Sherman Alexie Indian Analysis

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said “First you take a DRINK then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” Later Fitzgerald capitulated and died of a heart attack due to being an alcoholic the last 2 years of his life. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie talks about a 14 year old Indian boy changing his life. He goes to a white school, and changes into a different person throughout the story. The story talks about other real life dilemmas, like death and alcohol. There are multiple themes that are present throughout the story, but one theme that protrudes is that alcoholism kills.

We live in a world today with criticism, idea, wonders, and negativity . When we experience something so tragic so wonderful it changes who we are, or maybe adds another characteristic to our identity or how we view the world . In the short story essay ‘Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie writes about his experiences on a reservation with mostly white kids and him being one of the very few Native American kids . As you read further down this text you’ll see how my experiences and Sherman Alexie helped us how we view the world, how our experiences are the same and different .

Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his

Alcohol has always been one of the most profitable industries in the business world. More than $400 billion worth of alcohol purchased in the US alone in 2013 according to an economic website. Alcohol is a common figure where it can be easily spot in every household to grand restaurants, however, it is a huge factor contributed to the death rate each year. It has ruined an innumerable number of people lives due to excessive drinking or affect by an alcoholic person. In his book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, Sherman Alexie emphasizes how significance alcohol can affect a teenager life, where Junior, the main protagonist has lost 3 family members because of alcohol. He shows that alcoholic should not be taken as a

The theme of alcohol caused deaths on the Reservation affected Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by making him go to a different school and creating friends in the process. A couple of deaths in the book included Eugene dying in a motorcycle crash caused by alcohol, Junior’s grandma dying in a car crash caused by a drunk driver, and Mary dying by becoming drunk and burning to death in a trailer.

“Alcohol addiction stunts the spiritual, emotional and mental growth of a person”~Anonymous. Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, is a book based off the author’s teenage life. The novel is about a poor 14 year old named Junior who faced numerous challenges in his life. Junior has experienced bullying, he was called a traitor for following his dreams, got in a huge fight with his best friend and lost three very important people in his life because of alcohol. Fortunately in the end, Junior got through the pain and lived on but he learned many lessons. One of the lessons Junior learned was that the fall into addiction, in this situation alcohol, leads to a great deal of misery for the individual and those

In the short story “Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie the theme that is represented in each grade is racism. Throughout Alexie’s life he experiences more and more accounts of racism in school. Also, Alexie experiences levels of hardship as he gets older. Thus, the story’s theme statement could be summarized that racism enables hardship in one's life.

People often believe many of the stereotypes that come with the Indian culture. In Sherman Alexie’s, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, alcoholism among the Native American characters is very prevalent. It could be argued that the Native Americans in the story drink alcohol because of the stereotype that it’s part of their culture. I contend that they drink as an approach to cope with their many life hardships.

While he may think that drinking is a way to escape being Native American, in actuality, it just perpetuates the cycle of alcoholism on the reservation.

“Poverty= empty refrigerator + empty stomach”(8). The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, is a novel about a Native American son named Junior/ Arnold who have trouble in his hometown region on the reservation. He has trouble with being bullied causing him to lose self-worth. Not many people know of people that are poor besides the people on television. Everyone doesn't have what you have, therefore you take what you do have and use it to the best of its ability. It could be the person right on the side of you in a classroom that wished they had your life. To lose self-worth to racism and being poor or in poverty by far has to be the worst thing that can ever happen to any human being. In some cases, some can't potentially

The essence of mystery in a story often makes a book more interesting and engaging for readers. In the novel, Indian Killer, author Sherman Alexie takes this idea of a storyline thrill to the next level. Alexie intended for the identity of the killer in his book to remain anonymous, however, there are a copious amount of theories about who or what the killer may be. Throughout the storyline, there is an abundance of evidence brought up against one person in particular. Reggie Polatkin is the mysterious murderer because of his troubled life and violent nature.

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie, is about a group of Native Americans who start a jazz band called Coyote Springs on an “Indian” Reservation near Spokane Washington. The novel takes us along with the band from start to finish, while they face problems concerning interracial relationships, cultural appropriation and exchange, and shared creativity. In Reservation Blues, their band is able to uniquely tie two historically oppressed cultures together. The first culture involved is Native American culture, as that is the culture of the members of the Coyote Springs band. The second culture involved is Black culture, as jazz was originally contrived from Black culture and is the type of music played by Coyote Springs. Due to the presence of creative property of one culture being used by another culture the concepts of cultural appropriation and cultural exchange come into play. Cultural appropriation is when one culture, often the oppressive culture, borrows elements of another culture, often the oppressed culture, and uses them for their own benefit. Which would be the Native Americans in this story using Jazz from Black culture, however, since both cultures are considered oppressed, this relationship would instead be considered one of cultural exchange. Cultural Exchange is similar to that of cultural appropriation without the element of oppression or dehumanization. In the novel, Alexie portrays the relationship between Native American and Black culture through Coyote

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Junior's family also had some drinking problems. Juniors father was a very heavy drinker and was always drunk and Juniors would get pissed because his father would wast all there money on

In the beginning of the movie you meet this family, and honestly, you start to think they did something to the indians to make them angry. They receive help from Chingachgook and his brother Hawkeye to build a shelter before the indian and his brother take off. The Mohican indian and his brother Hawkeye talk with Chingachgook's son who takes them to some mysterious footprints in the woods. The British are in the same woods as the trio and they hear "savage" calls, which are coming from Uncas and Chingachgook. Duncan meets Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas, and they have a dispute. Alice and Cora find an indian spying on them who runs away once the men arrive back. Hawkeye and his indian companions take Alice, Cora, the singing master, and Duncan

Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie is a gut-wrenching novel centered around the storyline of an unknown killer who has a strong and evident motive for kidnapping and killing people, remaining ubiquitous throughout the novel's progression. The killer takes interest in people, consisting mostly of white men. A deep burning fire within the killer has an extensive connection with the complexity of tension between whites and Indians, as radio host Truck Schultz states through multiple broadcasts. Likewise, the novel has another character that stands out, John Smith. Sherman's novel has two killers, John Smith and Marie Polatkin, who share very identical qualities such as an equal level of hatred towards the average white male and a strong sense of anger issues.