“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” by Sherman Alexie
Method prompt

In Alexie’s poem, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he compares the popular horror film to the Sand Creek massacre. Yet it is not crucial that a reader knows about both subjects prior to reading the poem in order to fully understand its meaning. If someone does not know much about Sand Creek prior to reading his poem, he or she should still be able to understand what Alexie is trying to get across. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a horrifying title. It does not matter if someone knows anything about the movie or the brutal murderer Leatherface at all. The title is very clear – a chainsaw massacre. There is nothing pleasant about this at all. It is a frightening thought to anyone regardless of whether or not they have even heard of the movie. In the poem, Alexie says that the vicious killing that takes place in the horror film reminds him of another scene, Sand Creek. A skull being crushed on the killing floor in the film is similar to the killing ground of Sand Creek. The cows in the slaughter farm of Leatherface remind Alexie of the men, women, and children being slaughtered at Sand Creek. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and its violent scenes are compared to Sand Creek. Therefore, any reader should be able understand that Sand Creek was also a brutal massacre.

Because Alexie feels so strongly about Sand Creek, he might expect his readers to know about the subject. Yet as aforementioned, knowledge of the massacre are not necessary for appreciating the poem. Reading the history of Sand Creek by Verlyn Klinkenborg will clear up everything that happened. However, Alexie is sure to mention the graphic and disturbing scenes found in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He describes these horribly unsettling scenes and then compares them to Sand Creek. If the reader understands the brutality found in the film, he or she can understand the brutality found at Sand Creek. Reading about the history will explain a lot, but it is not necessary to understand Alexie’s point of view.