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Expectations It is said by Jeb Bush that, “Our children can achieve great things when we set high expectations for them”. Well, Arnold (Junior) Spirit in the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, doesn’t have high expectations, if anything he is expected to fail, in life and in school. But Junior has ambition like none other, that is why he decides to break away from his reservation and attend the racist school Reardan. During his time in Reardan and on the Reservation, Junior rises above the life he was expected to live; he demonstrates ambition through perseverance and finds his identity, which proves humans ability to rise above expectations. The choice to have true ambition is made by few individuals, Junior has plenty of it and demonstrates it in many ways, one is through his perseverance, and …show more content…
Junior is constantly being told that white people are better, white people have more hope. Junior sometimes believes these expectations himself, but through all of that negativity he perseveres and demolishes those expectations: “Who had the most hope?” “White people,” my parents said at the same time. That’s exactly what I thought they were going to say, so I said the most surprising thing they’d ever heard from me. “I want to transfer schools,” I said...”I want to go to Reardan,” I said again. I couldn’t believe I was saying it. For me it seemed as real as saying, “I want to fly to the moon” (45-46). The repetition Alexie uses shows the importance of attending Reardan to Junior, it shows how much he cares and wants to make his life different. The simile about flying to the moon shows Junior is not only uncomfortable, but excited for Reardan, it explains the relationship of his words to what he is thinking in a powerful, imaginative way. Even Juniors parents expect him to
Indian culture has been disappearing for centuries since the Native Americans were forced to migrate from their original homes. In the book, The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian, an Indian boy displays how to escape the poverty of his Indian Reservation by going to a wealthy white school, as well as keeping his Indian Culture alive when living on the reservation. The Native American boy Arnold is able to show toughness, courageousness and the capability to overcome obstacles, by illustrating comics and playing basketball. For Arnold, drawing comics and playing basketball is a way to build his character and self-esteem. Without the freedom in writing comics and the self-confidence builder in playing basketball, Arnold would act
Adolescents experience a developmental journey as they transition from child to adult, and in doing so are faced with many developmental milestones. Physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes are occurring during this tumultuous stage of life, and making sense of one’s self and identity becomes a priority. Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian addresses the challenges of adolescence in an engaging tale, but deals with minority communities and cultures as well.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. Just do the best you can. But it won’t matter.” (Antoine, 66) Grant’s former teacher, Matthew Antoine, has been bittered up by the whites and has no hope for African Americans. He has opened his eyes to the obvious and believes African Americans are stuck below the whites and have been born to work like mules and live like dogs. Antoine says, “Forget it. Just go on and be the nigger you were born to be, but forget about life.” (65) He was a realist, and a noncomformist; the world needed someone like Grant, someone who would stand up for his or her race, fight for equality, and break Antoine’s belief of the colored men’s doom. Which is what Grant did. He stood up for his class and became a teacher to make a difference in any possible way.
“I’m never going to act like my mother!” These words are increasingly common and yet unavoidable. Why is it that as children, we are able to point out every flaw in our parents, but as we grow up, we recognize that we are repeating the same mistakes we observed? The answer is generational curses: un-cleansed iniquities that increase in strength from one generation to the next, affecting the members of that family and all who come into relationship with that family (Hickey 13). Marilyn Hickey, a Christian author, explains how this biblically rooted cycle is never ending when she says, “Each generation adds to the overall iniquity, further weakening the resistance of the next generation to sin” (21, 22). In other words, if your parents mess up you are now susceptible to making the same mistakes, and are most likely going to pass those mistakes to your children. In The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie shows the beauty of hope in the presence of a generational curse. Even though the elders are the ones who produce the curses, they are also the ones who attempt to break Junior from their bond forming mistakes. The curses that Arnold’s elders imprint on him lead him to break out of his cultural bonds and improve himself as a developing young man.
... and doomed to failure. Racism has shaken Grant to the very core and rattled his beliefs in teaching, where he could express his power and act for change in the community. However, through helping Jefferson to be strong and express his own power over his self-worth, Grant regains his belief in his role as a teacher and the impact he can have on his community.
Dear White People is a film that depicts the white framework of society that pertains to a prestigious college that is predominantly middle-upper-class, white, students. The film follows the perspective of several African American students as they try to develop themselves towards self-actualization despite the oppressive stereotypes that label and sets parameters of socially acceptable behavior. The film provides a great example of ethnic attrition in the character of Lionel Higgins, as well as using the conflict perspective in connection with racism, and provides examples of both individual discrimination, and institutional discrimination.
