Courage

"Compassion" Nelson Mandela once said "Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future." This quality of compassion is embodied by many characters throughout American literature. Mr. P in Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian displays compassion by guiding the way to a successful life for others. Penelope in Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian shows compassion by being there to comfort her friends during their time of need. Inman from Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain embodies compassion by always stopping to help people in need and preventing future disasters to come. These three characters show themselves to be whole hearted human beings by putting other people before themselves with deep compassion. Mr. P from the short novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian shows compassion by guiding a successful life for others. A way Mr. P shows compassion is when he tells Arnold he needs to escape the reservation, make something of himself, and keep his hope up. He says if Arnold continues to stay on the reservation he will not make anything of himself and will not have an opportunity to attend college. He explains he's a bright young student with a bright future but staying on the reservation will get him nowhere. Another example of Mr. P showing compassion is when he forgives Arnold for throwing the book at him and breaking his nose. He could have held a grudge and punished him but instead he gave him advice that would eventually turn out to be Arnold's best decision of his life.

Penelope in the short novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian shows compassion by caring for her boyfriend and making him feel good about himself. An example of Penelope showing compassion is when