The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian Analysis
They had to be brave. Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird was a lawyer in the 1930’s. He would support anyone including black people. During that time, it was unheard of to support people of the opposite race, so he was an outcast to society. Similarly, Arnold in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was a Native American. Modern Native Americans are not known for their successful futures or their encouraging society, but Arnold decided to move to an all white people school so he could get a valuable education where he was motivated to perform his best work. The problem isn’t fixed though. Arnold was still treated as an outcast at the white people school because of his race, but now he’s treated as an outcast by his own people
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Firstly, in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Arnold lived on a Native American reservation. The schools on this reservation contained the thought process that, “[t]here’s never enough time to change your life. You don’t get to change your life, period” (40). People on the reservation had dreams. For example, Arnold stated, "Seriously, I know my mother and father had their dreams when they were kids. They dreamed about being something other than poor, but they never got the chance to be anything because nobody paid attention to their dreams” (11), but they were never able to achieve them because they were Native Americans and they lived on a reservation. They were told that they were good for nothing, so this caused Arnold to have to be courageous in order to switch schools for a better future. On the other hand, in To Kill a Mockingbird, the south in the 1930’s was not an accepting place for black people. Atticus was one of the only people that would even represent blacks in court. He treated them fairly even though everyone around him didn’t. When Atticus and Scout said, “Atticus, he was real nice. Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them” (281), he explains that no one has the right to judge someone until they have all their facts together. Both characters required great courage to overcome what their society
Firstly, in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Arnold lived on a Native American reservation. The schools on this reservation contained the thought process that, “[t]here’s never enough time to change your life. You don’t get to change your life, period” (40). People on the reservation had dreams. For example, Arnold stated, "Seriously, I know my mother and father had their dreams when they were kids. They dreamed about being something other than poor, but they never got the chance to be anything because nobody paid attention to their dreams” (11), but they were never able to achieve them because they were Native Americans and they lived on a reservation. They were told that they were good for nothing, so this caused Arnold to have to be courageous in order to switch schools for a better future. On the other hand, in To Kill a Mockingbird, the south in the 1930’s was not an accepting place for black people. Atticus was one of the only people that would even represent blacks in court. He treated them fairly even though everyone around him didn’t. When Atticus and Scout said, “Atticus, he was real nice. Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them” (281), he explains that no one has the right to judge someone until they have all their facts together. Both characters required great courage to overcome what their society