editorial career, if not my entire life.” (p. 5, line 18), “So in telling you
this story—with words, not film or video stock—in constructing its scenes, I will
attempt to omit all unnecessary information.” (p. 5, line 21), “…by editing out the
more gratuitous nudity and focusing on faces and small pieces of dialogue…I was
hoping to turn a sleazy gymnastic sex scene into an exchange that resembled how two
people in new love might actually touch each other.” (p. 6, line 23), “As I visualize
the moment—as I edit in my mind—I add the sound track.” (p. 7, line 23), “Yes, I am
a father. And a husband. That is information you need to know.” (p. 9, line 6), “It was
a powerful piece of editing. It made me look pale and guilty.” (p. 13, line 20), “I
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could in no way dispute the story—the cleverly edited series of short films—that had
been made about me.” (p. 15, line 28)







What does “skip the door” mean to the narrator’s film professor? What does it
mean to the narrator? In what ways did he “skip the door” in telling this story?
P, S
Do you think the narrator was right to “edit out” aspects of the movie he was
working on? In doing so, was he being true to the filmmakers’ vision? Was he
protecting the actors? Was he helping to make a better film?
S, I
Why does the narrator say that the fact that he is a husband and father is
“information you need to know”? Did that information change your view of him?
P, S
How are various characters’ stories “edited” in “Breaking and Entering”? Who
does that “editing”? What is left out? What is included? Why?
P, C, S
Have you ever felt that someone created a false impression of you by “editing”
your story, highlighting, omitting or including certain information? Did you try to
correct their impression of you? Did you succeed?
E
Have you ever “edited” the story of something that happened to you by
exaggerating, highlighting, omitting or including certain information? Why did
you do that? What was the result? Do you think we are always “editing” our own
stories?
I, E
In “Breaking and Entering,” what is the “true” story of what happened that
afternoon in the narrator’s house? Is it possible to ascertain the “truth” about any
incident or person? How?
S, I
11. Self-definition and understanding
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a prude.” (p. 6, line 18), “Was I being paternalistic,
condescending, and hypocritical? Sure.” (p. 7, line 1), “…I’d never been the kind of
man to defend his home, his property, his shit.” (p. 9, line 12), “I’m an editor—an
artist—and I like to make connections.” (p. 10, line 1), “I’ve always been a nostalgic
guy.” (p. 11, line 17), “How could I have been such an idiot? How could I have been
so goddamn callous and self-centered?” (p. 15, line 2), “I was ashamed and vilified,
but I was alive.” (p. 16, line 2), “Oh, Mary, it was self-defense, but it was still
murder. I confess: I am a killer. How does one survive these revelations? One just
lives.” (p. 17, line 10), “My Max was always going to love me, even when he began
to understand my limitations.” (p. 17, line 22)

Why does the narrator note that he is “not a prude” and not “the kind of man to
defend his home, his property, his shit”? What kind of man does he want to be?
What kind of man does he not want to be?
P, C, S

In what way is the narrator a “nostalgic guy”?
Study Guide – Breaking and Entering – Sherman Alexie
P, S
–23 –

Why does the narrator immediately castigate himself for being “callous and selfcentered” when he makes his declaration on the nightly news? Do you agree with
his self-assessment here?
S, I

Is the narrator “a killer”?
S, I

Does the narrator’s view of himself change from the beginning to the end of the
story? What makes you think so?



Have you ever had to confront painful revelations about yourself, as the narrator
does? How did you do it? Did you eventually reach some peace or understanding
about what you had done?
The narrator says that his son will always love him, even when he understands his
father’s “limitations.” What are the narrator’s limitations? Do you agree that his
son will love him in spite of those?
Are there people who love you despite your limitations? Are there people you
love even though you understand their limitations? How can you accept and
forgive your own limitations?
C, S
E
P, S
E
12. Breaking and entering
“Somebody—the same person who had knocked on my front door to ascertain if
anybody was home, had just broken and entered my life.” (p. 8, line 3)

Why do you think Alexie called this story “Breaking and Entering”?
P, S

In what way has the intruder “broken and entered” the narrator’s life?
P, S

Other than the window, what else is broken in the course of this story? Is anything
repaired? Could it be repaired? How?
C, S

Was there a moment when something—an incident, a person—“broke and
entered” your life? What happened? Were you able to repair the break? How?
E
Final Impressions
After the session, take some time to make notes about the discussion: interesting points that
readers raised, questions that arose, disputes, and confusions. Jot down your own impressions of
the session: what worked well; what would you do differently the next time?
Study Guide – Breaking and Entering – Sherman Alexie
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SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Anthologies including Alexie’s work:
After the Bell: Contemporary Prose About School, edited by Maggie Anderson and David
Hassler. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 2007.
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009, edited by Dave Eggers. New York: Mariner
Books, 2009.
Growing Up Ethnic in America: Contemporary Fiction About Learning to be American, edited
by Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Jennifer Gillan. New York: Penguin, 1999.
The O. Henry Prize Stories 2005, edited by Laura Furman. New York: Anchor, 2005.
Tales Out of School: Contemporary Writers on Their Student Years. New York: Beacon
Press, 2000.
Books by Sherman Alexie:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (young-adult novel). New York: Little Brown,
2009.
Face (poetry). New York: Hanging Loose Press, 2009.
Flight (novel). New York: Grove Press, 2007.
Indian Killer (novel). New York: Warner Books, 1998.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (short stories). New York: Grove Press, 2005.
Smoke Signals: A Screenplay. Miramax, 1998.
War Dances (stories and poems). New York: Grove Press, 2009.
Study Guide – Breaking and Entering – Sherman Alexie
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Books by others:
The Color of Absence: 12 Stories About Loss and Hope, edited by James Howe. New York:
Atheneum, 2003.
Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko. New York: Penguin, 1986.
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You, by Peter Cameron. New York: Picador, 2007.
Tracks, by Louise Erdrich. New York: Henry Holt, 1988.
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