In Arnold's case, poverty is a very serious situation, which has impacted his life into many negative aspects. Poverty among Native Americans affects them more physically than academically or socially because they have limited services and transportation. In the book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, Arnold has a very difficult time getting to school because he lives on the reservation and his school is 22 miles away. In one situation, Arnold said "My dad was supposed to pick me up. But he wasn't sure if he'd have enough gas money...If they didn't come, I'd start walking...Twenty-two miles. I got blisters each time" (Alexie 87-88). Arnold's biggest struggle everyday is trying to get to school. There…
In the book, “ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- Time Indian, A kid named Junior, tells us his life story. He starts off in his reservation. Later in the book He finds courage and transfers schools to Reardan. Reardan is a school that is located outside of the rez, with all whites. Even though there are some disadvantages about going to a school with people that are a different race, He had some good outcomes. He went to get a better education. Not only did He get a better education, but He had an opportunity to do sports. Junior succeeded in that department tremendously.…
Violence, poverty, and overcoming adversity as an Indian who grow up in a reservation and goes to a school 22 miles away from the reservation. This story is about a 14 year old boy who was born with too much hydrocephalus. Junior grow up on a reservation in Wellpinit. Junior has been beat up, made fun of, and has been even called a traitor because he left the reservation to go to a white school called Rearden high school outside of the rez. Even at Rearden junior was bullied because he was an Indian and the people at Rearden considered him dangerous so they verbally made fun of him. Junior has learned a lot throughout the novel like: standing up for himself, and that the people in the rez have given up, and that if you let people in to your…
Junior both hopes and fears in many ways some can be good and others can be devastating. Junior has a tough life he gets bullied at school, and at the reservation. Rowdy is junior's best friend, but when junior moved to a new school to create a better future for himself and to stop getting bullied Rowdy and him got into a fight and stopped being friends. During the basketball game Rowdy gave junior a concussion on purpose. People have always hit and abused Junior, like when he was raising money for the homeless and people jumped him and took everything.…
Junior is accepting of the loss and depression that he is facing. On of the first loses in the book that Junior faces is his grandmother dying. “ My grandmother's last act on Earth was a call for forgiveness, love, and tolerance.” His grandmother was very positive and helps Junior through hard times and it was really difficult to see his grandmother die, but he didn’t give up but accepted what he was going through and stayed positive. The second biggest loss is when his sister died. “No,” Miss Warren said. “ Your sister, she’s dead.” Junior could easily become really depressed and not do anything but he accepts what happened to him and that is how he overcomes his losses and depression.…
P gave him advice to leave the reservation. Mr. P’s advice to Junior was to leave the Rez so he wont give up on hope. Soon as Juniors parents got home he asked his parents to transfer him to a different school. Then his parents started to name the schools that all the poor kids attended such as Springdale and Hunters, but Junior refused. Junior wanted to go to Rearden because it was one of the best small schools in the state, had a computer room, huge chemistry lab, two basketball gyms, and a drama club. But going Rearden made Junior feel like a Part-Time Indian. The reason he feels like an Part-Time Indian is because he felt like he belonged to two tribes. Junior felt like he had to play two different roles, when he is at his reservation he was Junior and when he went to Rearden he was known as Arnold. So he becomes a multi-tribal…
In the poem “Spirit in Me” by Esther G. Belin,and the novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie both characters share similar life experiences such as effects from alcoholism that affect their lives negatively. Everyone in life has a goal they need to reach and to reach your goal you might have to go through emotional times and so did Junior from the book and the speaker from the poem.…
He finally decides to leave the reservation and recreate life at his new school. Since Junior is different than the white kids in his school, he feels as if he doesn't belong there. In the story it says, “ So what was I doing in racist Readan, where more than half of every graduating class went to college? Nobody in my family had ever gone near a college.” Junior compares himself to the kids at school in a negative…
As Junior expresses his awareness of his new classmate’s perception of him, it becomes clear that those perceptions overshadows Junior’s reality. These boys’ relationship with Junior is simultaneously aggressive and hesitant. They are comfortable verbally abusing him, though they draw a line at physical violence out of their fear of him, or rather what they think he is and what they think he could be. Their perception fuels their apprehension and overrides how they can see with their own eyes that Junior is not threatening or harmful by convincing them that due to the fact that he is Indian he is unpredictable and could become violent. In reality however, both Junior and all who know him are aware of how defenseless and weak he actually is…
The central idea in this story is of a young man slowly losing the meaning of his life as he changes himself to try to make everything in his life fit together. The protagonist is a young Indian man who has moved out of the reservation and into the city (363).…
He is very sentimental and sensitive. He is afraid of being by himself in a new world. Not having Rowdy in Reardon High School, makes it a little bit harder for Junior because people will make fun of him and could also hurt him. On page 54 Junior says, “I’m scared dad.” Dad replied, “You can always go back to the Rez School.” Junior does not want to go back to the Rez School because he could get hurt and he also won’t be able to get a good education. Junior already made the decision of going to a different school and he was not going to give it up just because he was scared. Junior has conquered some of his weakness. An example in which show us that Junior has overcome one of his fears is when Roger made a racist comment about Indians. He said, “Did you know that Indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo?” Junior punched Roger in the face and then challenged him to fight but instead Roger walked away from Junior. This is a big achievement for Junior because this time he didn’t have to depend on Rowdy to help him out. Little by little, Junior is defeating his…
Overall, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie encompasses the protagonist’s struggle to adapt to his change of schools. He effectively displays this by using detailed visuals that support his text. The images also give the reader a better understanding of how the main character feels and how he views the situation at hand. Some of the many significant illustrations include Arnold’s portrait, his emotional experience with Rowdy, and his comparison of Indians and whites. If you were a minority, how would you accustom yourself to a new…
It is hard to say what affects someone to become something, especially when we are living a high technology life surrounded by things that can inspire us to become someone we want to be. But I believe that we are all influenced by the environment around us, both positively and negatively. Throughout Esperanza's, Junior's, and my life there are things that have affected us to become who we are. One of the key influences for all of us is our surroundings, specifically the environment where we lived. Esperanza has been affected by her surrounding because she didn’t live in a good environment that she can be proud of her, but rather be ashamed and feel uncomfortable.…
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…
The writer is a woman of mixed race and cultures; part Chickasaw Indian, and part Caucasian. As a child and also into her adult years, she often wondered at the calmness and acceptance of her Native American grandparents as they were forced to move from place to place; often losing their possessions and even much of their culture all for the sake of ‘progress’. And yet they never showed anger towards anyone. They came to understand that material belongings are not always promised and therefore, to hold on to that of true value in life: family, those close to them, heritage. These circumstances did not always make sense to the writer during her childhood and she often felt isolated and even ashamed of who she was.…