The Absolutely True Diary Of All Analysis

“I had to grow to love my body. I did not have a good self-image at first. Finally it occurred to me, I'm either going to love me or hate me. And I chose to love myself. Then everything kind of sprung from there. Things that I thought weren't attractive became sexy. Confidence makes you sexy.” - Queen Latifah. Everybody talks about this topic; self-confidence. Just like in our everyday lives, this theme has also been explored in the novel The absolutely true diary of a part time Indian and stress it to help characters create new friends, expect them to try new things. First of all, self confidence is important because it helps students make friends and meet new people. If student have problems, they talk to their friends. Friends are
important because they can help others through life. They are the people that others talk to if they have problems, but to get these friends, you need self confidence. In the beginning of the novel< Arnold had only one friend, Rowdy. The reason Arnold could not make many friends was because he did not have the self confidence to talk to others. This was confirmed when Arnold spoke to Penelope for the time. She asked him where he was from, he replied, “WellPinit, up on the rez, I mean, the reservation” in a very nervous way, prompting Penelope to say “That’s why you talk so funny”. After this incident, Arnold stopped talking to other students in his school for some time. This shows Arnold’s lack of communication skills. This also shows that Arnold was not confident in himself because he would not have any trouble communicating with Penelope. However, when Arnold eventually gained some self-confidence, he approached Gordy so that they could become friends. This was confirmed when Arnold went up to Gordy and out of the blue said” I want be your friends”. Gordy hesitated at first but as anticipated agreed. These two became friends because Arnold felt inspired by her since she had left the house and went to live her life on her own terms. This was proven when Arnold said, “She hadn’t given up. This condition had tried to suffocate her, had kept her trapped in a basement, and now she was out roaming the huge grassy field of Montana. How cool! I felt inspired”. This helped Arnold gain confidence and enhanced his communication skills. Hence, confidence helps in approaching people that you want be friends with and is a very important quality to lead an expressively healthy life. In addition, self confidence is important because it made the characters try new things.
Without self-confidence, people think twice about whether they should do something. They are too worried about whether they will succeed or what others will think about them. Arnold was like this at first; he did not go out much, did not talk much and joined the basketball team because his friend Rowdy was on it. Even though Arnold was quite the player, as stated by Reardan’s basketball coach, “he is the best shooter that has ever played for me,” Arnold did not believe in his skills. However when Arnold got the courage and the self-confidence to try out for his new school’s team, he eventually made it to the school’s senior team as a junior. Arnold got the self-confidence to try out for the team because his dad told him “You have to dream big to get big”. If Arnold didn’t build up the confidence to try out for the team, he would have never made it and it would have been a waste of his skill. Also, after gaining confidence, Arnold started going to parties with his friends and started to hang out with them more often. This was proven when Arnold got invited to go to a party by roger to which get delayed at first but eventually agree. He wouldn’t have been able to do that if he wasn’t confident about himself. Therefore, confidence is important in giving enough courage to people to improve their
lives. Lastly, self-confidence is important because it helps characters feel better about themselves.
At first, Arnold had no self-confidence at all. He let other step all over him and he believed that he didn’t matter at all. This was proven when Arnold stated “I am zero on the rez”. Arnold let this happen because he was born many problems. He was born with an unusually large head, a brain deficiency causing him to have too much liquid in his brain, and stuttering problems. All these things lowered Arnold’s confidence gradually to a point where he had none left which made him inferior to everyone. This is proven when Arnold let five year olds pick on him, beat him and call him name such as, “globe and orbit”. This is also proven when he let 30 year olds pick on him and beat him up as stated by Arnold that, “They were playing catch with and kneed me in the ball.” Arnold started feeling good about himself and became more confidence as the novel progressed, he said” im not some ugly mutated beast” which is very different from the comments he made about himself earlier in the novel. Arnold started feeling good about him because Penelope and him became very close friends .Confidence is important because if you don’t feel good about yourself, nobody will. Having confidence helps us overcome obstacles and achieve a lot in
life. Confidence is important because it helped characters make new friends, encouraged them to try new things, and made them feel better about themselves. If Arnold didn’t feel confident about himself, he would have been the sane shy, weak and lonely person he always was and would not have turn into a confident and positive young man. Self confidence boosts your appeal to people because if you don’t think you are worth, neither will others. Having confidence in yourself makes you feel happy: making you life overall more enjoyable, which can be beneficial to you and also the people around you.