With all of these facts, the author tries to prove that racial differences and privileges appear exaggerated and unrealistic. The privileged and less privileged exist at all levels of society. Duke wants white people to understand that they are in the same position as all other races. The awareness of “white privilege” is only a fallacy that causes feel of guilt without foundation.
In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the main character Arnold, also known as Junior, has many health issues, and notably stands out in the crowd. It does not help that he is a poor Indian boy that lives on a reservation, and that he decides to go to an all-white high school. Many of his experiences at school, and on the Reservation, impact his identity. Experience is the most influential factor in shaping a person’s identity because it helps gain confidence, it teaches new things, and it changes one’s outlook on the world.
Can you imagine growing up on a reservation full of people with no hope? The character Arnold in the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie did. In the beginning of the book, Arnold was a hopeless Native American living on a hopeless reservation. In the middle of the book, Arnold leaves the reservation and finds out that his sister left too. By the end of the book, Arnold experiences a lot of deaths of people who mean a lot to him but he still found hope. Arnold becomes a warrior for leaving the reservation and going to Reardan.
During most meetings this fairly homogeneous group of people eloquently and thoughtfully engage in passionate conversations about children of color and their inequitable schooling experiences. Dialogue in the room turns into subtle conversations about students’ academic traits, neighborhoods, language, parents, and poverty levels as they relate to the educational misfortunes of students of color. And then it happens, a white colleague or group of colleagues ...
The focus of the column is about the plight of African-American male students who have begun to enter the white prep schools in the south. Marvin Barnard and Bill Alexander were two black teenage boys who were among the first African-Americans to integrate into Virginia Episcopal School, an all-white prep school in Lynchburg, Virginia. They recognized the opportunity that they were given to start a trend of change in society, and throughout the article, these students challenge themselves to rise above the hate and unfair expectations put on them by their peers. As the title states, they begin to excel in the classroom while also keeping their noses clean. Their diligence and hard work helped to pave the way for other black students to enter these segregated schools. While as a result, it seemed that these students were unfairly pressured and their teenage lives were left unfulfilled because of the decisions they made to behave the right way. However, in the end, their sacrifice helped to complete a new change in the schooling system Not only did white students begin to respect and change their views on blacks, the entire system had to change to accommodate those who were coming in and trying to create change for
I can relate to this, not as far as race, but in a different way. At my school, there were stereotypes about the “volleyball girls”, and I was part of the volleyball team. At one point people thought this group of girls was all about partying and not school. Although, I was only focused on school and ended my high school career with only two B’s. Although this is not as an extreme case as Junior, I can still relate. In more of an extreme case, after Junior finally overcame his fear of leaving the reservation for a new and more positive life, he was not treated fairly. In the beginning of his experience at Reardan he writes, “After all, I was a reservation Indian, and no matter how geeky or weak I appeared to be, I was still a potential killer” (Alexie 2007:63). This is a perfect example of how easily people believe things they hear. Junior was literally a weak fifteen year old that could never hurt a fly, yet people looked at him as a killer because that was a stereotype about Indians. This idea goes along with Johnson’s thoughts of symbols, “symbols go far beyond labeling things” and “Symbols are also what we use to feel connected to a reality outside ourselves” (Johnson 2008: 36).
...or white, would agree that they wouldn’t have this strong of hope at fourteen years old. This strength is very crucial because he already wasn’t growing up in the best of circumstances, but he proved that he could make it through anything.
America is going through a realm of racial tension that has started movements about equality and open dialogues about race. Living in America has always been based on the guidelines of white America. Often the word white privilege emerges when groups outside of the white race are stigmatized for doing the same thing a person of the white race does. America is known to predominantly draw the line between black and white people. I thought it would be interesting to interview a coworker from the white race and get a glimpse of what it was like for her to grow up white and what it meant to her.
In prominently white schools, students may be uncomfortable or lack the ability to understand what is considered the normal culture in America or the difficulties students of other races may face. Students who are members of prominently white schools often fail to describe white culture thoroughly, often having to pause and reconsider multiple factors that define their experiences as not only students, but also people. One student interviewed by sociologist Pamela Perry had extreme difficulty defining what white culture was, replying by saying her family had a diverse range of ancestors, but mentioned very little about how whites are perceived currently or the culture surrounding white people (2002: