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Sherman Alexie Girl Child Analysis

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Environment is the Key to a Healthy Life It has often been said that the environment we are in can have a positive or negative affect on our lives. In the novels Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, the protagonist of each book are from a distinct ethnic and cultural backgrounds. While one might think that it is that background that would shape the events that took place in these stories, it is often something different all together. In addition to their ethnic backgrounds, they all grew up in certain environments that were actually the driving forces of their lives. For Rory in Girlchild, she was in an environment that …show more content…

“There were so many ghosts in our house— the ghost of my brother, the ghost of my fathers war, the ghost of my sisters voices. And I thought that maybe there were ghosts inside of me that I hadn’t even met yet. They were there. Lying in waiting” (Sáenz 93). His parents didn’t open up to him about many things, but when they did Ari enjoyed it “I liked when my mom told me about how she felt about things” (Sáenz 92). I think, this is because it showed him that it was okay for him to express how he was feeling about things. He was raised in an environment where expressing yourself did not exist, therefore he kept everything inside of him. “Dad? You know what I’ve learned from you and mom? I’ve learned to not talk. I’ve learned how to keep everything I feel buried deep inside of me. And I hate you for it” (Sáenz 260). Ari even acknowledges that this is what his parents taught him, and when his father did finally open up to him, about his brother and the war only then was he able to see the true feeling he had for Dante, that was buried deep down inside him just like a

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