During the time in the 1950’s, the escalation of mass media with the use of television shows had greatly emphasized the idealist family standards: a white nuclear family standard of living within conventional gender roles that stresses on family hierarchy that became a societal norm as a “perfect family” today. In Gary Soto’s “Looking for Work” and Roger Jack’s “An Indian Story”, bother short stories contest against familial customs. Soto describes how the media shapes the idea of a “family” to the young narrator that inspires him to push his family and himself to assimilate into the while culture. Roger conveys a story of a young Indian boy defying against both his Indian and familial ethics. Together, these stories share a common theme. Both …show more content…
The narrator, ever since he was young, never really stuck by the traditional family standard of living: his father decides to start a new family with someone else that is not his mother and given the freedom to choose to live with his Aunt as his parental guardian. The narrator defines his relationship that he has with his Aunt that allowed him to truthfully say that he was “proud to be her nephew and her son” (52), which displays the narrator’s perception that although he is not her direct son, he is a huge impact and part of her life. He is able to define himself as her sole son. As the story goes on, the narrator realizes the conflict that he is soon stuck between. His life is molded into a mixed culture where he would: still have strong holds to his Native American heritage along with accustoming to the white’s expectations of attending college while maintain a strong relationship with his Aunt. Through his aunt having “so much love and knowledge to share, which she passed onto [the narrator] naturally” (53), the narrator is able to witness first-hand about the Native American tradition and beliefs. As compared to Gary Soto’s work, both narrators were able to view their culture under a new light with a positive perspective. By the end of the stories, both narrators were able to associate themselves with their cultures without feeling the need to change it or contemplate over, something that is irreplaceably taught to them through the power of family. Through this process, they have materialized that they did not have to alter the structure and way of life of their family in order to find clarity with who they are. However, the difference between the two stories is that each narrator learns these lessons through different means. The narrator from “Looking for Work” learns through
The Essay, I have chosen to read from is ReReading America was An Indian Story by Roger Jack. The topic of this narrative explores the life of an Indian boy who grows up away from his father in the Pacific Northwest. Roger Jack describes the growing up of a young Indian boy to a man, who lives away from his father. Roger demonstrates values of the Indian culture and their morals through exploration of family ties and change in these specific ties. He also demonstrates that growing up away from one’s father doesn’t mean one can’t be successful in life, it only takes a proper role model, such as the author provides for the young boy.
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.
In both short nonfictional stories, “ The Uprooting of a Japanese- American Family” by Yoshiko Uchida and “The Way to Rainy Mountain” by N.Scott Momaday both authors have comparative and contrasting traits in their purpose of writing their own stories.
Sometimes many similarities can be found between two completely different works of literature. The poem “I am Joaquin'; and the short story “The First Seven Years'; at the same time exhibit both contrasting positions and similar ideals. Even though “I am Joaquin'; is told from Mexican-American perspective while “The First Seven Years'; is told from Jewish-American perspective, similarities are found in both. They tell of the American Dream and of the two mentioned families’ roles and influences as a means of attaining that dream. The roles of the families in these works and each version of the American Dream are based on the same ideals, but involve different methods.
of the native tongue is lost , certain holidays may not be celebrated the same , and American born generations feel that they might have lost their identity , making it hard to fit in either cultures . Was is significant about this book is the fact it’s like telling a story to someone about something that happened when they were kid . Anyone can relate because we all have stories from when we were kids . Alvarez presents this method of writing by making it so that it doesn’t feel like it’s a story about Latin Americans , when
Confucius once said, “The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.” Many people across the world deem family as the most important aspect of their life. Family is something that often teaches us moral values and helps shape the individuals we become later in our lives. The values taught by family are not only essential, but will help develop the moral character of an individual. In the short story, “Cakes,” Salvatore La Puma conveys the prominence of family values in Italian-American immigrant culture in the 1940’s industrial era.
Jack Forbes, a Native American scholar, is the author of Only Approved Indians. This is a collection of seventeen short stories that take in to account the vicissitudes of life for modern-day Indians. The stories are full of humor and irony. The book gets its title from its lead story, ‘Only Approved Indians can Play Made in the USA’ (Howard, 1995).
