Jackson's Transformation In Sherman Alexie's short story "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," the twenty-four-hour journey Jackson takes to reclaim the insignia of his grandmother proves to be much better at it than he ever would have thought possible at first. Alexie uses the characterization of the main character, Jackson Jackson, to reveal the transformation he experiences throughout his journey. In short, Jackson is a homeless American Indian living in Seattle, Washington, who faces many trials in the span of twenty-four hours to earn enough money to buy back his grandmother's signs that he found in a local pawn shop. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Jackson's original character is shown to be one who has no regard for family, but the moment he is presented with the insignia, this changes significantly. Alexie begins his story with a character who has a no strings attached attitude towards life. At the beginning of his story he says that he has been married a couple of times and has even had a few children, but he seems to show absolutely no interest in who they are or where they are. While talking about his story and how he became homeless, Jackson states that "piece by piece, [he] disappeared" (Alexie). Just with this little piece of information he automatically distances himself from what the reader perceives as normal. Not many people would nonchalantly say that they have slowly let go of all their relatives. Obviously, at one point, family meant something to him, but over time it meant less and less and he began to drift away. This aspect of Jackson's character plays a key role in recognizing the change he will ultimately bring. When Jackson realizes that he has found his grandmother's missing signs in a pawn shop, he seems very concerned and goes directly to discuss the matter with the pawn shop owner. This is where the transformation that has taken place in Jackson's character becomes evident. To prove himself, he tells the owner with a sense of pride in his voice that "my family has always sewn a yellow pearl somewhere on our signs" (Alexie). Clearly family history means something to Jackson, after all, why else would he know this very specific information about his grandmother's insignia? It's almost as if now that Jackson has something to work for, his sense of family and culture has returned to him. Because he was homeless for so long, it's possible that he also lost touch with what it meant to have a family and have a past. The moment he sets his eyes on this family heirloom, it's clear that family truly means something to him, and so begins his journey and transformation. Over the course of his twenty-four-hour adventures, Jackson's character also goes through a personality change. Early on, before the signs even come into the picture, Jackson gives us some background information about himself. At the beginning he sets himself up as serious by revealing to the reader that "being homeless is probably the only thing I've ever been good at." This gives the reader the feeling that Jackson is not the most confident person in the world and has never necessarily had anything to work for. The serious tone in his voice shows that this is not something Jackson finds ridiculous. It's not possible that he was never good at anything, but it's clear that he was dealt a pretty rough hand over and over again, which would make him feel this way. At first, his character seems rather pitiful and gloomy, but.