Social Injustice In If You Come Softly By Jacqueline Woodson

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

In the essay entitled “How to Fight Monsters” by Sherman Alexie, an Indian boy named Junior faced challenges in handling bullies in his school. One morning Junior's father drives him to his new school in Reardan. He tries to comfort Junior that he is better than the white kids, but Junior thinks otherwise as he feels weak and insecure. He arrives at the school with a black eye from Rowdy, a boy who bullied him in his previous school (Alexie, 124). The kids waiting in front of the school stare at him like he was "a Bigfoot or a UFO" and he immediately felt that he doesn’t belong there. What is worse is that the only other Indian at the school is not a person but a mascot (Alexie, 125).

At first Junior didn't like himself; he was constantly beaten up, he had a lisp and stuttered so he had no self-confidence. When he made the decision to go to Reardan, a white school, even Rowdy left him. Rowdy thought Junior was betraying their school by going away and transferring so Rowdy didn't talk to Junior anymore. Without his best friend, Junior completely lost hope. He was scared of the white people and did not expect them to welcome him. He was right. Most of the Americans were cold to him and he did not try to raise his status. Many of the white people made fun of him, and when one guy, Roger, said "Did you know that Indians are living proof that niggers f*** buffalo?" (pg. 64) he felt that he had to stop it. So he punched him. Junior was expecting to get punched back, but he didn't. In the Indian Reservation, he

One of the main obstacles Junior overcomes is stereotypes. Junior is an Indian who lives on a reservation. Indians have many stereotypes that are towards them. For instance one stereotype is that they have no hope. Junior had a conversation with one of his teachers about his future, which involved him switching schools. Junior knew that if he stayed at the reservation high school he won’t be able to make a future for himself. So when his parents got home he asked them who has the most hope, “’White people, (Alexie45)’” his parents told him at the same time. Even

One of Victor’s first experiences of racial injustice occurs in second grade when his white missionary teacher discriminates him against his outstanding academic skills and his Indian heritage. Victor has pulled aside and is assigned a junior high-level spelling test; he recalls “When I spelled all the words right, she crumpled up the paper and made me eat it. ‘You’ll learn respect,’ she said” (Alexie 173). Here Victor faces two types of discrimination: the injustice of being singled out from his classmates in order to take a more difficult test, and the injustice of being penalized for performing well on the test. Instead of being praised or awarded for his outstanding ability, Victor is punished severely for his high-level skills by having to eat his test. Later on, the teachers send a note to his parents telling them “to either cut [Victor’s] braids or keep [him] home from class.” This injustice towards Victor’s culture over a hairstyle has no impact on a child’s education or accomplishments. Alexie incorporated this injustice to show the readers that such discrimination occurs and his stories are not fiction. In fact, native women, P. Jane Hafen responds to

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.

The short story “Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie is about a boy who describes his life and how he was treated. The narrator describes his experience from first to twelfth grade. He was treated poorly at the beginning of the short story but later was acknowledged. An important theme that develops throughout Sherman Alexie’s “Indian Education” is that people often make wrong accusations about people from a specific race, which often leads to self-pity.

Going into Reardan as an Indian, people thought of Junior differently and therefore treated him differently. He is viewed differently because people believe that the whites are better and wealthier than the Indians. Junior explains to his friend Gordy that “...some Indians think you have to act white to make your life better. Some Indians think that you become white if you try to make your life better, if you become successful” (Alexie 132). Junior may be Indian physically, but that does not mean that he does not have the same traits and should not be treated different than any other white person at Reardan. Additionally, Junior’s classmates started of thinking of Junior as a weak individual because of his skin colour. Junior’s classmates think it is alright to call Junior names because of his physical appearance but “weak and poor and scared, [Junior] let them call [Junior] names while [Junior] figured out what to do..So [Junior] punched Roger in the face” (Alexie 64/65). Junior proves his classmates wrong when they think that he is too scared to pick fight with them when in reality, Junior had the guts to punch Roger in the face. Junior clearly proves how his physical appearance does not define his strength or power. Junior should be treated equally and not judged based on his race because that does not define who he is as an

