Sherman Alexie uses embedded analeptic narratives throughout the chapter “This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona” in Tonto and The Lone Ranger Fistfight in Heaven to emphasize the importance of the characters' memories and past in their lives. Incorporated into the main chronological storyline, non-linear flashbacks follow Victor and Thomas' past, showing their relationship to the present, since memory is activated by association with the present. Using a single narrative interspersed with flashbacks, Alexie frames the story as a memory: driven by free association, rather than always in a set chronological order. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Victor's childhood memories of his relationship with Thomas occur after he realizes that he will need Thomas and his money to get to Phoenix. Victor “... held his head in his hands and thought of Thomas-built-fire, remembered the little details, the tears and the scars, the bike he had shared for a summer, so many stories” (Alexie 62). It is clear that Thomas and Victor's past is causing Victor pain. After Victor and Thomas leave, another analeptic passage vividly reveals how Victor beat Thomas while he was drunk: “…Victor was really drunk and beat Thomas for no reason” (65). Later in the central narrative, Victor apologizes to Thomas, saying "Yeah, but I'm still sorry" (67). The effect of Victor's guilt is further illustrated by his memory shown by a second flashback of Thomas helping him escape from a wasps' nest when he was twelve. “He could have died there, stung a thousand times, if Thomas-Built-Fire had not passed by” (68). Victor's flashbacks reveal how much this event still affects his life as they speak to each other in the current main narrative. The embedded analytical passages easily allow past moments of their intertwined and troubled past relationship to be vibrantly highlighted for the reader, thus elevating the importance of these past events. Further analiptic flashbacks reveal Thomas-Builds-The-Fire and Victor's childhood friendship to show what the importance of going on a journey together and eventually repairing some sort of relationship means to them. A flashback to the Fourth of July celebration reveals their first friendship. “Victor...Hurry up. We're going to miss the fireworks” (62). and later parting ways “They hated Thomas for his courage, his brief moment as a bird” (70). The analytical narrative embedded here is used to provide background information parallel to the central narrative. These memories of past events are more meaningful as integrated narratives since the break from the setting interrupts the flow of the story and amplifies the importance of what is happening there. In these breaks from the main narrative, Victor and Thomas's past is the cause of their strained relationships within the central chronological narrative. In the main plot, “Victor was ashamed of himself. What happened to the tribal bonds, to the sense of community?... He owed Thomas something, anything. »(74). This reaction is supported by what the reader saw in the flashbacks. Reflections interspersed in the form of analiptic flashbacks are a form of narration, used as a means by which one can connect the past and the present. Later analeptic passages reveal the importance of Victor's discordant relationship with his father and its effects on him throughout his life. . In the central narrative plot of the present, Victor must retrieve his father's ashes and, in the process, :.