From part-time Indian to multi-tribal
What were the major difficulties throughout Arnold’s journey and how did he deal with them?
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a young adults novel written by Sherman Alexie. Sherman Alexie was born in Wellpinit in Washington. Alexie is a Native American author and writes poetry, novels and short stories. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was released in 2007 in the United States and a year later in Great Britain. The book won several awards and it became the first young adult fiction work by Alexie. The novel is about Arnold growing up in the Spokane Indian Reservation and how he decides to go his own way to find a future. In this text I will look at what the major difficulties throughout Arnold’s journey were and how he dealt with them.
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The book follows one school year in the life of the fourteen-year-old boy.
At the Rez he lives with his poor family, including his alcoholic father, his mother and his smart and talented sister named Mary.
Determined to go his own way to find a future, he leaves his troubled school at the reservation, which includes his best friend Rowdy, to attend an all-white high school in Reardan. Arnold gets caught between two worlds: his home at the Rez, were his family and Rowdy lives, and the white high school where he falls in love with the dream girl, Penelope. However, feeling he fits in nowhere, Arnold does not lose hope and fights to find out who he really is and where he
Each individual that is described as ‘the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, and the ones who see things differently’ are people who don’t fit in society and those who would not likely be accepted by others but can be described as innovators. However, the ones who see things differently would be applied to Sherman Alexie, an author, poet, and Native America of the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene from the Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, WA. He experienced a misfit as a teen of racial groups and struggle of finding himself in a new world that led him to write The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, with a quote, “Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie shares many themes with young adults. The entire book is mainly about Arnold ( Junior ) and his “journey” about being half indian. Also shows his friendship with Rowdy his best friend. One of the themes is friendship has positive and negative sides of friendships. “ He knew he blown it.
In the late 1800 's into the 1900 's and beyond Native American Indians, fought in pursuit of protecting their land. However, years passed and Native Americans were stripped away from their homes and forced to be in reservation camps where many face problems related to health, poverty and alcoholism. The reservations served as a way to segregate Native Americans and today, there are approximately 560 federally recognized Native American Tribes in the United States. (Rose,”The history of Native American Indians”) The Absolute True Diary of A Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie, tells the story of Arnold, a Native American teenage boy who struggles with life and takes it day by day.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie is a novel that follows the journey of a young Native American boy named Junior, as he transfers to a new school and encounters unknown situations. At the beginning of the book, he struggles with an abundant amount of physical insecurity and sense of inferiority about his basketball skills. Nevertheless, after he transfers to Reardan High School, he forms new friendships and joins the school’s varsity basketball team. Due to these positive influences in his life, Junior gains more confidence in his looks while also becoming more determined and prideful in his basketball gameplay.
Junior is a young American Indian who had grown up on a reservation in the western United States. As he grew older, he realized that living on the reservation would lead him nowhere. His only chance of hope at a better life is to leave “the Rez”. Sherman Alexie perfectly captures the culture of an American Indian in his novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, by introducing white culture by sending Junior to Reardan High School. Junior’s experience in Reardan allows him to draw conclusions about his own culture and Alexie has surely done research on American Indian culture.
With the younger children, it is not always possible for them to study in a different education surrounding and insist on their goal. Sherman Alexie’s “The absolutely time of a part-time Indian” describes an Indian boy Arnold Junior left his homeland and pursued his goal in Reardan where has many white people. In Reardan, he learns something new and makes some new friends like Penelope and Gordy. Finally, he satisfies with the new life and even fix the friendship with Rowdy. The passage compares the description of Junior’s life both in Rez and Reardan, and those differences have great impacts on him.
Lyric Sinan Sinanian Mr. Rodriguez Academic Literacy 21 April 2023 The Issue of Poverty The damaging consequences of poverty are a big issue in America, and have raised in severity over the years. In the realistic fiction novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the life of a poor Native American exhibits the terrors of poverty and how it can affect families within the poor communities in the country. The economically unfortunate have seen the worse come over them and their family.
As previously stated, the author also discusses very serious issues like poverty, substance abuse and the death of several characters who had relationships with Arnold. For example, at the beginning of the novel the author discusses how terrible poverty is by stating that “Poverty equals an empty refrigerator plus an empty stomach” but, he makes a joke about it saying that doesn’t worry because he knows that his parents will eventually make sure that he eats a meal (Alexie,
The novel Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, By Sherman Alexie it show how Indians or African Americans struggle with who they are and who they want to be. Arnold learns how to live through and with his struggles because of how his friends accepted and helped him. In this book Alexie shows how all of Arnold’s friends helped him through different aspects in life. If he didn’t have those friends than his life would have been so much harder.
Despite the negative stereotype of American Indians, the objections and disapproval of fellow Natives, and the criticism of others, Sherman Alexie went on to become a successful writer that has inspired many. Alexie overcame many obstacles that would have deterred him from his goal, but he was able to remain steadfast and continue on in his pursuit of writing. As a result, he has published many literary works that include several short stories, poems, and a variety of novels. He allows his culture to seep into his writing, and continues to inspire young American Indians who also desire the path of knowledge.
Born with a rare condition that resulted in mild brain damage and occasional seizures, while also being subjected to several beating by almost everyone in his reservation; Junior has had a tough journey throughout his life. In the novel,“ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, a fifteen year old Native American boy named Junior is forced to decide between remaining in the reservation; he and his whole family have lived on for years, or tamper tradition and attend a school away from his reservation. By Junior attending school off the reservation, he is bringing dishonor to his family, betraying his Native American identity, and conforming to the Western ways. Native Americans who live on reservations like our main
Sherman Alexie uses a wide variety of writing techniques to emphasize the points he tries to get across in his book, A True Diary of a Part Time Indian, about the world and his culture. Those techniques are hyperbole, parallelism, dark humor, imagery, analogies, repetition, dialogue, and improper use of language. These techniques contribute to the creative ways Alexie portrays his culture and life. In my pastiche I used repetition, analogies, and dialogue to portray my situation as if Alexie himself wrote it.
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 book focuses on a young boy named Arnold Spirit who shows persistence and bravery as he defies all odds and strides towards a happier more successful life than his parents and ancestors before him. Arnold is a bright, inspiring young boy who grows up with little fortune and is destined to continue down the path of a poor, misunderstood Indian. However, his fate changes for the better when a spark lights the fire inside of him to strive to pursue a better, more flourishing life as he makes an extraordinary decision to transfer to an all-white school for a worthier education. However, the drastic change of schools puts a burden on his family to get him to school as well as leads to extreme bullying from not just kids at his new school but also from his fellow Indians in his hometown. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I learned that it doesn 't matter what your situation is and what you are expected to accomplish in your lifetime or what standards have already been set for you because you can be whoever you want to be with hard work, ambition, and confidence.
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).