Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Analysis

Arnold shows reflect, reflects through his actions and his thoughts continuously throughout the book. “Drunk for a week, my father must have really wanted to spend those last five dollars. He could have spent that five bucks and stayed drunk for another day or two. But he saved it for me.”(Alexie 151). He reflects off of his father resisting the urge. Resisting unacceptable habits for his son; the best way to show someone’s love although the circumstances are unfortunate. Arnold has a hard time realizing that he is loved and that people do care about what happens to him. His dad saving a smelly five dollar bill from in his old boot was the best thing that he could’ve done for his son. Arnold reflects and sees just how much people care and that he does in fact have people to lean on for help. “ Rowdy spun around and shoved me. “‘Don’t touch me, you retarded fag!’ he yelled. My heart broke into fourteen pieces, one for every year that Rowdy and I been best friends.”(Alexie 52). Arnold thinks long and hard about how everyone in his tribe will react to the fact that he’s leaving the Reservation. He realizes that if he thought he was getting beaten up plenty before then people would beat him to death. He weighs out the unsatisfactory factors and he knows that it will

Arnold/Junior Spirit is a fourteen year old Spokane Indian who lives on a small reservation in Washington state. In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a part-Time Indian, Junior leaves his reservation for a primary white school called Reardan to find hope. He struggles with friendships, family, basketball, school work and identity through the year. His experiences on and off the reservation, are constantly changing his beliefs to become less racist and more positive. For example, Junior begins thinking that hope is barely reachable for him, but ends the book realizing that nothing stops him from having hope except how much he works for it.

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.

My best guess is that he is just like a Joker from Batman movies who would do most crazy, insane act that sane people won’t do. For example, Joker chooses to let Harvey, who is going insane, a chance to kill him by lending a gun when he was the one who killed Harvey’s girlfriend. Normally anyone would just kill Joker who caused them great pain, but Harvey didn’t in the end. In fact, he ended up what Joker wanted him to do as Joker said what he wanted to hear: revenge. Arnold took a big risk like what Joker did when he said he won’t come inside the house. This has only disadvantage for him as this would give Connie a chance to do something as long as she stays in the house. This is foolish and illogical thing to do for Joker and Arnold, but they are really alike when they both succeed in getting what they

Before his initiations, Arnold lives on the reservation and has a generally negative outlook on life. Arnold says that the Indians are “Just poor. That’s all we are” (Alexie 13). Arnold believes that Indians were meant to be poor and always will be. He does not express resentment in this; instead, he simply accepts his conditions. Mr. P says that “We’re all defeated.” about the people on the reservation (Alexie 42). Mr. P accurately describes the attitudes of most people on the reservation in this quote, as most people have

His new school was Reardan, a white school off the reservation. Since Arnold was Native American, or “Indian”, his start at school was troublesome. Many of the boys bullied him, but not only them, even the teachers didn't pay much attention to him, as compared to other students. On the other hand, when I came to ASP, from the beginning I was well integrated within the school’s environment, both socially and academically, due to our counselor and different people helping me accomplish this task. I made friends rapidly, and enjoyed my teachers, as they enjoyed having me in class, unlike Arnold, which did make friends, but after a while, he did make friends..

In the beginning of the book, Arnold started off feeling a bit hopeless in a way. Up to chapter 14 Arnold began to be more confident about his abilities. An example of Arnold feeling hopeless is on page 13 where Arnold says “It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor…” In that paragraph he was feeling hopeless about his life on the rez. An example that describes Arnold being more confident is on page 45 when he decides to transfer to Reardan “‘I want to go to Reardan,’ I said”. Even though he knew he was going to be discriminated, he took the chance to a better future. It’s important that he does this because he’s doing what he has to do to achieve his dreams. What helps Arnold make his decision is when his

Throughout the book Arnold struggles to find his identity, and Alexie shows that if you want to find your identity you must find where you belong, you need to find the people who love you, and if what you are and what you’re doing right now is what you want. The novel proves people need to find where they belong to truly figure out who they are. Arnold doesn’t feel like he belongs on his reservation, and he wants to leave to find hope. Alexie proves this when his entire school chants “Arnold sucks!”(143) at him.

