Introduction The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a novel about Arnold Spirit (Junior), a boy from the Spokane Indian Reservation who decides to attend high school outside the reservation in order to have a better future. During that first year at Reardan High School, Arnold has to find his place at his all-white school, cope with his best friend Rowdy and most of his tribe disowning him, and endure the deaths of his grandmother, his father’s best friend, and his sister. Alexie touches upon issues of identity, otherness, alcoholism, death, and poverty in order to stay true to his characters and the cultures within the story. Through the identification of the role of the self, identity, and social behavior …show more content…
16). Arnold perceives himself within his relations with his family and the reservation, thus his self-esteem is directly tied to his place within the two groups. However near the end of the book, Arnold cries for his “fellow tribal members” future in the reservation (Alexie, 2009, p. 216) and acknowledges that he “was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez…. The only one with enough arrogance” (Alexie, 2009, p. 217). Although part of his self image is still tied to his tribe, Arnold sees himself as independent from them. He has a sense of who he is from his choice to leave the reservation and the qualities that allowed him to do so. The experiences Arnold encountered along the way such as exclusion, individuals with highly independent self-construals, and the deaths of his led to changes in his self-concept. Another topic of importance to the book is collective identity. Matsumoto and Juang (2013) describe identity as “the way individuals understand themselves and are recognized,” while collective identity is more specifically about people’s association with “social categories” (p. 357). Identity is considered fluid as it can change depending on the situation, its players, and each individual’s point of view (Matsumoto & Juang, 2013, pp.357-358). This explains how Arnold’s identity appears to morph throughout the book . For instance, Arnold’s early identification as a poor Indian kid juxtaposes Arnold’s later feelings of
Throughout the story, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior goes through many ups and downs. This story is about how Junior, an indian from the Spokane reservation, decides to go to Rearden, the school for non-indians because of how run-down his school is and has trouble fitting in. Some of the ways Junior dealt with those downs include his uncanny sense of humor, his love for his friends, and the want to fit in and prove he’s just as good as everyone else at his new school.
Mentors are people who provide support, strength, and inspiration. Many people have a mentor in their life that they aspire to be like, and seek out for guidance. Mentors play a big role in many lives, including Junior's from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Some of the biggest mentors for Junior are his parents, his Wellpinit teacher Mr. P and his Rearden basketball coach. If it weren't for these mentors inspiration and support, Junior wouldn't have taken some of the risks he does.
Adolescents experience a developmental journey as they transition from child to adult, and in doing so are faced with many developmental milestones. Physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes are occurring during this tumultuous stage of life, and making sense of one’s self and identity becomes a priority. Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian addresses the challenges of adolescence in an engaging tale, but deals with minority communities and cultures as well.
Sometimes people don’t often see the strings, or reasons, on how each story or article can be attached to a couple main points, without the authors even knowing each other. Stories can be very similar in plot, characters, and setting yet be different by how the characters react to a certain obstacles that's in their path. Stories like The Absolute Diary of a Part-Time Indian and the movie Finding Forrester have characters that go through different events in their life but share a main point or theme. Arnold Spirit, main character in The Absolute Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and Jamal Wallace, main character in Finding Forrester, share the themes of motivation to change, assimilating to the dominant culture, and the importance of friendship
Adversity means hardship or misfortune. Many of the reservation Indians faced a lot of adversity by Alcohol abuse, lack of money, hard time finding jobs , also the people give up easily. Junior faces adversity by family death, and losing his best friend. In the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indians” By Sherman Alexie. Unlike everyone else on the rez Junior had determination and a view of the world beyond the Rez.
