Preview

Theme Of The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
220 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Theme Of The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian
In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian the theme i chose for this essay is Individual versus society based on what Junior had to go through for leaving the reservation. I believe this is the most important theme in story because Junior had to go deal with the hate from mostly everyone in the reservation, the racist view everyone has on indians, and is life at Readen.
A good start to this would be when Junior was attending Readen and fought with Roger. “He got to his feet and walked away. His gang stared at me like I was a serial killer, and they followed their leader. I was absolutely confused.I had followed the rules of fighting. i had behaved exactly the way I was supposed to behave. But these white boys had ignored the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, Arnold Spirit the main character struggles with being an Indian and going to Reardan, the all-white school where he wants to find hope. He struggles with acceptance because of his disability and he is an Indian. He also struggle with losing his best friend Rowdy as a friend, and he also struggles with losing loved ones. Though he has many, he copes with them and fixes them in the end.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The silence is not about hate or pain or fear.” This illustrates how the protagonist wants to demonstrate to the White society that Indians can be successful by living in the modern world and working in it but always keeping his Indian values and traditions. Additionally, the protagonist gives tribute to his family and community by showing that Indians can succeed and coexist with the White society proving he is very mature. In conclusion, the character assigns meaning to life by paying tribute to his Indian community and demonstrating to different societies that Indians can be very successful and can coexist with the White society, leaving behind remorse.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Junior lives on an poor Indian Reservation, but goes to school at a rich, white people school. He was shunned at first because of his skin tone, but he was accepted by the students after he showed that he could stand up for himself. Roger was agitating Junior when he first arrived at the school, after Junior punched him in the face, he started to respect Junior, even though…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “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.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sherman Alexi

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The title of this book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” fits it very well, because it’s about the very real feelings and experiences of a boy that’s trying to fight his way out of poverty while still trying to keep his heritage alive. The protagonist's name is Arnold Spirit Junior he’s a young Native American boy growing up on a reservation that aspires to change his life by leaving the reservation and its traditions behind to go to school in a neighboring town with white students. In this paper, we’re going to take a look at the cultural impact that Junior feels upon leaving the reservation as well as the blowback he receives from his people on the reservation that view him as a traitor to his culture. We’re also going to take a look at the stereotypes that are placed upon the Native Americans by those of the white culture, though Sherman Alexi doesn’t go too deep in his book about this stereotyping there are little snippets of it that bear mentioning.…

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Leaving the reservation can affect individual love ones and can impact the future. In the story The Absolute True diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, a boy named Junior is born with cerebral spinal fluid inside his skull. As a result of being born with cerebral, “I ended up with forty-two teeth. The typical human has thirty-two right? But i had forty-two… My brain left me nearsighted in one eye and farsighted in the other… My hands and feet were huge… And my skull was enormous” (3). Also, Junior was smarter than every kid in his school. After throwing a book and accidentally hitting Mr.P, he says, “You have to leave this reservation… Forever… The only thing you kids are being taught is how to give up… all these kids have given up……

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sherman Alexie’s, “The Absolute True Diary of A Part- Time Indian” is composed in first person narrative through the perspective of the fourteen-year-old protagonist, Arnold Spirit Junior. Throughout the narrative structure the writer mimics the style of a personal diary as if written by Junior himself, in which Alexie uses humor, irony and colloquial language in the form of both verbal text and visual imagery. This technique allows Alexie to keep the readers engaged throughout the novel while he showcases the harsh realities of the injustice, oppression and struggle faced by the Indigenous Indian people due to social neglect by the dominant colonial Americans. The chapters in the novel are relatively short and its dialogues are modern and…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Part-Time Indian

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie follows Arnold Spirit Junior, a young native american boy, as he struggles to survive between two different worlds. He must endure his own disability, social ostracism, poverty, and the effects of alcoholism, while also dealing with the loss of people he loves due to the very conditions on his reservation that he is fighting to escape. Arnold must go through many trials and tribulations as he learns to navigate the world on his own and create the life he wants to live. Arnold was born with a condition called Congenital Hydrocephalus, which means that he had too much cerebrospinal fluid inside his skull, he calls it ‘water on the brain’. Due to this, he had to have an operation…

    • 1628 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Every human being will face personal challenges and what makes it different is, how we accept those obstacles and how we make decision to overcome those challenges in our life. The absolutely true dairy of part time Indian by Sherman Alexie clearly shows how a typical Native American faces challenges in his life. In order to become a better version of ourselves, Arnold and myself had to overcome challenges like getting better education, adapting to new life style and believing ourselves and we both experienced racism. Arnold Sprit and I have to face obstacles to get a better education.…

    • 1161 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays