In my view, intolerance is the unfair act of being treated unjustly by others. This closed-minded action is one that is unfortunately an increasing problem in today’s society for many different reasons. Intolerance is the greatest issue we face regarding discrimination and racism among others, increasing the tension and conflict between people. One example of Junior, also known as Arnold, experiencing intolerance is when he is made fun of by his peers on his reservation in Wellpinit for having a lisp and eye abnormalities. Junior cannot help that he was born with these physical defects and has no control over the fact that he has to live with them. In Reardan, Junior is picked on the antagonist, Roger that creates even more of a struggle …show more content…
A final example of intolerance in this story is when Junior is explaining the differences between Wellpinit kids and Reardan kids, “I was the only kid, white or Indian, who knew that Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities. And let me tell you, we Indians were the worst of times and those Reardan kids were the best of times,” (Alexie 56). Although Junior obviously feels out of place in Reardan due to racial differences, he masks that fact by introducing the idea that Wellpinit kids still had a more rough life than Rearden kids regardless. Junior wants us as the audience to know that the intolerance he experienced as an Indian makes him want to break away from his roots even more.
3. I believe The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an inappropriate book for kids at a certain age. Middle school aged kids and above would be an acceptable age to read this text because of the vulgarity, violence, and troubling topics it entails. I think it good for kids to be exposed to some wrong in the world while they are still young, but only to a certain extent. For example, death is a huge component to this story. Junior says, “And, after Eugene's funeral, I agreed with her. I could have easily killed myself, killed my mother and father, killed the birds, killed the trees, and killed the oxygen in the air. More than anything, I wanted to kill God. I was joyless,” (Alexie 132). This demonstrates
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
The poem, “The Theft Outright” by Heid E. Erdrich, a Native American poet, refutes claims made in another poem, “The Gift Outright” by Robert Frost, that America was empty before the colonists. In his poem, Frost claims that America was “unstoried, artless, [and] unenhanced,”(Frost 15) demonstrating blatant racism by erasing the entire Native American culture and race from American history. Erdrich counters his beliefs by citing the colorful, full lives of Indians in the past and now, directly juxtaposing his work by saying that the Americas are “still storied, art-filled, [and] fully enhanced”(Erdrich 30) from the Native Americans that lived there. Similarly, the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie deals with racism. It tells the story of Arnold Spirit Jr, a Native American boy who wants a better life, so he switches schools from his poverty stricken school to an all white school in a small town called Reardan. Junior frequently faces challenges of racism; he is seen as less than his white peers at his new school because he is Indian, and he is constantly being shown by others’ words and actions that he does not deserve a quality education because of his heritage. Despite the novel’s humorous style, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” provides accurate commentary on education and racism in recent times through Junior’s experiences at Reardan, with his developing friendship with Gordy, his views on the pedestals that white
Symbolism helps bring meaning and emotion into a story. Symbolism is also used to bring about a deeper understanding of the underlying themes in a story. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is riddled with symbols throughout the novel. Brilliantly, Sherman Alexie uses symbols all through this novel as a way of conveying abstract themes such as identity crisis, poverty, and mortality. These symbols are an important part of the novel because they are able to give a deeper meaning to the plot and the action of the story beyond what is actually depicted. The novel follows Arnold, a Native American teenager as he risks leaving the native reserve so he can go to high school in a neighboring town. Arnold faces discrimination, bullying, and the loss of his home by taking this step towards a better future.
He also deals with an Identity-crisis and not able to recognize which should relate to. As he says ''They stared at me, the Indian boy with the black eye and swollen nose, my going-away gifts from Rowdy. Those white kids couldn't believe their eyes. They stared at me like I was Bigfoot or a UFO. What was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town? (Sherman 27). On his first at the new school, Arnold sees himself not only through his own eyes, but also through the eyes his classmates as well. He realizes that they don't see him as Junior the weirdo Indian, to them, he is something foreign. In this sense, Arnold starts seeing the way he sees himself and the way his classmates sees him.
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.