Arnold knew this so he decided to leave the rez in order to find hope. He changed schools from Wellpinit to Reardan an all white school, “Reardan was the opposite of the rez… the opposite of me,” (Alexie 56). Mary, Arnold’s sister, also knew that staying at the rez would keep her down so she ran away, “After seven years of living in the basement… she decided she needed to change her life,” (Alexie 89). These quotes help prove that in order to achieve your goals you have to be willing to change, such as Arnold was willing to change schools in order to find himself. In changing Arnold was able to achieve his dream of being
Analysis Essay “My grandmother’s last act on earth was a call for forgiveness, love, and tolerance” (157). Forgiveness, love, and tolerance are practiced across the world. Whether it be within religion, school, the workplace, or family affairs. People are taught to love your enemies, and embrace differences.
Young adults in this day and age will attempt to live up to society's expectations. They will spend money on expensive items or clothes, just so they can fit in with today's society. Young adults lie about themselves and to themselves, in the process of trying to figure out where they belong. This is what the main character, Junior, battles with throughout the book. In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Junior faces an internal struggle of trying to figure out where he belongs.
Nearly 11.7 percent of deaths among Native Americans and Alaska Natives between 2001 and 2005 were alcohol related, as opposed to 3.3% of the U.S as a whole. In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is about a poor indian boy that lives in a indian reservation with a drunken father, a religious mother, and his sister Mary. Junior faces many obstacles in his life and goes through them by himself. He faces some on his own and some with friends and family. When they help him, Junior realizes that he is not alone.
At the beginning of Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, it is very apparent that although it is told in a very lighthearted setting, the reality of the world that the main character Junior lives in is a very bleak and depressing, with the modern treatment of Native Americans on reservations coming to light in a rather bizarre fashion. However, that’s not all that’s wrong with Junior’s world, as he was born with cerebral hydrocephalus, also known as “water in the brain,” as he puts it. He has had a hard time growing up and living his life, as he showcases the struggles of living in poverty, and having an alcoholic father. Despite his hardships, he has found a majority of joy through his best friend, Rowdy.
A maxim is a general truth or rule of conduct. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is filled with Maxims. From classics maxims about perception to more serious maxims about leaving your birthplace for opportunity and hope. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior experiences much change in his life. He decides to transfer to a predominantly white farm school from the rez school. But, the rez was not happy with him transferring. In the process, he loses his best friend and family members. Junior learns many things about himself and how to lead himself through life. Throughout this essay, a few maxims will be highlighted that exemplify the lessons that Junior learns and the relation of his experiences to my own life. Throughout The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior teaches us and himself about Maxims and their life long value.
The Protagonist The protagonist of the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is Arnold Spirit or Junior. He was born and raised on a reservation. In the incoming years of his high school career, he would face a large amount of adversity. His first encounter with adversity, was when he got a geometry book from over thirty years ago, that was his mother’s.
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live on an Indian reservation? Well in the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie you can begin to see and know what it is like. This novel focuses around the life of a boy named junior who struggles with fitting in anywhere, on the rez, or in the white school he goes to. You can see his struggle with connecting to his family and people off the rez in this book. In this journal, I will be questioning why Junior goes to a new school, predicting that he will become friends with Rowdy again, and connecting Junior to a candle. First, I will be questioning why Junior decides to start going to school off the reservation. I think the reasoning is because he is fed up with the way
Juniors way of coping with harsh reality In the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, the character Junior faces a lot of racism and poverty. Not only is Junior unpopular and alienated, but the victim of taunts and bullying as well. Poverty is shown prevalently throughout the novel through how Arnold lives on a day to day basis. Though to cope with these issues he draws and writes and tries to overcome them.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a novel about a young boy named Arnold Spirit. He lives on an Indian reservation, but doesn’t fit in. He was born with cerebral spinal fluid inside his skull which made his head abnormally large and caused him to have a stutter. This made him a target on the rez. He was constantly being bullied and tormented by all of the other Indians. “Everybody on the rez called me a retard about twice a day. They call me a retard when they are pantsing me or stuffing my head in the toilet or just smacking me upside the head.” (Alexie 4) Arnold would face hatred and prejudice like this everyday. The people on the reservation are prejudice because they call Arnold a retard, a word sadly associated with stupid, without even knowing his actual mental intelligence. Everyone on the rez