Smoke Signals is expressing identity throughout the whole movie. Victor and Thomas are searching for different things, but they both end up finding out who they really are. Indians have a specific way of living and are very proud of where they come from, their culture. They see being “Indian” as their main identity. In the scene when Victor and Thomas are on the bus on their way to Arizona, Victor is explaining to Thomas what it really means to be an Indian and how to portray himself as a true Indian. Thomas always wears a suit, his hair in pigtail braids and always has a grin on his face; the exact opposite of an Indian. Victor explains to Thomas that a real Indian lets his hair down, flowing in the wind, absolutely no suits and always has an angry expression on his face to show he isn’t afraid of anyone and the white people should fear him. That is what Victor believes makes an Indian, he doesn’t see that there could be different types of Indians in the world, that not everybody is the same.

Throughout Victor’s life he has only been experienced to one type of Indian, his father. He grew up seeing his father as a drunk, abusing his mother and himself at any moment his father liked. A stereotypical Indian, Victor thinks, an angry, drunk Indian who takes out his anger on other people, his family. Usually, boys look up to their fathers as a role model, someone they want to become when they get older. The boys look at their father and think they must be the same person. So when Victor looked at his father when he was a boy he hated to think he was anything like him. His identity was based on his father’s and he despised it. He didn’t want to be associated with a man who throws everything away and walks out on his family. He will always remember the fact that his father didn’t go into the fire to save him, his mother saved him. Although Victor despised his father so much, he still ran after the car when his father left begging for him to stay. That shows the love between a father and son no matter what else has happened, it is an unconditional love. And again, Victor hated how he still loved his father.

Finally, at the end of the movie once Victor finds out the truth about his father, how he started the fire and killed Thomas’ parents, he finds out who he really is. He hears the stories about his father crying over the fire and some other stories showing he was a good man and that makes Victor happy but also upset that he wasn’t able to be a good man and be his father. Victor realizes he has to put the past behind him and move forward as his own man, not worry about his father anymore. His father died and now it is time for him to make something of himself, be whoever he wants to be.