Sherman Alexie is an award-winning author who wrote the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The book is a semi-autobiography of Alexie’s life and his experience growing up on an Indian Reservation, as well as a more economically well-off school, where he was the only Native American student. The book gives readers the opportunity to get an idea of what life is like living on an impoverished reservation. It depicts the struggles of young Arnold Spirit Jr., or Junior, as he is known on the reservation, as he grows up living a double-life, or as he says “as a part-time Indian”. His struggles include dealing with poverty, alcoholism, and racism, all while trying to make something of his life. The book, which has multiple themes discussed throughout our online course, is a great way for people who have no experience with reservations to understand what life on one is like. It is apparent that the book is essentially an autobiographical story of the author, Sherman Alexie. Though the author does not use his own name, or uses words such as “me” or “I”, having the protagonist goes through all the same struggles that Alexie went through as he was growing up. Alexie does a great job throughout the book of adding humor, and keeping things light. When someone goes through all the hardships and mistreatment that Alexie has, it could be easy to allow personal opinions and grudges to alter the story telling. Alexie however makes jokes of some of the bad things
Institutional structures have the power to configure adolescent growth through repression and liberation. The capability that adolescents have to create their own destiny and choose their own social institution can be limited, but not impossible. In Trites article, “Do I dare disturb the universe?” the author argues that kids have personal power, whether they acknowledge it and use it to their own advantage or not. Michel Foucault declares that “Power is everywhere; not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere” (Trites). Power is inevitable, there will never be no such thing as power in this world; it will never diminish or fade. Trites also conveyed that, “power not only acts on a subject but, in a transitive
Author Sherman Alexie, in his pieces of literature “Indian Education” and “Superman and Me”, he recounts his endeavors, he faced as a child living on the Spokane and Coeur D’ Alene Indian Reservation. In each story he uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to convey to the reader the importance of these experiences. He discusses how difficult it was to be considered an “average Indian”, but at the same time trying to receive the best education as possible. Alexie’s purpose was to transmit the idea that, an Indian boy could strive and succeed at getting an education. He adopts a sentimental and in tone in order to appeal to similar struggles and experiences in his young adult readers face as they go through school.
“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.
The reservations in which Native Americans live on are impoverished and and suffering more and more as days go by. Finding jobs is strenuous and trying to provide for families has proven to be even more of a challenge. These Native American communities are barely getting by financially. As shown in novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Before reading this book, I honestly knew little about Native American. I knew that many lived on reservations, but I knew nothing about those reservations. By being brutally honest, Sherman Alexie provided incite to how the everyday life of a teenage Native American is like. This book opened my eyes to the problems that Native American’s face, that I was in the dark about before.
“And I kept trying to find the little pieces of joy in my life. That’s the only way I managed to make it through all of that death and change. I made a list of the people who had given me the most joy in my life.’” (Alexie 176).
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.
In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the character Arnold “Junior” Spirit undergoes racism, poverty, and substance abuse in his community. Junior is a shy 14-year-old boy who gets bullied based on his looks. Due to the obstacles he faces in his community, many internal and external changes happen within him. At Junior’s first school, his main focus was to stay hidden and accept the bullies he faces. As the novel goes on, Junior wants to prove himself to his peers and fight for a better life since no one else does on his reservation.
In the US alone, there are more than 10,000 books challenged each year. Sherman Alexie’s novel, the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, has not only been challenged but successfully banned in many states. In this book, a poor Native American boy named Junior is living with his family on an Indian reservation, hoping for a better future. To achieve this, he must leave the reservation and betray his community. Junior transfers to Reardan High School and gives us personal insight on how Indians are really treated. Nevertheless, the story has been challenged and banned for what people believe to be its sexism, racism, bullying, vulgarness, explicit language, violence, and the use of drugs/ alcohol. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should not be banned because it exposes young adults to the reality of bullying, racism, and stereotypes in an educational manner.
A young Aboriginal boy by the name of Arnold throws a textbook at a teachers face at his residential school… After that event his life changes he decides to transfer to Reardan High an all white school in a farm town outside his reservation. This courageous act from an “Indian boy” on Arnold’s reservation has never been seen or done before, Arnold is trying to break the mold. The book “The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie explores the life of Arnold an Aboriginal boy whose whole life has been lived in poverty on a reservation. Which is then thrown into the polar opposite environment, Reardan High in hopes of getting a higher education and escaping the alcoholism and unemployment that most adults that grew up
Bullying refers to the intentional tormenting in physical, verbal, or psychological ways. Sherman Alexie 's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian raises awareness about this common social issue, bullying, through his story about a boy growing up on an impoverished Native American reservation. The novel shows how bullying can leave deep emotional scars that last a lifetime. It 's important to take bullying seriously and not just brush it off as something that kids have to "tough out." The effects can be serious and affect a child 's sense of self-worth and future relationships.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is the story of a Native American boy who lives on a reservation but wants to leave in hopes to be different and make his life into something special. He ends up leaving the reservation in search of hope and after a few bumps he finds it. The story is based in the 1990s and around the Spokane Indian reservation in Washington. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian exemplifies the Native American culture through the use of imagery to comment on the life of an exception to the normal Native American.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by bestselling author Sherman Alexie was published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on September, 2007 in New York. Based on the author’s own experiences growing up, it tells the story of a Native American boy that lived on the Spokane Indian Reservation. He leaves his reservation school for an all white high school where he is the only Indian. Alexie’s novel, which includes a mix of humor and life's tough reality on an Indian reservation, is funny and interesting but also shows the impact of someone’s culture on their life. Junior, the main character, begins his story by explaining Hydrocephalus, a condition that caused brain damage at birth.
Almost all teens experience some sort of an identity crisis. They struggle with finding a clearer sense of themselves. Arnold Spirit Jr., a 14-year-old reservation Indian, faces an identity crisis when he leaves his reservation to go to school in Reardan, a town inhibited by white people. To begin, Arnold moves between different settings, and when he does, there is a change in his identity. Moreover, there is a change in his character as he moves between cities. Finally, Arnold experiences an identity crisis as well as conflicts with his community. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the author uses literary elements to emphasize that one’s racial and ethnic identity changes depending on the social surrounding.
"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