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a novel about Arnold Spirit (Junior), a boy from the Spokane Indian Reservation who decides to attend high school outside the reservation in order to have a better future. During that first year at Reardan High School, Arnold has to find his place at his all-white school, cope with his best friend Rowdy and most of his tribe disowning him, and endure the deaths of his grandmother, his father’s best friend, and his sister. Alexie touches upon issues of identity, otherness, alcoholism, death, and poverty in order to stay true to his characters and the cultures within the story. Through the identification of the role of the self, identity, and social behavior within the book, the reader can understand Arnold’s story to a greater depth.
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is a humorous and intuitive novel written by Sherman Alexie. The reader gets an insight into the everyday life of a fourteen year old hydrocephalic Indian boy named Arnold Spirit, also referred to as Junior Spirit. He is living on the Spokane Indian reservation and is seen as an outcast by all the other Indians, due to his medical condition. Against all odds Arnold expands his hope, leaves his school on the reservation and faces new obstacles to obtain a more promising future at a school off the reservation. The novel is told through Arnold’s voice, thoughts, actions and experiences. Alexie incorporates one point of view, different themes and settings, such as poverty, friendship, Spokane and Reardan within Arnold’s journey to illustrate the different hardships he must overcome to gain a higher education.
Boys in the Native American culture are pushed to be good runners, skilled hunters, and good warriors. When they achieve this they are considered men in their society. When they become too old to do all of this they become counselors of the village. Women are expected to raise children, make food, and take care of the children for a lifetime. There is no police force, government, or punishment in their culture. They do not need it. These r...
In “The Truth about Stories”, Thomas King, demonstrate connection between the Native storytelling and the authentic world. He examines various themes in the stories such as; oppression, racism, identity and discrimination. He uses the creational stories and implies in to the world today and points out the racism and identity issues the Native people went through and are going through. The surroundings shape individuals’ life and a story plays vital roles. How one tells a story has huge impact on the listeners and readers. King uses sarcastic tone as he tells the current stories of Native people and his experiences. He points out to the events and incidents such as the government apologizing for the colonialism, however, words remains as they are and are not exchanged for actions. King continuously alerts the reader about taking actions towards change as people tend to be ignorant of what is going around them. At the end people give a simple reason that they were not aware of it. Thus, the author constantly reminds the readers that now they are aware of the issue so they do not have any reason to be ignorant.
The author, Sherman Alexie, is extremely effective through his use of ethos and ethical appeals. By sharing his own story of a sad, poor, indian boy, simply turning into something great. He establishes his authority and character to the audiences someone the reader can trust. “A little indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age and advances quickly…If he’d been anything but an Indian boy living in the reservations, he might have been called a prodigy.” Alexie mentions these two different ideas to show that he did have struggles and also to give the audience a chance to connect with his struggles and hopefully follow the same journey in becoming something great. By displaying his complications and struggles in life with stereotypical facts, Alexie is effective as the speaker because he has lived the live of the intended primary audience he is trying to encourage which would be young Indian
Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.
Change is one of the tallest hurdles we all must face growing up. We all must watch our relatives die or grow old, our pets do the same, change school or employment, and take responsibility for our own lives one way or another. Change is what shapes our personalities, it molds us as we journey through life, for some people, change is what breaks us. Watching everything you once knew as your reality wither away into nothing but memory and photographs is tough, and the most difficult part is continuing on with your life. In the novel Ceremony, author Leslie Silko explores how change impacted the entirety of Native American people, and the continual battle to keep up with an evolving world while still holding onto their past. Through Silko’s
Julia Alvarez was an example of how a Latina writer identified herself in a new culture outside of her comfort zone. She, as a Dominican Diaspora, had to reinvent herself as she migrated into a new scenario. Her assimilation into the United States culture allowed her to understand and relate to the reader’s needs and points of interests. After all the effort, Alvarez kept in mind that she could not comfort to all the reality that she lived in, so she re-reinvented herself all over again to process her thoughts and beliefs into her life. She put her perspective on her writing so that the new wave of readers, even if they did not understand, could relate in some way and appreciate the differences. The sole purpose of her writings was for everyone to change their perspective from “walk to the other side of the street in order to avoid sharing the same sidewalk” to “I do not know them, but I do not avoid them because I do not know them”. She instilled in her reader’s mind how ordinary events were viewed differently through other cultures’ eyes. Her story Snow was a great example of how she portrayed her technique.