In the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, Arnold Spirit also known as Junior was an Indian born on a reservation. After having a talk with his teacher who felt guilty for trying to eliminate Indian culture, Arnold decided to leave the reservation and go to an all-white school for a better education. Due to the fact that he left the reservation, he was seen as a traitor. Arnold left because he wanted a better life and wanted to try to do something with his life instead of staying on the reservation with everyone else and believe that there was no hope for the future. Unfortunately, the only other Indian at the school he went to was the mascot. In the book “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot …show more content…
The white students looked as if they would succeed in life. The white people were well dressed, had nice cars or at least had a ride to school, they had money to buy themselves food whenever they wanted, etc. Arnold was living in poverty and was happy to just receive a dollar from his father. “It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you’re poor because you’re stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you’re stupid and ugly because you’re Indian. And because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor. It’s an ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about it.” (Alexie, pg. 13 ) He thought that in order to fit in he would have to pretend that he was rich. He told others that he was not hungry when he didn’t have money for lunch, he told people that he got rides to school with his dad’s best friend Eugene because he owned a motorcycle. His best friend Rowdy had started to avoid him because he felt betrayed when Arnold decided to go to the all-white school “Reardan”. When Arnold played in a basketball game against his old school on the reservation the other students made fun of him and Rowdy just stood there avoiding eye …show more content…
As a kid growing up, Oscar’s friends In college, his roommate Yunior tried to get him outside and possibly get a girlfriend. Oscar quickly gave up and felt that there was no hope for him which ended up pushing Yunior away. “I am ill-fated, I am going to perish a virgin, I’m lacking in pulchritude-” (Diaz, pg. 176). Girls and old ladies would even call him disgusting. Oscar believing that he was destined to be alone and tried to take his own
In the fictional story, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie, a Native American author, describes the problems of a teenager living between two different cultures; one Native American, and the other white. Alexie uses figurative language elements to convince teenagers to be aware and support people living between two worlds in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. By using these literary elements, Sherman Alexie guides the audience to respond emotionally and act upon about the book’s message. Throughout the story, Alexie uses juxtaposition to show the differences between the two worlds the protagonist lives in.
How White people assumed they were better than Indians and tried to bully a young boy under the US Reservation. Alexie was bullied by his classmates, teammates, and teachers since he was young because he was an Indian. Even though Alexie didn’t come from a good background, he found the right path and didn’t let his hands down. He had two ways to go to, either become a better, educated and strong person, either be like his brother Steven that was following a bad path, where Alexie chose to become a better and educated person. I believe that Alexie learned how to get stronger, and stand up for himself in the hard moments of his life by many struggles that he passed through. He overcame all his struggles and rose above them
“’One nigger down and eight to go’.. (page 150),” segregationists chanted while the Little Rock Nine heard while leaving school. This illustrates the verbal harassment and mistreatment that the group had to go through during the school year. But it was also a reminder that they had to be strong and make it through. “The boys had been taunting her, sticking their feet in the aisle to trip her, kicking her, and calling her names.. (page 149)” White people had believed African-Americans were beneath them, consequently the other students at Central High bullied Minnijean. This quote shows that, and also gives the reader an
Picture yourself in a town where you are underprivileged and sometimes miss a meal. In the novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Sherman Alexie wrote the book to show hardships that Native Americans face today. Alexie shows us hardships such as poverty, alcoholism and education. In the novel, Junior goes against the odds to go to an all white school to get a better education to have a better life
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.
...hen I used to go to Horace Mann School I thought that white people were different. When I saw the colored kids at Horace Mann acting silly or doing something that I didn’t think they should do, I said to myself that they did this just because they were colored. Now... I see that white children do silly things too. Just like there are dumb colored children there are some dumb whites. There are some average colored and there are some average whites, and there are some smart whites and some smart colored. I guess what I have learned is that they are not so different and we aren’t so different.”34
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.
Ever wondered what gets readers hooked on a book? In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie the authors have many ways to grab the reader's attention by using many techniques from humor to emotional and traumatic to suspense. In the book the main character named Junior is an Indian boy growing up on a reservation. By growing up on the reservation junior makes a choice to leave the reservation and go to a white school which gives Junior obstacles in his life.There are many obstacles that happen even before Junior decided to go to another path with his life. 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.
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.
Despite this, Oscar still tries to maintain a sense of his personal identity. His central passion is writing, and he spends much of his free time working on science fiction novels written in the style of the authors that he loved. When his friends began to leave him for their girlfriends and “hurt him and drag his trust through the mud (), Oscar continued to write. He knew that staying inside and imagining alien adventures wasn’t what society expected him to do, but it was what he loved and that it defined who he was. He used his writing and passion for comic books and science fiction as his way to form relationships. He shared his novels with anyone who would listen to him, and tried to have conversations with people about the games and movies that he enjoyed. As a result, when he did find people who shared his interests, their relationships were built on a mutual interest in each other’s personal identity. In college, he found a girl who enjoyed going to the same movies and playing the same games as him. She “read him all her poetry” and when Yunior comes into their room and finds her sitting on his bed, he is amazed that they are just talking about a favorite author. Oscar is told by society that he should be focusing on just having sex, but instead he is able to build a strong connection just based on his own identity. At the
The reader can feel Arnold’s state. With the phrase, “I had broken something inside all of us”, the reader can see that Arnold blames everything wrong about the Indian race was on him leaving the reservation. After a while Arnold finally returned to school with his teachers not feeling sympathy for him. The students in his class protested against the way the teacher was treating him. From this Arnold started gain hope.
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.
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.
Meaning he wasn 't as judgemental as the other peers. Diaz was the black sheep out of the bunch along with other minorities “Icabod”, “Athena”, and one other “writer of color… {he} didn 't know.” Diaz analyzed his peers each and every day. It didn 't take long to notice the Caucasians per trade themselves as better than the minorities in the whole world furthermore their own peers. In the text it alludes “ white peers stories was when crime or drugs were” presented and they thought negative about it causing them to “shut her down” when she tried to face them with their fear. The white people feel as though they have no error with their race. It states “race was the student of color’s problem, not the white class’s”. In other words, caucasian felt as though minorities had internal conflicts that needed to be faced on their own so they had nothing to do with “their” internal conflicts. It wasn 't their problems; caucasians grew up with privileges minorities never had. Keep in mind that was “acting white” but “too white”
Tap ... tap ... tap ... I looked up to see a blurry figure of my mother