the toughest indian in the world

I actually really enjoyed this story until the homo-erotic portion. I think Alexie's writing style is very exciting. It's a stream of consciousness style of writing that parallel's with Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac. Alexie's voice really shines through in his writing, like he is writing journal entries. All of his feelings and emotions are wrapped in his words. I really enjoyed the story but am having some trouble interpreting the meaning of the tough indian. I am not sure if he really actually exists or if he is a spirit of some sort. I guess it could be interpreted a number of different ways.