In The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, one cause of Junior’s struggle between being an individual and a member of the community is when Junior moves to Rearden which causes him to gain more confidence and the opportunity to a better life. Entering the world with a closed mind is by far the scariest thing an individual can do. The struggle between being an individual and a member of the community results in Junior moving to Rearden. Junior comes home from school after opening a textbook to realize it was his mom’s in school. This is when Junior realizes he wants to go to Rearden. “who has the most hope?” “white people” page (Alexie 45). For years all junior ever wanted was to be respected and have more hope in life. He got this opportunity by open enrolling at Rearden. …show more content…
After growing up with a bunch of alcoholics and not knowing his worth in the world Junior finally decides to take the chance to find his place. “But, hey, I was kind of using her, too. After all, suddenly I became popular.”page (Alexie 110). The experiences Junior have faced at Rearden have made him stronger and more confident. He found his worth by going to Rearden and making new friends. Another result of Junior’s struggle is him gaining more confidence. Growing up on the rez and being born with a stutter Junior was already on the bottom of the food chain. He was scared to take the extra step until he tells his parents he wants to go to Rearden. “ You can do it.” Coach said. “ I can do it.” “You can do it.” “I can do it.”(Alexie 149). After being knocked in the head by his best friend in front of all his friends, Junior realizes he just faced his biggest fear. This was his rematch against Rowdy during the final game. He stood up to Rowdy which gave him the confidence he’s always
First, Junior confronts the dreariness of the Wellpinit school system by deciding to transfer to the Reardan school system. Junior initiates this decision when he throws a book across the room upon discovering his mother’s name inscribed inside the cover. His outburst signifies Junior’s recognition of Wellpinit’s misery and desire to achieve. This ambition drives his decisions throughout the novel and defines his unique character. In addition, Junior discloses his decision to his parents with fearlessness and trepidation. Junior confesses, “I want to transfer schools... I want to transfer to Reardan” (Alexie 45). Junior’s bluntness highlights his fearless personality and validates his ability to confront his problems and tasks head-on. In complex situations, Junior possesses the skills to navigate his future. Finally, Junior’s ability to overcome problems appears in his ability to navigate his way to Reardan each day for school. With the uncertainty of gas money in his family, Junior often finds himself walking or hitchhiking to the school, however
I realize that life is really cruel to some people, and when the world is cruel to people, they lose hope that things will get better for them. There are many people in the world who have lost hope. Our society is not always fair, and Junior learns to fight through the stereotypes and expectations of his tribe. I think that our society can understand people who have lost hope from seeing Junior’s struggles. I now understand that not everyone sees the world as a happy place, and that people are really struggling to have faith in themselves. I believe that if we all stick together through thick and thin, people will be more optimistic, like the Rearden kids and Junior. Matters will get better for the oppressed if others believe in
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian showed all of the problems that arose in Junior’s journey. From poverty and alcoholism to bulimic semi-girlfriends, he had so many excuses to stop, but the passion of his dreams pushed him forward. Like a hero, Junior continued, determined to do well and build a greater future for himself. An example that showed Junior’s passion for education and desire to achieve his goals was when he threw an old geometry textbook at his teacher: “My school and my tribe are so poor and sad that we have to study from the same dang books our parents studied from. That is absolutely the saddest thing in the world…My hopes and dreams floated up in a mushroom cloud” (Alexie, 31). Junior clearly understood his disadvantaged education and he was very upset about it. He longed for a better education. Junior was passionate about education, because it would allow him to achieve his goals and break the depressing pattern he was trapped in. Bravery and determination are caused by passion, and heroes are very passionate about their actions. Passion clearly drove Junior when he walked to school, since he said, “Getting to school was always an adventure…Three times I had to walk all the way home. Twenty-two miles. I got blisters each time” (Alexie, 87). Putting all of this effort into simply going to school, Junior must have had
This is not my first time meeting Junior; however, I would like to point out that before getting to know Junior, he was initially shy. It wasn’t until I had seen him four or five times that he made the connection that I was both the
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.
“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.
Junior is a 14 year old boy who also enjoys playing basketball. Like the other members of the Coeur d’Alene tribe, who live on the reservation, Junior has grown up in an alcoholic home. Yet Junior goes against all expectation, follows his dream and transfers to Reardan, an academic school with a mostly white student body.
