“The Toughest Indian in the World”

In this story, the first-person narrator describes Indian hitchhikers in general in ways suggesting that for both him and his father, picking up such hitchhikers represented an act of solidarity with Indian culture and identity. There is a sense, in fact, that as the narrative describes the habits of both men in picking up only Indian hitchhikers, that they do so in an effort to connect with fundamental and valuable aspects of themselves. This idea is developed further throughout the plot of the story, as the Indian hitchhiker that the narrator picks up helps him come to a deeper understanding of himself and of his spiritual identity.