In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, many relationships exist and are formed in Junior’s life. Whether they are good and bad, they still exist. Junior, the main character, realizes how difficult relationships are in life, whether they are friends, family, or a girlfriend. In the book, Junior goes through tough times with switching schools from the Reservation (Rez) to Reardan and being the only indian kid in his new school. He struggles with making friends and, most of all, struggles with being different. Relationships are not always easy and this is shown by Juniors relationships with his family, Rowdy (his best friend), and Penelope (his girlfriend). Junior and his family have a perfectly imperfect relationship. …show more content…
They always did everything together, until Junior decided to switch schools and go to Reardan. Rowdy hated Junior for leaving. Rowdy hated Junior so much that whenever Junior tried to show Rowdy he missed him, Rowdy would flip him off and sometimes even worse. “I was really missing Rowdy, so I walked over to the computer lab, took a digital photo of my smiling face, and e-mailed it to him. A few minutes later, he e-mailed me a digital photo of his bare ass.” (130) Rowdy would show his love to Junior in different ways. Rowdy had a tough life. Rowdy’s dad was a drunk that would hit and punch him because he was drunk. Whenever Junior would bring up Rowdy’s bruises, Rowdy would say, “It’s war paint” (16). Rowdy and Junior constantly had ups and downs. With Rowdy’s anger issues and Junior being really smart, they often budded heads, but they would not be the same if they did not have each …show more content…
They did everything together, but that is not how it all started for this rocky relationship. At first, Penelope and Junior met in homeroom at Reardan and he introduced himself as Junior. Later when roll was called, the teacher read off his actual name, Arnold. “Penelope leaned over towards me again, but she wasn’t laughing at all. She was mad now. “I thought you said your name was Junior,” Penelope said. She accused me of telling her my real name.” (60). Things definitely got off on the wrong start between Penelope and Junior. When Halloween came around the corner, Junior dressed as a homeless guy and when he got to school, Penelope was also a homeless person. Penelope informed Junior that she had decided to help out the homeless and go trick or treat for money instead of candy. Junior decided he would try and help as well, to get Penelope’s attention of course. On Halloween, Junior got jumped by 3 grown men on the reservation and was robbed of all the money he worked to get. The next day he told Penelope about what happened and she did not even care about the money. All she cared about was that Junior was alright. That night Junior felt as though him and Penelope had gotten closer. Later on him and Penelope begin a relationship and become the hot item at school bringing them closer together, but he still had not told her that he was poor. One night, after Junior and Penelope had left their school dance, they were both
A very important comparison Dally and Johnny have is their parents. Johnny’s parents do not care about him. Johnny parents fight or just ignore each other. Ponyboy says,
A year passes without any incidents and senior patiently waiting, knowing was once again junior’s mischief was upon them. Senior gets a call from Miss Daisy Windsor, her complaint about Junior was very sever and she had to speak with Lawrence Senior as soon as possible about his sons actions. Senior walked in and his flashy gold watch and diamond ring blinded Miss Daisy. She implied that he was a very wealthy man. She looked inside his eyes and saw dollar signs. Lawrence writes a check for his sons actions and a little more. He then walks out a very happy man. They had a deep connection and Senior realized he made a big mistake knowing he betrayed Mrs. Lawrence. The affair continued for 3 years. Mrs. Lawrence never found out, never even expected the
Encountering struggles in life defines one’s character and speaks volumes about their strength, ambition, and flexibility. Through struggles, sacrifice, and tragedy, Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, adapts to survive difficult situations and faces his problems head-on. As he makes life changing decisions, adapts to an unfamiliar culture, and finds himself amongst misery and heartbreak, Junior demonstrates resilience to overcome adversity and struggles.
As the story continues, we soon learn that the romance behind Daisy and Gatsby first began in 1917. They had fallen in love when Gatsby was an officer, but their relationship was cut short when Gatsby was sent away to be a soldier overseas. He continued to write letters to her, but she had found someone else, a man by the name Tom Buchanan. She married him the following year for his money, but there was much difficulty getting her to the actual wedding. The day of, she received a letter from Gatsby, making her unsure of her marriage to Tom. But she went through with the marriage, and never thought of Gatsby again.
One relationship that attracts major attention in the film, probably due to its tragic culmination, is the one between Neil Perry, one of the students at Hilton...
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.
... his only friend in the world. Throughout the novel Rowdy is furious at Arnold for leaving the reservation. Despite the disagreement Arnold is still able to have some attentive conversations with Rowdy, which shows that no matter what, Rowdy will always be Arnolds friend. At a point in time, Arnold and Rowdy become best friends once again. This friendship between Arnold and Rowdy that Alexie has integrated into the novel illustrates a hardship between personal companions and personal prosperity, perfectly.
With the obstacles that happen to Junior, it creates an emotional and traumatic impact on Junior as well as getting the readers hooked to turn the page and keep reading. To begin, in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” Sherman Alexie describes a moment in Junior's life before he went to the white school. From comparing the death rates and even mentioning the deaths, Alexie shows an emotional impact on Junior from the deaths he has to go through. Alexie writes about how Junior being an Indian has impacted his life.
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.
Junior goes to his first school dance, and afterwards, his girlfriend, and a few of his friends go to a Denny’s to eat pancakes. He is poor and obviously cannot pay for the food, but he orders it anyway. Later that evening, his friend Roger finds out that he does not have enough money to pay. Instead of getting mad, Roger lends him forty dollars and goes on his way. When they get back to the school after having pancakes, Penelope, Junior’s girlfriend, finds out that he is poor and kisses him on the cheek.
In the last part , the story got twisted where they both exchange their thoughts to leave the gang and plan to go on lake with their chicks in one boat. They became friend. This change in both characters comes only before the “last spin”. It seems they don't have any personal problems with each-other it was an out come of what they were settled for their gangs..
Penelope’s father Earl harbors racist ideals and disapproves of the romantic and sexual relationships between his daughter and Junior. When Junior first meets Earl he warns, “‘Kid, you better keep your hands out of my daughter’s panties… Kid, if you get my daughter pregnant, if you make some charcoal babies, I’m going to disown her’” (Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, 109). The use of “charcoal babies” exemplifies the racist views of Earl.
The next event that shows Arnold’s love for penelope is when he got beat up for her on halloween. On the day of halloween Arnold saw penelope in the hall and talked about their plans for that night. Turns out that penelope would be asking for money rather than candy to give to the less fortunate people. Arnold said he too would collect money for the less fortunate people so they both can hand in the money to charity together. While collecting his money, Arnold saw 4 big guys walking towards him slowly and before he knew it he was on the ground stripped of the $10 he had raised prior to being jumped.
I didn’t realize you still want to this school’… It was Gordy who defended me… Then all of my classmates walked out of the room” (175). At this moment, the reader is in a fully understanding of how Junior is perceived throughout the school. He is no longer an outcast, he has friends, people have his back in any situation.
This shows that Senior is jealous of the relationship that Junior and D’Mello have, while Senior had a successful life, all he has is Junior, while Junior has D’Mello as well as him.