Sherman Alexie grew up on a Spokane Indian reservation, in fact Junior and the story as a whole is based on his childhood; as he also struggled with the effects of poverty, alcoholism, identity, and social injustice. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is follows the life of Junior; a fourteen year old, Spokane Indian boy, who lives on an Indian reservation filled with poverty and addiction. The story begins when Junior decides transfer to a high school called “Reardan,” which is located outside the reservation in a rich white farm town. At first, Junior is a misfit at his new school; he has trouble making friends, mainly because he’s Indian. His transition to Reardan also causes a fight and other conflicts between him and his best friend, Rowdy, who feels betrayed by Junior. In fact, the whole reservation sees him as traitor.
The first of Junior’s problems is one he was bullied for since he was a young child. Junior was born with water on the brain, which caused him to have seizures. Not only was he born with brain damage but he was smaller than the rest of the reservation kids, and for this he was greatly picked bullied. The way Junior copes with this particular problem is by hiding from everyone on the reservation. In fact, when he’s at the white school, Reardan, he lets them bully him. Junior writes, “So, weak and poor and scared, I let them call me names while I tried to figure out what to do” (Alexie 64). Eventually
What makes each individual specific is identity and loss of identity which can be harmful. Junior carries around a lot of stress that he is losing his identity because he feels so much pressure from the people on the reservation and from the people in Reardan. Junior says, “traveling between Reardan and Wellpinit, between the little white town and the reservation, I always felt like a stranger. I was half Indian in one place and half white in the other. It was like being Indian was my job, but it was only a part-time job” (118). People at home call Junior an “apple” (132) because they believed that he looks like an Indian but he acts like a white person. He feels this difference too. He considers himself “red on the outside and white on the inside” (132). This contradiction between his feelings brings him a sense of loss of identity which makes him assimilate and redefine himself over and over again. Discovering new opportunities and fighting for a new future causes Junior to sacrifice many things, including the feeling of losing his identity which he faces throughout the story. He has to decide to let this feeling go or allow for it to remain with him and cause him to struggle with integrating himself. Therefore, he starts to realize that he “might be a lonely Indian boy” (217) but he is not “alone in his
He knows that he never wants to be like his father when he grows up. Alcohol also causes a lot of deaths in Junior’s life. His sister died in a terrible fire because she was too drunk to escape her burning RV. Junior was let out of school early because of his sister’s death. He has to wait for his father to come get him, and he laughs and he cannot stop laughing at the thought of his dad also dying on his way to pick Junior up, “.it’s not too comforting to learn that your sister was TOO FREAKING DRUNK to feel any pain when she BURNED TO DEATH!
As one develops maturity, the valuable mentor and mentee relationship is critical for the mentee to overcome barriers and to move towards success. In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie proficiently portrays the integral role of mentors and their influence that allows the protagonist to prosper and mature. First, Junior’s parents mentor Junior through their immense love by making sacrifices to allow Junior’s life to blossom with hope. Next, Mr. P, Junior’s teacher directs Junior towards hope through his forgiveness. Furthermore, during Junior’s toughest times at Reardan, Junior’s coach teaches Junior about the rewards of life with perseverance through his encouragement. Thus, in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior’s mentors are instrumental to Junior overcoming his struggles through their unconditional love, forgiveness and encouragement, ultimately assuring his success.
Indians have lived and continue to live a difficult life on the reservation. In Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Indians deal with alcoholism, poverty, violence, and many other hardships. One of the main hardships on the reservation involves poverty. Oftentimes poverty has much affected the community negatively and affecting the communities’ future. For a better future and to escape poverty, Arnold transfers to Reardan. Throughout Arnold’s journey of searching for a better future. Arnold comes to realize the power of his Indian culture, which he can compensate for the communities’ poverty.
Have you ever wanted something really badly, but couldn’t afford it? This is a common occurrence, but what about food? Have you ever went to be hungry because you couldn’t afford to eat? Unfortunately, Junior, the main character in the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, felt exactly this way for food. Even though Junior didn’t have as many resources as the other “white kids,” he still chose to look at the positives. This novel shows that even in times of great hardship, people can still choose to have hope and look at the good in their lives.
Junior was the main character in the book and he was the smartest and the most studious among all his classmates. However when he first got his