In the stories “A Drug Called Tradition,” “The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor,” and “The Only Road Sign on the Reservation Doesn't Work ” t Flash Red Anymore” collected in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, author Sherman Alexie uses humor to reflect life on the Spokane reservation. In "A Drug Called Tradition", the story begins with a joke by having Thomas sit inside a refrigerator in response to Junior's comment about why the refrigerator is empty. The Indians are having a party hosted by Thomas, who gets a lot of money from a company for renting some of his land. Alexie's three second selves, Victor, Junior and Thomas, then go to Lake Benjamin and use the drug Victor brings with him. In "The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor", Jimmy Many Horses, suffering from terminal cancer, jokingly describes his tumors to his wife, Norma, who cannot stand Jimmy's humor and leaves him. In the end Norma returns to Jimmy because the person she lives with is too serious. In "The Only Road Sign on the Reservation Is No Longer Flashing Red", Victor and Adrian talk about the basketball stars on the reservation, hoping that someone on the reservation can resist alcohol and develop his basketball skills to become a baseball player successful. . The function of Alexie's humor changes throughout his stories. In “A Drug Called Tradition,” Alexie's humor effectively achieves one of his goals by forcing readers to reconsider their concepts, while his humor helps his characters improve their situations in “The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor ". In “The Only Road Sign on the Reservation No Longer Flashing Red,” humor tempers the characters' pain and desperation. A common function hum...... middle of paper......na, 2005. Print. In his book, Grassian examines Alexie's works from The Business of Fancydancing and Old Shirts and New Skins to Ten Little Indians and analyzes each work so that readers can understand what Alexie is trying to convey. In Chapter 1, Grassian provides some background on Alexie's childhood, which helps readers understand how Alexie quickly learns the power of humor. An analysis of Alexis's use of humor in “The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor” is included in Chapter 3.McFarland, Ron. “‘Another Kind of Violence’: The Poems of Sherman Alexie.” TheAmerican Indian Quarterly 21.2 (1997): 251+. General OneFile. Network. July 27, 2011. In this essay, McFarland discusses Native American poetry and the works of Sherman Alexie. It provides an overview of Alexie's writing in both his poems and short stories. Also included is a brief analysis of Alexie's use of humor.