In Sherman Alexie's short story "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," does Jackson really work hard for the money at the end of the story like he says?

In the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”, the pawnbroker chooses to give Jackson the regalia in spite of him not having $999 required to buy it. Perhaps, the pawnbroker’s decision is based on Jackson’s admission that he has worked hard to get the five dollars that he is willing to offer for the regalia. In order to understand whether Jackson really has worked hard for the five dollars, we need to look...

In the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”, the pawnbroker chooses to give Jackson the regalia in spite of him not having $999 required to buy it. Perhaps, the pawnbroker’s decision is based on Jackson’s admission that he has worked hard to get the five dollars that he is willing to offer for the regalia. In order to understand whether Jackson really has worked hard for the five dollars, we need to look at how Jackson got the money.

The first five dollars that Jackson has belongs to him and his two friends, Rose of Sharon and Junior. Since this money is too little to buy the regalia, the pawnbroker gives the trio twenty-four hours within which to make the required $999. He also gives them twenty dollars to set them off. However, they use the money to buy themselves drinks.

Next, Jackson’s friend at the Real Change organization gives him fifty papers for free to sell at a dollar each. He sells five papers in an hour and throws away the rest. He uses four dollars for a meal of cheeseburgers and remains with a dollar. He “borrows” one dollar and fifty cents from Junior, adds this to his one dollar, and uses the money to buy lottery tickets. He wins one hundred dollars from the tickets. Of this, he gives twenty dollars to the lady behind the lottery register and uses the rest on drinks for himself and other people whom he finds at an Indian bar. Then, a cop friend of his gives him thirty dollars. He spends twenty-five dollars on a meal for himself and three other Aleut Indians at the Big Kitchen. The remaining five dollars is what he presents to the pawnbroker.

Jackson has done little physical work to get the five dollars. However, he is clearly a kind, generous man who is always willing to share whatever little he has with other people. It is this character that earns him money and many other things from people. We could say that he has worked hard to build such a character in spite of his living circumstances—therefore to some extent he has worked hard for the money.