The Absolutely True Dairy Of A Part Time Indian By Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a book that depicts cultural differences; the issues of alcohol; and friendships in a harsh, yet humorous way. Junior, the main character of the book, stands out in many ways, both to the reader, and in the book itself. He is courageous, yet also emotional and smart.

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

"Double-consciousness this sense of always looking at one 's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one 's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity" (Dubois, 8). W.E.B. Du Bois had a perfect definition of double-consciousness. The action of viewing one 's self through the eyes of others and measuring one 's soul. Looking at all of the thoughts good or bad coming from others. This is present in the main character of the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. The Absolutely True Diary is about a boy named Junior that is fourteen years old and living on the Spokane Reservation. Junior was born with too

I believe that Junior a.k.a Arnold Spirit’s main issue in the novel would be his poverty because it affects every aspect of his life

In ''The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian'', Arnold spirit, who is an Indian boy, lives on a Spokane Indian Reservation with alchoholic parents. Adding to that, he is a hydrocephalic, which has affected his speaking ability and he had to deal with being bullied and getting picked on in school. However, he wants to overcome these challenges and move on in life to something better, because he is dissatisfied with the situation he is in. Later in the story, he decides to go to a white school where he begins feeling like a part-time indian.

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, written by Sherman Alexie, is a novel describing a 14 year old’s journey throughout high school. In the story, Junior, the main character, is faced with multiple obstacles in his life: Hydrocephalus, poverty, and the target of bullying. Despite the world being against him, Junior’s multiple traits helps him greatly when it comes to the adversity that accompanies his migration from the Wellpinit Reservation to Rearden.

Poverty hits children hardest in the world. When I was younger, the Armenians had faced the hard facts of poverty after they break up with the Soviet Union, war with Azerbaijan, and a devastating earthquake. My family moved into our motherland Armenia while our nation was going through these huge dramatic changes. Furthermore the poor economy and inflation destroyed numerous hopes and futures. In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Arnold Spirit, describes his hardships involving poverty living on Spokane reservation. The people on the reservation are stuck in a prison of poverty. They are imprisoned there due to lack of resources and general contempt from the outside world, so they are left with little chance for success. Like Arnold, I also went through hardships regarding poverty and education.

Junior begins to realize that he’s not inviable and that he belongs to a lot of things near the end of the story. Along with that, he also is emotionally affected when he talks about his love for drawing cartoons. As Junior starts to reflect upon his life he thinks, “I realized that, sure, I was a Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American immigrants. And to the tribe of basketball players” (Alexie 217). At this moment in the book, Junior's improved analyzing skills come into play and he himself proves that he isn’t nothing. Junior tells himself that he matters, which improves his emotional being for the better. Secondly, right at the beginning of the book when Junior talks about how he likes to draw cartoons, he states, “So I draw because I feel like it might be my only real chance to escape the reservation” (Alexie 6). As Junior speaks about himself he states that cartoons are a way for him to avoid all the emotional stress put on him by others, but also when he says this, it resembles a self-fulfilling prophecy. As he thinks like this, he starts to believe that cartoons are his only real escape, which shows once again how emotionally affected he is by his own actions. Therefore, it’s shown that Junior puts his own toll on himself emotionally through self-fulling prophecy when he talks about drawing cartoons,

In this part of the book Junior is complaining about how his education isn't what he wants it to be. It's not good enough. This is when he realizes how bad his education and school system is. To show his outrage, Junior throws the book across the room His teacher and him then each confirm with each other what education and school means to them. Soon afterward, Junior starts to realize that something needs to change. Junior contemplates about what he wants to do and finally decided to go to the all white school, Reardan. Junior explained to his parents, ¨ I want to go to reardan,¨Í said. Reardan is the rich, white farm town that's in the wheat fields exactly twenty-two miles from the rez. And it's a hick town. I suppose, filled with farmers and rednecks and racist cops who stop every indian that drives through”(46)..Junior decides he needs to take a stand for his future. He makes a tough decision that will impact his whole life. Even with the risk of being bullied and brought down by his tribe, he still decides to change his education for the better. Hence Junior being one of the only Indian kids in his school. He doesn't know how other people behave and their

