Passage In 'The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian'

The novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie retells the accounts of Junior’s coming of age. Many of his perspectives evolve in the novel including that of his reservation, Reardan and his identity. Throughout his journey he endures tough losses of loved ones but is supported by the love of his family and friends. His daunting pursuit of hope turns into much more as he discovers his true identity.

In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes. The decision to attend a white school is a tough one and Junior understands that for him to survive and to ensure that his background does not stop him from attaining his dreams; he must battle the stereotypes regardless of the consequences. In this light, race and stereotypes only makes junior stronger in the end as evident on how he struggles to override the race and stereotypical expectations from his time at the reservation to his time at Rearden.

P’s advice and Junior’s experiences to to convey the theme that perseverance and hope can lead to great things. For example when Mr. P’s gives Junior advice regarding how to succeed in life, he says, “you kept your hope. And now, you have to go somewhere where other people have hope...away from this sad, sad, sad reservation”(Alexie 43). This evidence implies that, Mr. P’s advises Junior to keep up the hope but he know’s that Junior will give up and lose hope, being in the reservation. As a whole, he exclaim that Junior must go away from this reservation; to somewhere that has hope.

The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian Essay "A mentor empowers a person to see a possible future, and make them believe it can be obtained”-Shaun Hithcock. Mentors and role models are important figures in society, they help people succeed in every which way they choose to endeavor. In general, a good mentor is necessary for someone who likes to dream fantasies. This is very clear with Junior in The Absolute Truth Diary Of A Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Junior relies on the guidance of his mentors, so they can motivate him and lead him to become successful, His geometry teacher, Mr.P, helps Junior to understand the real picture of changing and taking his education at Wellpinit. In addition, to his

No matter the place in the world there are always leaders and followers, but sometimes there are people who take their own route. Within The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior is that person who takes his own route. This is because of all the conflicts surrounding him. Junior’s decisions were impacted by the conflicts around him because he wanted to try his best to escape the hostile environment he was in. When people are facing adversity they don’t want to accept what is happening they want to fight back.

Mr. P tells Junior that “You 're going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation.” (Alexie 63). Junior’s teacher knows that in order for Junior to find hope, he must isolate himself from his miserable reservation. He knows that Junior deserves better, and has fought too hard to lose hope, therefore he must take his hope and go somewhere where other people have hope. In order to do that, Junior must separate himself from all the horrors of the sad reservation by leaving.

Overcoming a challenge, not giving up, and not being afraid of change are a few themes demonstrated in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Perhaps the most prominent theme derived from the novel is defying the odds, or in other words rising above the expectations of others. Junior Spirit exemplifies this theme throughout the entirety of the book. As Junior is an Indian, he almost expects that he will never leave the reservation, become an alcoholic, and live in poverty like the other Indians on the reservation—only if he sits around and does not endeavor to change his fate. When Junior shares the backstory of his parents, he says that his mother and father came from “poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people” (11). He knows that if his parents were not born into poverty, his mother would have gone to college, and his father would have become a musician. Additionally, on page eleven Junior says that his parents “dreamed about being something other than poor, but they never got the chance to be anything because nobody paid attention to their dreams.” Junior believes that he is trapped in this “circle” of poverty, and his dreams will be ignored just as his parents’ dreams had been. However, after Junior launches an old geometry book across a classroom, and it hits his teacher, Mr. P, in the face, Mr. P realizes something substantial about Junior: He has fought since his birth, beginning with the

Junior being born on the Reservation has always been poor and put down by others. He has had a horrible life with pain coming from a new direction each day but has coped with it that is why he is still alive today to write this book. Although he may or may not admit it, the ways he coped with his life were not great after all. When faced with a

Facing struggles of life defines one’s character in life. The ability to confront one’s problems speaks volumes about their strength in character, hopefulness, and flexibility as a person. Through struggles, sacrifice, and tragedy, Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Junior adapts to survive difficult situations and faces his problems head-on. As he makes radical changes to his life, adapts to unfamiliar culture, and finds himself amongst misery and heartbreak, Junior demonstrates this ability to overcome wicked adversity and struggles.

The presence of reservation was a total separation of culture and race. By introducing Thomas and Junior’s family background, Sherman Alexie showned the sad lives and fragmented identity that the Natives endured. However, the protagonist

Redfern Now Practice Essay: How is the idea of belonging explored in Redfern Now Introduction: The idea of belonging in Redfern Now is explored by the choices taken by the characters. The main points that can be made for this is: the culture and racism affect as well as explore the belonging in Redfern Now, the principal’s choice to expel Joel and the characters own choice of where he wants to belong. The interpretations that can be mad about this are that the belonging in Redfern Now can be changed and explored by the different characters choice.

The Importance of Hope: The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian shows the importance of hope throughout the entire novel. The author states how significant hope really is, and how it helps us have courage in even the toughest situations. From the start to the end of the novel, you can see how the members of the reservation lack hope.

“None of those guys punched me or got violent. After all, I was a reservation Indian, and no matter how geeky and weak I appeared to be, I was still a potential killer.” (63) This segment not only shows the racism of the people he is now surrounded with, but the way Junior uses the first person exemplifies that even he thinks he is a potential killer.

Courage is exemplified in the novel by, “They wanted a better life for my sister and me. My sister is running away to get lost, but I am running away because I want to find something.” (page:46) “You’ll be the first one to ever leave the reservation this way,” Mom said. (page:47) Junior attending Reardan an all-white school even though, he know want he would be known as traitor on the reservation.

Discrimination In the world people tend to discriminate because of color of skin, culture, disabilities, appearance, language, and so many other matters. Florida Commission on Human Relations define discrimination as “the unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice and without regard to individual merit.” In the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Arnold an Indian teenager had to face many hardships because he was a victim of discrimination for his appearance and the health condition he suffered as a little boy. In the other hand in Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi the protagonist suffer from discrimination due to the abuse of government in which women where force to use a veil, did not had freedom