The Absolutely True Diary Literary Analysis

Junior was constantly bullied while going to school on the reservation. One time, the Andrus brothers were picking on him and Junior said,”All three of them shoved me to and fro. They were playing catch with me” (Alexie 21). This was a common occurrence on the reservation for Junior, and it got to the point where he could not take it anymore. As a result, he convinced Rowdy to go with him to shave off the Andrus brothers hair which they have been growing their whole life. If it were not for Junior constantly facing the adversity of being bullied he would not have made the decision to shave the Andrusses hair. This conflict influenced Junior to make actions that are risky but could end up benefiting him in the future. Junior was not the only Indian on the reservation facing adversity. In fact most of the Indians were, and a specific person noticed this and finally came out and said something. Mr. P,

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

In both novels, House on Mango Street and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, stereotyping is a reoccurring issue. House on Mango Street shows the stereotypes given to people who have little to no money and Part Time Indian expresses how different races are viewed and treated differently. Esperanza and Junior, the characters in the novels, each struggle with finding acceptance within their own families and with people around them. Sadly, the only reason no one respects them the way they should is based solely on the way they look and where they live. Both novels have a common theme of stereotypes causing society to judge a book by its cover.

Despite the constant stereotypes placed on Arnold by his fellow Indians, and by his peers at Rearden, Junior rebounds stronger than ever. When Arnold, (dubbed Junior), arrives for his first day at his new school Rearden, he is surrounded by all the white teenagers and their expectations for him to be poor, stupid, and wild. They only consider him “Indian”, as if it is an occupation. When Junior is surrounded by a group of these racist people, they are all calling him names and making fun of him. However, none of them are brave enough to fight him, because they think that because he is an Indian, he must be a crazy fighter. “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.

The identity a person holds is one of the most important aspects of their lives. Identity is what distinguishes people from others, although it leaves a negative stereotype upon people. In the short story Identities by W.D Valgardson, a middle-aged wealthy man finds himself lost in a rough neighborhood while attempting to look for something new. The author employs many elements in the story, some of the more important ones being stereotype and foreshadow.

The Heart of a Chief by Joseph Bruchac is a realistic fictional novel published in 1998. The protagonist of the story, an eleven-year-old boy named Christopher Nicola, struggles to take action when his people are divided over whether or not to build a casino on a sacred island.

What does Walking on Water suggest about the interplay between fear and foresight when individuals make life altering decisions?

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

While on trial, Junior was asked why he had turned to the FBI. “That was not the life that I wanted to live,” he testified. Junior has helped the FBI by leading them to bodies that were buried in various places, while Junior successfully stayed alive and well in MS-13. In the final closing of the article Junior says, “It just didn’t feel right. I had to do something… The FBI can only do so much (Hawkins, n.d)”, speaking about how he no longer wanted to stand by and watch innocent people die for no reason at all.

“True Notebooks,” by Mark Salzman, is a book about the author’s experience teaching young offenders how to write. According to Salzman, one of Mark’s writing students is Nathaniel Hall. I believe Nathaniel is very smart and streetwise, but he yearns to be the center of attention. While reading, “True Notebooks,” I came across an essay written by Nathaniel, I like how the essay begins, but I don’t like its ending. Salzman continues by quoting Hall, “In my knowledge quest I search for the secrets of the mind. I start with psychology. With a perfect understanding of the way the mind works and reacts to certain situations” (184). I think it’s great that Nathaniel wants to enhance what he already knows, to go on a quest for knowledge. I can relate to this because I’m currently on a journey to enhance my own knowledge through life experience and education. By comparison, the essay’s ending describes Nathaniel’s devious reason to strive for mental acquisitiveness. According to Salzman,

Author Sherman Alexie has had numerous accounts of being judged. Some have been less apparent but still comparatively so. From the tone of his essay those situations have made him a little distrusting, over critical and sort of a pessimist. In the essay, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” he gives us a first person narrative, of the conscious weight he carries.

The readers learns that there is a lot of students in Rearden that are racist and are bullying kids that are not white, this quotation proves how,” ‘Hey, Chief’, Roger said. ‘You want to hear a joke?’ ‘Sure,’ [Junior] said. ‘Did you know that Indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo?’” (Alexie 64). By looking at this quotation you can tell that Roger is bullying Junior and trying to make himself look superior, often people achieve this feeling by putting down other people and making them feel like inferior. Moreover, no matter what, "[Junior] was a reservation Indian, and no matter how geeky and weak [Junior] appeared to be, [Junior] was still a potential killer. So mostly they called [Junior] names. Lots of names. White people often thinks that all Indians are killers and since Junior is Indian, they are afraid that they are going to get killed so they bully him in different ways, like calling him names. Racism is a real issue across the world and Alexie uses Junior to show us that racism has very terrible outcomes, and bullying being one of

Speak (1999), a novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about Melinda Sordino, a girl whose problems started the day she was raped. That tragic event led to many changes in her life, she got isolated from the people that surrounded her, including family, friends and classmates. She did not speak to any one, feeling trapped and prey of her own thoughts and emotions, which is why, for this written assignment I’ve decided to write a diary entry in which Melinda Sordino talks about a dream she had that changed her perspective about life. The reason why I chose this type of text is because I think that the informal style and the first-person point-of-view allow the readers to place themselves in the same position as the one writing it. In this case, the diary entry goes for all those teenagers that, as Melinda, feel trapped and alone in a cruel world, thinking they do not fit on it. Therefore, my objective is to show all those teenagers that there is a rainbow behind the storm, that it is always good to have someone we can count with. Also, that it is not good to let something bad ruin our entire life, that it is always good to find a way out.

When Junior receives his first Geometry textbook, he notices his mother’s name written on the back of the book. Junior is frustrated by this because it shows that his school is so poor that they study from the same books their parents studied from. Junior then gets so mad that he throws the book at his teacher, Mr. P, and is suspended. During his suspension, they both have a long conversation about the incident. Mr. P understands that Junior threw that book at him because somewhere inside him he refused to give up. 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. If someone can not find the hope they need in life, they must isolate themselves from whatever obstacle that blocks their path to success. An example would be secluding themselves from others who doubt themselves show no respect for them. People can find hope through

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.