David Phillips Hansen’s new book, Native Americans, the Mainline Church, and the Quest for Interracial Justice (Chalice Press, $29.99), is a sobering and important exploration of the historical, theological, and social relationships between the church and native peoples.…
In Stephen Graham Jones'"The Just Excellent Indians,"" the intertwining of mental scary together with sensible social discourse uses an extensive expedition of the American Indian experience. Via the lives of 4 American Indian guys pestered by an awful occasion from their young people as well as the ruthless search for a vindictive entity, the unique looks into styles of social identification, practice, and retribution, coupled with vulnerability. By analyzing the personalities' intersectionality of national politics, their battles with social heritage, and also the more comprehensive public problems dealt with by American Indian areas, Jones crafts a story that greatly reverberates with visitors testing assumptions together with clarifying…
This book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. ¨ If youŕe good at it, and you love it, and it helps you navigate the river of the world, then it can not be wrong.¨ This book is about how people can make mistakes and abuse others in a negative way. Things can lead out into violence and to death and heartbreak. Three characters who hope and fear are Rowdy, Mary, and Junior.…
All people are different and the characters in “The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-TIme Indian” demonstrate this. The main character Arnold “Junior” Spirit shows that even though you may be born in the same place and time as others you are different. This is the case with Junior and his best friend Rowdy, while they were born in the same town at the same time Junior’s drive to get more out of life set him apart from Rowdy. This was demonstrated by his push to change schools, his determination not to remain poor, and accepting the help of others around him.…
In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the author emphasizes Junior’s misfit status at Reardan through figurative language, parallel structure, repetition, and contrast. Junior is uncomfortable being the only Indian attending Reardan, which is evident through the way he compares his classmates’ stares to the way you would stare at “bigfoot or a ufo” (56). This simile reveals that Junior feels his classmates see him as an “alien,” rather than as a fellow classmate. Thus, uncovering Junior’s fear that he won’t fit in, being the only Indian. Junior feels like a fish out of water as the people and lifestyles of those living in Reardan are completely different than those on the rez, which is evident through the parallel…
At the beginning, Sawyer says that the Lakota Sioux is “one of the poorest populations in America” (ABC 2011). Each individual highlighted throughout the video experiences poverty. Robert Looks Twice, a 12 year old, walked Sawyer through his house, pointing out the broken floor and leaking roof. He also showed his messy bedroom that was crowded with other kids and freezing cold. The schools on the reservation are also in poor conditions. Principal Whitewolf showed Sawyer the areas of her school that contained asbestos, which was not her biggest concern. “When kids come on Monday their really hungry because they haven't had anything to eat through the weekend,” she said (ABC 2011). Each sociological perspective offers a different explanation for poverty. The functional perspective says that poverty serves a social function and inequality is inevitable. Whereas the interactionist perspective says that poverty is a learned phenomenon (Leon-Guerrero, 47).…
In "Construction of the Imaginary Indian," Marcia Crosby shows that throughout history, there has been an imagined image of a savage, yet illusory indigenous person constructed by the West to justify European colonization, known as the "Imaginary Indian." Until present literature, this Eurocentric approach marginalized Indians as human specimens or peripheral objects. However, Native people have been an imperative component of European history throughout North America. As Crosby states, the indigenous population have always been placed opposite to the West to stress the importance of colonizing and civilizing these peoples by assimilation in an effort to "rescue" them. According to her past judgment, in a binary system where only white people…
“The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian” (PTI) is a novel written by Sherman Alexie. The novel follows a Native-American teenage boy named Arnold who lives on a reservation that has to suffer through the troubles of being the only Indian teenager in an all white school at Reardan. The challenges that confronted him when he started at Reardan seemed menacing, but through his personal spirit and courage he was able to achieve success at the school. Some of Arnold’s successes include his triumph in the Varsity basketball team as their “secret weapon”, his academic efforts and his charismatic persona which helped him blend into the all white school.…
This book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, is about a boy called Arnold Spirit aka Junior. He is a Native American that lives in an Indian Reservation. He isn't really satisfied with his life, since he's pretty poor, but he gets along. He doesn't really accept himself, since he has multiple medical problems, and he has been beaten up since he was little. When he starts to gain more friends in this new (American) school, he starts to like and accept himself more than before. In this book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" (by Sherman Alexie), the main theme is about Arnold trying to accept himself.…