People often go through life without knowing what it’s like to be in another person’s shoes. Many outsiders view the United States today, as an undemanding country- with its citizens being able to have jobs and money whenever they need it and living life to it’s fullest. This is the commonly depicted idea of America, though this is not the lifestyle for many living here. Specifically, the Native American community has it the hardest currently. Native Americans have been consistently struggling with life since the Removal Act of 1830- causing mass groups of Natives to be forced onto reservation, ‘till the modern world of today- the 21 century. In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, articles “Why Are Indian Reservations So Poor? A Look At The Bottom 1%” by John Koppisch,“The Absence of Native American Power” and “Drinking Behavior and Sources of Alcohol: Differences Between Native American and White Youths” they explain what the average Native American has to go through. Today, being Native American means to constantly struggle with poverty, alcoholism and loss of to try and get by in life.

A new level of expectations and accomplishments came about Junior when he moved to Reardan. He finally had somewhere to have a fresh start where people didn’t know what he was capable of, nor did anyone have a presumption set for Junior. With this new chapter in his life and new beginnings Junior had become someone he never had a chance to be at the Reservation. Junior was smart, intellectual, confident, observant and had a completely different mentality. Thanks to some very important people at Reardan like Gordy and Junior’s basketball coach, they were able to mentor and drive Junior to be the person he was ultimately trying to become. Gordy was an intelligent young man in Junior 's life who was able to connect books to some life morals. Because of Gordy, Junior finally made his own realization that “if every moment of a book should be taken seriously, then every moment of life should be taken seriously as well” (95). At this moment in the book, Junior started to realize there was meaning to his life; why not enjoy it doing the things you love and are passionate about. One passion in

In the novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part time Indian”, author Sherman Alexie shares a compelling story representing racial issues among communities and families in cultural areas today, and a boy’s journey to find who he truly is, while being torn between two cultures. In this novel the main character, young Junior finds himself truly understanding that he is more than just an indian. In order to know more about the plot behind the novel, author Alexie takes the reader into Junior’s perspective to bring the story to life and let the reader understand how racial issues along with family problems make a play into today’s society. The novel shows a countless number of situations Junior encounters that impact his life throughout the novel.

a white person. One thing that he said was that whites have “hope” and a “bright future” while Indians only have a “vanishing past” and a “bone-crushing reality.” Junior has these thoughts because everyone on the rez is always drunk and people die all the time like how Junior has been to 42 funerals and 90% of them are from alcohol (pages 199 and 200.) Junior ends up finding some hope at Reardon like when everyone was cheering on Junior in the basketball game and he loved the school. Even though Junior had a stereotype in his head that whites were the only ones with hope he was able to defy his own” laws.”

Racism is a problem that many people face everyday. In The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, racism and other factors such as alienation and accepting that he is different from everyone else shape the protagonist in the book, Junior in a positive way. Alienation is the state or experience of being isolated from a group or an activity to which one should belong or in which one should be involved. He faces many difficulties because of where he comes from. He is the only Indian at an all white school which is unusual for everyone. He was also born with excess water in his brain. People who live in the reservation do not usually leave, but he goes 22 miles away just to seek a better education. He realizes, with the help of his teacher, that he must leave and go to a different school, if he wants a better education for a better future. Although he faces these problems, he has people who help him throughout the way. (Bernice, your thesis is unclear. It’s the driving force of your paper; without it, there can be no paper. Review the guidelines and revise your intro to include a clearer thesis and supporting actions).

Arnold’s change of identity is shown through the author’s use of setting. At first, he lives in Wellpinit, an Indian reservation. On the reservation there is violence, poverty, and alcoholism. Arnold does not appreciate where he lives because his “reservation is located approximately one million miles north of [important] and two billion miles west of [happy]” (Alexie 30). Arnold does not like his culture, nor does he like his home. He thinks that his race is far from important and happy. This contributes to his identity crisis. He does not like his identity, but one thing that keeps him from forsaking it, is his