Throughout our lives, we are challenged by others to fight injustice, both by treating others fairly, and speaking up when others treat us or people around us unfairly. This is not always easy to do, but we typically think of ourselves as good people who try. We tell ourselves that if everyone acted in the same way, the world would be a better place. In Sherman Alexie’s short story, “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 named Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of justice and injustice, which could be seen in completely different ways, expressing different feelings. Growing up, Victor faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and how difficult life was for Victor growing up on a reservation. Racism and bullying are both used throughout the short story between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind.

Progressing through the middle of the book, Junior faces multiple instances of embarrassment, and friendship. When Junior first arrived to Rearden, he was treated poorly because of his skin and origin, “...I was still a potential killer. So mostly they called me names. Lots of names” (63). The name-calling and bullying continued for a while before Junior stood up for himself, by “punching Roger in the face… he wasn’t laughing when he landed on his ass” (65). Though, standing up for himself was only the beginning. Roger responded with respect for Junior (72), but Penelope didn’t, “...I might of impressed the king, but the queen still hated me” (73). The embarrassment ensues when the Winter Formal rolls around. Following the dance, Junior and his friends hang out at a breakfast diner. Junior is ashamed by the fact he doesn’t have any money to pay for the food. This is where his friendship comes into play. Roger doesn’t mind, and, in fact, Roger “...opened his wallet and handed me [Junior] forty bucks… what kind of kid can just hand over forty bucks like that” (126). Consecutive to the diner incident, Penelope also reveals to Roger that Junior doesn’t have a ride home (129), and friendship also saves the day in this particular

Sherman Alexie’s Indian Education tells of the hardships, such as bullying and racial discrimination, that Alexie faced in reservation grade school; I, on the other hand, faced minimum hardships since I went to private grade school. The rules of the private school I went to are based on the Bible, and this created a friendly Christian environment among the students, so bullying of any sort was scarce. Alexie faced constant bullying in the reservation schools he attended. My elementary school life was peaceful and violence was uncommon, whereas Alexie’s elementary school life was traumatizing for him, facing problems with bullying and racism.

" Page 63. Many of his classmates at his new school thought that he was a violent savage because he was Native Americans. This helped Junior understand. what life would be like from then on because he would have to fight many stereotypes but he would eventually overcome them and earn people’s

This draws a connection to the erasure of Native American culture in history, they are seen as rare and different from the ordinary, and for some people their existence is completely forgotten or denied. His own comments of not belonging at a white school, because of his nationality and family history further show the division of race that he can see at Reardan. Junior’s cursing accentuates how frustrated and pathetic he feels, viewed as less than everyone at his school, and constantly rejected and isolated by his white peers. The negative, demeaning mindset of those white kids is that Native Americans do not deserve anything from white people, not their time, attention, care, or even a proficient education. According to Jens Manuel Krogstad at Pew Research Center, Native Americans have the second highest high school dropout rate- eleven percent. This is very high, especially when compared to the white or Asian dropout rates- five and three percent, respectively. Additionally, it says Native Americans have the second lowest percentage of bachelor’s degrees, only seventeen percent, compared to the two highest, white and Asian, at thirty three and fifty percent (Krogstad). Many Native Americans today are not allowed a chance at education because of poverty at reservations, and lousy, penniless schools. These issues are not thought about or spoken of often, because they are simply not

This gives Junior motivation to transfer to Reardan, a white high school outside of the reservation, and gives him hope that everything will be okay. It also makes him wonder who really has hope. When debating who are the people who have hope, Junior wonders why he has to try so hard, when so many others get hope

When will we stop being unjust? Our society today is full of problems and issues. We not only experience economic and politic issues, but we face social problems as well. One main problem that our society must acknowledge is injustice. However, many members of our society are blind not to recognize that permitting unjust and unfair acts is an actual injustice. They believe it’s appropriate to judge others, to make inappropriate comments and to be disrespectful.