“Sex, profanity, and racism remain the primary categories of objection” (Doyle 2013: 3) when it comes to challenged or banned books. “The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie is not only an award winning book, but also one of the most challenged books in the United States. It can be found in the bibliography of books which are “challenged, restricted, removed, or banned […]” (Doyle 2013: 4). Critics consider the book offensive as it deals with alcohol, poverty, violence, sexual references, and bullying. The book is indeed handling these issues flagrantly but this should not alter the fact that “The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” also incorporates valuable themes, which can help teens in their struggle of young adulthood and their search for personal identity.…
Defeatism is a dangerous mind set to have. When one expects to fail and accept it, is likely one will fail. Defeatism takes away one’s ability to handle pressure and one’s composure. It leaves a person unable to handle events in an effective way. It also robs people of the ability they will need to succeed at whatever they set out to do. With a defeatist attitude people give up quickly and fold at the first sign of trouble. In the book The Absolute True Story Of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi several of the characters suffered from a defeatist attitude. “Self-confidence is an inner quality that is not a steady state. It comes and goes depending on the environment we find ourselves in”. (Edmunds, USA Today) The characters Arnold, Rowdy and Arnold’s parents all displayed life altering attitudes of defeatism.…
Jr. is convinced that he is weak and cannot fend for himself. He thinks himself lucky to have Rowdy for a friend… and he’s right. Rowdy has protective instincts towards Arnold, Jr. knows that “…Rowdy has a temper and stuff…but he’s been nice to me since we were kids” (41). And while there can be many explanations as to why Rowdy likes Arnold, he is just happy is has someone to protect him. I speculate the reason Rowdy protects Jr. is because “…Rowdy’s dad hits him…” (41). His parents treat him poorly and he is neglected by his family and everyone else on the rez. He goes to extreme measures in order to keep Arnold safe, him being the only friend of his and the only one who cares about him. Arnold is lucky to have a more or less “good” family. He knows that even though his parents rarely show it “…my parents love me so much that they want to help me” (46). They care about Arnold and his well-being. A good example would be his father saving five dollars for Arnold after coming home drunk at Christmas. He could’ve easily spent the money on a bottle of cheap whiskey to keep himself drunk, yet in his drunken haze he remembered to bring Jr. the present. While it smelled like old shoe and wasn’t exactly very generous, the gesture was there and it was definitely important to Arnold. I would say his sister Mary cares about Arnold too but has just given up hope. We later find out that the reason she was depressed was because she lost her dream of becoming a writer. Arnold realizes he needs the full support of his friends and family, something not easily gained in his position as his “Dad is a drunk and Mom is an ex-drunk…” (46) That’s the reason why he desperately tries to find and keep friends amongst those he knows. He needs someone he can relate to, another outcast like him. Someone that goes through the same neglect Arnold goes through every day, or at least something of the…
Arnold saw this poverty as a bad thing but when he looks back he can see that poverty is the reason that all the good things in his life happened in the first place. After Arnold threw a textbook at a teacher and got suspended the teacher told him he would be better at a different school; no because he would expel him otherwise but because there was so much potential that would go to waste if Arnold stayed here. That potential would be wasted by the poverty that kept almost every Native Indian on the reservation. Arnold saw this as a terrible thing and thought that he was being punished when he was motivated by Mr. P when he said, “‘Son […] You’re going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation.’” (Alexie 43) Arnold saw this as an insult that he didn’t belong there anymore because of what he did but it was actually a gift. The poverty sent him to a different, better, more educated school through Mr. P. Arnold was starting to doubt the one good change in his life of switching to Reardon when “[He] only had five dollars, not nearly enough to pay for anything — not for photos, not for food, not for gas, not for a hot dog and soda pop.” (119). This lack of money put him in a deep spot because he couldn’t have any social life at this school that was already so different for him because of his race. He…
When freshman change schools, does it impact their identity? The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is about an young kid named Junior goes through a dramatic change of schools and friends but manages to make it work. “School Days of an Indian Girl” by Zitkala-Sa is about a Indian girl who is forced into a boarding school and has to the teacher they to make her forget about her culture. In The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Junior’s identity has changed by being brave by playing in the basketball game, then to making friends at Reardan High School and being more of a forgiving person to Rowdy.…
"Satyameva Jayate" (satyam-eva jayate सत्यमेव जयते; literal English: Truth Alone Triumphs) is a mantra from the ancient Indian scripture Mundaka Upanishad.[1] Upon independence of India, it was adopted as the national motto of India.[2] It is inscribed inDevanagari script at the base of the national emblem. The emblem and words 'Satyameva Jayate' are inscribed on one side of all Indian currency. The emblem is an adaptation of theLion Capital of Asoka which was erected around 250 BC at Sarnath, near Varanasi in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The full mantra is as follows:…