He didn’t like being the father of an autistic child, he viewed Arnold as too much for him to handle. Avery found just the fact that he had an autistic child as a burden. Even Arnold’s “strange single wail” haunted him, which drove him towards leaving. Bet was left to take care of him Arnold all alone. Bet had somewhat of a type of backbone when her husband was around, but as soon as he left, the only person that could help her, was herself. This made it really difficult to raise an autistic child. However, not only did Arnold’s father leave, but now his own mother is also abandoning him at an institution. He can’t even see his mother for the first six months. These events will cause Arnold to have a fear of abandonment in his future life, and cause him to not be able to trust his mother. It’ll be hard for him to trust other people in general too. He didn’t have any support anymore. At the institution the worker showed no emotional connection towards Arnold, which is one of the main foundations necessary for an autistic child. Bet wanted to give Arnold his special blanket. Her unassuring response was, “Oh, fine...we’ll see that he gets it.” Her tone implies that she doesn’t care about this special

Adolescents experience a multitude of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social, and mental changes during a short span of years in their developmental journey to adulthood, and this transition period is full of many developmental changes and milestones. Some typical changes and milestones in an adolescent’s life include puberty, learning to drive, dating, developing new social relationships and social roles, cognitive changes, becoming sexually active, obtaining employment, and graduating high school. In addition to all of these changes in this tumultuous time of life, adolescents are identifying, developing, and coming to terms with their own sense of self, and learning about their identity becomes a priority. Teens and young adults must also address certain challenges that may arise in their lives such as bullying, drug and alcohol use, violence, sexual abuse, eating disorders, depression or other mood/mental health issues, and issues concerning sexuality, and gender identity. Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an engaging story that deals with many of the challenges that all adolescents face, and this novel also addresses challenges that are unique to those teens who may be grappling with issues that face minority cultures and communities as well.

He gives words to Arnold's feelings and helps and encourages him to express himself. There is no substitute for a good friend and it is right after Arnold bonds with Gordy that things start to improve for him at school. He makes friends with Penelope and Rodger and becomes a significant presence on his basketball team. In contrast to Arnold’s ex-friend Rowdy, Gordy is extremely factual and to the point. This is what Arnold needs at that time to help him figure out where he fits in the world. As Gordy says, you have to take every moment of life seriously, but not too seriously. Gordy gives him an open person to talk to but also the tough love when necessary. Friendships have a strong affect on people just as Gordy has a strong, positive effect on Arnold’s life. Sometimes a friend can be the most meaningful thing in the whole world. At least, that’s how it worked out for part-time Indian, Arnold

The reader notices that he “accidentally” kills his brother. The thing that is ironic is that, before they go out Arnold praises his brother Eugene, “The very way he slipped his cap on was an announcement of his status; almost everything he did was a reminder that he was eldest–first he, then Nora, then Arnold–and called attention to how tall he was (almost as tall as his father), how long his legs were, how small he was in the hips, and what a neat dip above his buttocks his thick-soled logger's boots gave him. Arnold never tired of watching Eugie offer silent praise unto himself. He wondered, as

In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the main character named Junior discovers his identity by following all of his dreams despite all of the obstacles he has to go through. Through this story, Junior faces problems, including his family and friends, community, and poverty. Although this seems like it’s too many things for a boy his age to face, the result may surprise you. He gets through all of it despite all of the deaths, loss of friends, family problems, and anything else that may happen.

It wasn't easy for Arnold but he pushed threw it. Arnold believed that "Wellpinit and Reardan" (50) were both his hometowns. Arnold felt as if he was too Indian for Reardan and too white for the reservation, he felt "like a stranger."(120) He quoted "it was like being Indian was my job," (100) he didn't think being indian was forever, he thought it was like a job that doesn't give enough money. When he was in Reardan the kids made fun of Arnold's fake name which is Junior. All the kids "started at him, the Indian boy."(60) Arnold got in many fights ever since he moved to Reardan. He said "I don't want to fight anybody,"(64) but he wanted to prove to all the white kids that he wasn't just a weird Indian kid, he's not just Junior, but he is foreign. Arnold likes this girl names Penelope, she is very beautiful to him, not only beautiful but a "work of art." (150) Arnold felt that he was "half Indian in one place and half white in the other." (116) Arnold feels that he doesn't belong in either Reardan and Wellpinit. Arnold felt like he didn't know himself anymore. Arnold always wondered "who has the most hope," (30) his parents tell him that white people have the most hope. Arnold whole generation went through poverty. Arnold doesn't "blame his parents for their poverty," (23) because he thinks you are just born into it. He thinks is difficult to get out of poverty "Where is hope"(200) he asked "Who has hope."

Starting from the beginning of the novel, Arnold talks about his talents in drawing cartoons, however what Arnold doesn’t realize is that these talents are actually giving Arnold the bit of hope and positivity he needed in his life. For instance in the novel, Arnold talks about the reason he draws cartoons, “So I draw because I feel like it might be my only real chance to escape the reservation. I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.” ( Alexie, pg.6). From reading this quote there is a lot of significant meaning behind it. Starting from the first sentence of the quote, Arnold is saying that