Reception
The portrayal of Tonto has been seen by some Native Americans and others as degrading, notably by Native American author and poet Sherman Alexie. Tonto spoke in a pidgin, saying things like, "That right, Kemo Sabe," or "Him say man ride over ridge on horse."
In 1975, poet and science fiction writer Paul O. Williams coined the term "tontoism" to refer to the practice of writing haiku with missing articles ("the", "a", or "an"), which he claimed made such haiku sound like Tonto's stunted English.
Further, in Portuguese, Italian and Spanish, the word tonto means "fool" or "dumb," so the name was changed in the dubbed versions. In the Spanish dubbing, Tonto is known as "Toro," meaning "Bull."
Later adaptations of the character such as The Legend of the Lone Ranger and the Filmation animated series depict him as being perfectly articulate in English and speaking it carefully.
Television actor Silverheels was not above making a little fun of the character himself, as in a classic sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson with Carson playing a career counselor and Silverheels playing Tonto looking for a new job after working "thirty lousy years" as the Lone Ranger's faithful sidekick. When asked why he was looking for a new job, Tonto replies, "Him finally find out what Kemo Sabe means!"
Read more about this topic: Tonto (Lone Ranger Character)
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