The Change In Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Arnold is an seen as different from other tribe members. He constantly has to endure hardships that physically and mentally affect him. When Rowdy asks Arnold to go to the powwow with him,

“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.

Although we never fully discover the humanness of Arnold, one thing is for sure, “He invites fear rather than attraction when he claims to know things about her family and neighbors that he couldn’t possibly know.”(SparkNotes Editors)

This rhetorical analysis will bring you through the "How to Fight Monsters" chapter of Sherman Alexie 's story : An Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. This book is a semi-autobiography that won the 2007 U.S. National Book Award For Young People 's Literature. This story is about an Indian boy from a poor reservation with an alcoholic father, who wishes for a better life. In order to achieve this better life, Junior decides to move to another school in order to have " hope" for his future. During this transition into his new school Junior is marked as a traiter and looses the one close friend he had on the reservation. At the opening scene of the story Junior is asking his parents "who has the most hope?" In his desperate

Arnold was born on January 14, 1741 in Norwich, Connecticut. He was one of five children, and only him and his sister survived childhood. At age 15, Arnold ran away from home to join the Connecticut militia to fight in the French and Indian War (Gaines 11). For Arnold’s education, he went to a tutor at a very young age. After that, Arnold attended Prudence Crandall’s School in Canterbury and was later taught by a man known as Reverend James Cogswell. He was expected to go to Yale, but dropped out due to father’s alcoholism (Gaines

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence”, as said by Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind but continued to live her life to the fullest. Life comes with its pains and sufferings, from deaths in the family to conflicts with close friends. But through hope comes the power to cope and persevere through stressful situations in life. In a positive light, hope can be the driving force to reaching one’s dreams. Sherman Alexie’s book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, is a story that emphasizes the importance of hope, and how it influences one’s outlook on life and the actions that individuals take. Through the usage of literary elements such as _____ and _____, at its heart, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a story about hope: the hope of overcoming obstacles, the hope of having a better life, the hope of achieving life goals, the hope of pushing the limits, the hope of proving oneself, and the hope of meeting expectations.

“Dr. Mather, if the Ghost Dance worked, there would be no exceptions. All you white people would disappear. All of you. If those dead Indians came back to life, they wouldn’t crawl into a sweathouse with you. They wouldn‘t smoke the pipe with you. They’d kill you. They’d gut you and eat your heart.”

Arnold has a positive and a negative personality. In some ways he is more negative than positive because of his circumstances. This includes living on the reservation and growing up in poverty. He is also negative when it comes to his physical appearance which includes his disability, speech problem, and his crooked glasses. All of this negativity impacts Arnold’s personality which leads him to be bullied and teased. All he see’s is death and destruction. This leads to the positive side of Arnold’s personality. He is positive when it comes to his cartoons because that is his way out of the reservation, and his ambition to make something better of his self. He surprised himself and everyone when he made the basketball team at Reardan because he is not in a very negative surrounding. When Arnold went to Reardan his personality became more positive and now he has a brighter outlook that leads to more friends.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, written by Sherman Alexie, is a novel about a 14 year old Indian boy, which not too surprisingly is based on his own life. Throughout the book the main character Junior, who is later referred to as Arnold, goes through a series of events that change not only the way others look at him , but how he views himself as well. This book will teach you that it’s never too late to change your life, all you have to have is hope.

He fought heroically in conflicts, including the Battle of Saratoga, but made many enemies. “He was frequently accused of corruption, at one point facing a court martial for misappropriation of funds.”2 This was the last straw for Arnold feeling like he was dishonored and disrespected by the army that he remained a patriot to along with serving in the Army since his teenage years, and observing his mangled leg just tore him to pieces. Was he the only one that realized how hard he has worked? In result, the plot of Arnold West point betrayal was set into play with his soon to be wife, Peggy. Peggy had introduced Arnold to her friend, John Andre the chief of British intelligence, and co-conspirator to Arnold’s devious plan. The recovered letters from the Clements library decoded several letters from Arnold to the British that have been reported to have started on May 10, 1779 for the next year and a half.

P, his math teacher, comes to his house after Arnold hits him with his mom’s old geometry book. Mr. P explains that everybody who lives on the reservation has lost hope a long time ago, but that he’s special, because he still has ambition and desire. He says “You've been fighting [...] people have hope." (page 43). This conversation makes the initiate realize that if he wants his dreams to come true, he has to change schools and find a place where people still have hope.

The town of Wellpinit and the town of Reardan both have great importance in Arnold Spirit Jr.’s life.The importance of the town of Wellpinit on the Spokane Indian Reservation is that the town had been the home to many generations of his family.The town was where he learned everything he knows, he made many memories, and found Rowdy who saved him many times from the bullies who picked on Arnold, and Rowdy became his best friend. Rowdy is very protective of Arnold, after Arnold was beat up, Rowdy declared “I’m going to kill those bastards (Alexie, Pg. 18),” Wellpinit represents a place where hope has been lost in Arnold’s life, the opposite of the importance of Reardan in his life. The town of Reardan is significant in Arnold’s life, as Reardan

Later on at the courthouse, the sheriff comes to the conclusion that Arnold is either “a moron or he’s so reasonable that he’s way ahead of us,” (Berriault 7) because he isn’t showing any emotion to the crime he committed. Immediately people seem to agree with the sheriff’s conclusion of Arnold which leads to Arnold being ignored by many. This affects Arnold because it makes him transform into what everyone thinks he is and he starts accepting the fact that people believe he’s a heartless murderer. Since everyone, including his own family, is avoiding him he metaphorically dies by turning himself into what they see him as, a “reasonable” killer who doesn’t show emotions. A final explanation of Arnold’s figurative death is when he seeks for his mother’s comfort.

For Arnold, then, the reservation is both heaven and hell, both home and a place he must leave.

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