Growing up is a significant thing that can change the way things are for you, it can change your attitude, your ways with getting along with others. It starts out when Arnold is born with something wrong his brain, people thought he was weird. people would always bully him, beat him up, and make fun of him. One day he is transferred to Rearden and meets new people who become his friends. he try’s out for basketball and makes it to varsity. he goes to the championship and wins. But after that has happened he loses his sister and his grandma. in the novel the absolutely true diary of a part time Indian, author Sherman Alexie suggest the idea that growing up is an important topic to the book; this becomes clear to readers when he goes through
Every person in the world belongs to a culture. Many times people categorize a person’s culture based on his or her ethnical orientation. Often these cultures clash and can end in violence, but the United States has often been called the “melting pot” of cultures and ethnic diversity. Although there is a high range of diversity, often time’s cultures tend to segregate themselves from others due to different values, societal rules, and beliefs. The novels The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie both show two very different cultures that are present in the United States. The individualistic values present in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and the collectivistic ideals present in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie show the difference in cultures and how each character challenges how their culture believes they should act as young adults.
Do you think looking forward and trying to change a bad situation into a good one for having a better life is a wrong decision? The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is a novel written by Sherman Alexie. The novel is about Arnold Spirit; everyone calls him Junior. He is a teenage boy with a tough life who lives with his family in poverty on a Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. He hates living in poverty and wants something better for himself. “I feel like I might grow up to be somebody important. An artist”(6) he claims. His living conditions are horrible; he studies in a school with a lack of resources. He considered the different aspects of moving to Reardan, he struggled about leaving
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.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is the story of Junior’s journey to discovery of self. Like many teens, he finds himself
Even after hanging out with a bunch of the American people, Arnold still feels attached to his own heritage. He loves his family and his best friend, Rowdy, and he feels that he needs to make amends with Rowdy. He was really scared that Rowdy would hate him and Junior would need to leave his old Indian self. Later he fixed his problems while playing "one-on-one (basketball) for hours..." (pg. 230) and they "didn't keep score" (pg. 230). Also, Junior cares about his family a lot. When two of them died in a row (his grandmother and sister), he didn't know what to do without them. He also thinks that Indians are forgiving of any kind of eccentricity (until the Americans came). "Gay people were seen as magical, too...Gay people could do anything. They were like Swiss army knives!" (pg. 155). He is pretty accepting of his heritage. He knows that he is Indian going to a white
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.
For example, when Walter Cunningham, the son of Mr. Cunningham, gets in a fight with Scout at school because he embarrassed her in front of the class. As an apology for Scout’s wild actions, Jem invites Walter over for dinner with them. At the dinner table Walter eats differently from Scout and the others, he drowns his meal in syrup, and when Scout complains, Calpurnia demanded her presence in the kitchen for a talk with her. The quote was what she said to Scout in the kitchen. It shows that the Cunninghams have been stereotyped and their family name even used as an adjective. Scout talks about Walter Cunningham as someone who is below her and Calpurnia knowing that it’s wrong to discriminate against Walter because of his class so she is trying to correct her. The Cunninghams, despite being hard workers are being treated unlike common folk because they’re poor, Scout is merely repeating what she heard in the community, showing that the community thinks lowly of the Cunninghams. This can be very destructive for the Cunningham’s since this can lead to others treating them unfairly in the community. The other example of stereotyping can create barriers is with Dolphus Raymond. Dolphus Raymond is a white man that always sits with the black people, people all assumed he was drunk all the time since he was always drinking from a sack. People used that as a
As Diary of a Part Time Indian progresses and Junior enrolls in Reardan, he continues to belief that he does not deserve hope, unlike the kids at Reardan, but not necessarily because of his race anymore. Resulting from his choice to leave the reservation, Junior struggles to fit in at Reardan, but not leave his identity behind, since for him living on the reservation is entwined with being poor.
In the Absolutely True Diary Junior expresses great growth in his view of himself and who he is, because he sees that he is not just someone who belongs to one group, but someone of many groups. This is conveyed, because Junior states, "I 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. And to the tribe of bookworms. And the tribe of cartoonists. And the tribe of chronic masturbators. And the tribe of teenage boys.