What is the theme in Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie?

Repeatedly throughout the novel many of the principle characters demonstrate a pessimism or fatalism brought about by generations of suffering and disenfranchisement. One such character, Victor, even refers to himself as a fatalist. Other characters, though more subtle, are no less fatalistic in their worldview. Perhaps one character, Chess, says it best when she says that a person is not truly Indian unless at some point in that person's life the person has wished not to be Indian.