A mentor is a trustworthy and experienced person that one can look to in time of difficulty for advice and support. In the novel, Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie, Junior Polatkin is easily influenced by his surroundings, causing him to fall into the destructive patterns of reservation Native Americans, particularly alcoholism. Numerus setbacks, combine with this lack of a reliable mentors ultimately lead to Junior’s demise. Similar to Junior, I have experienced setbacks in my swimming career; however, unlike Junior, I have had positive role models and mentors in my life helping me overcome my setback and to use them as growing experiences. In the novel Reservation Blues, Junior Polatkin ultimately fails to overcome the challenges associated …show more content…
Having a positive role model who had faced a similar situation and been able to overcome the challenges associated with being a Native American living on a reservation would have given Junior hope and someone to look to for advice. His toxic friendship with Victor is far from the motivation and guidance that Junior needs. Even as a youth, Victor was a harmful influence on Junior. For example, Thomas recounts the summer when Victor terrorized him with snakes: Victor “dragged Thomas there once or twice a week. Come on, Victor said to Thomas and put him in yet another headlock. You’re coming with us. Ya-hey, Junior said. Don’t you think he’s had enough? I’ll tell you when he’s had enough, Victor said” (Alexie 71). Junior is a follower and docilely listens to Victor even if he does not agree with Victor’s actions. While he does try to speak on behalf of Thomas, his contribution is rejected by Victor.. This pattern continues on into Victor and Junior’s adulthood. For instance, one day when Victor tags along while Junior is delivering water, Victor tries to pressure Junior into not completing all his deliveries saying, “let’s knock off early and head for the tavern” and ultimately after all the deliveries were finished “Junior and Victor got drunk in the tavern” spending all of Juniors wage …show more content…
I have been swimming year-round on a club team since the age of six and when I was younger improving came relatively easily. However, around age 13, I hit a training plateau despite having the same work ethic and focus that I had previously had. I grew to despise swimming and at points I wanted to quit. However, unlike Junior, I had role models and mentors who were positive influences on me and who helped me to overcome this challenge. Primarily, I had several of my best friends on the team who convinced me to keep persevering and to not simply quit the sport that I loved so much just because I was no longer dropping time. For example, every day I watch my close friends Lizanne and Cate come to practice and give it their all, regardless of the numerous injuries and medical issues that plagued their swimming career; their positive outlook and dedication motivated me to try even harder than I had before. Moreover, I had by parents, something that Junior did not have; my parents were always there to support me after yet another disappointing meet reminding me that “you get five minutes for a win and five minutes for a lost”. My parents where my voice of reason as I tried to work through my issues; they were always there to encourage me, but also were very honest with me
This book shows what a role of a mentor has on someone’s life. It is a simple story about an unlikely pair of friends who learn the meaning of trust to overcome their failures and turn those failures into
The Essay, I have chosen to read from is ReReading America was An Indian Story by Roger Jack. The topic of this narrative explores the life of an Indian boy who grows up away from his father in the Pacific Northwest. Roger Jack describes the growing up of a young Indian boy to a man, who lives away from his father. Roger demonstrates values of the Indian culture and their morals through exploration of family ties and change in these specific ties. He also demonstrates that growing up away from one’s father doesn’t mean one can’t be successful in life, it only takes a proper role model, such as the author provides for the young boy.
The negativity seen in today’s society and the awful stereotypes about Aboriginals would never exist if was not for all the racism and savagery they had to endure. Zen Master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” A reader can identify that one of the main messages to be taken from Indian Horse, is that hope drove Saul to keep on working hard and that residential schools were never able to take away Aboriginal people’s hope. A reader would think that Saul’s acceptance of coaching the Moose is not for his own gain, but also to help the kids who play on the team, both physically and
“But we reservation Indians don’t get to realize our dreams. We don’t get those chances.” (p. 13) In The Absolutely True Diary of A Part Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Junior, the narrator, is an Indian teenage boy living on a reservation, where no one's dreams or ideas are heard. The Indians on the reservation feel hopeless because they are isolated and disenfranchised. Junior learns how to cope with his hopelessness and breaks through the hopeless reservation life to find his dreams. Examining his journey provides important examples for the reader.
In the story by the way Victor speaks I personally see he's smart but learning and very cautious since he's been through so much all his life. I learned that Victor is trying to find himself, even though there's so much going on in his life. Victors second grade teacher Betty Towle punishes him rather rewards him for acing his spelling bee showing that she didn't think as a Indian boy he wouldn't amount to much. In ninth grade, a teacher assumes that Victor is an alcoholic because he is native American.
To most Americans today, life on the reservation is not at all like is glorified to be. Sherman Alexie uses his literary talent to expose the truth inside the reservation. In particular, in his short stories, “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation No Longer Flashes Red,” “Every Little Hurricane,” and “Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” Alexie reveals the ever continuous cycle trend of alcoholism, poverty, and racial injustice from one generation to the next. As the trend continues, the earlier it seems that the Native American youth are falling into the habits and life choices of their parents. Thus, each of the previously stated short stories addresses the negative turn-of-events that lead to the Native American youth following the same corrupt path as the generations before them from a different angle to expose the truth within the reservation.
Indian Education by Sherman Alexie places the reader in the shoes of Sherman Alexie. Taking the reader step by step through different school years of his life. As each year passes by the evidence of his struggle become more apparent. Although the story is told in that of a narrative, it doesn’t have anything spectacular separating it from other stories. There were a few moments that captivated the attention of the reader such as “But on the day I leaned through the basement window of the HUD house and kissed the white girl, I felt the good-bye I was saying to my entire tribe. I held my lips tight against her lips, a dry, clumsy, and ultimately stupid kiss. “Personally, this sentence stood out because it displayed the struggle and difficulties
Experience changes one’s outlook on the world. Growing up on an Indian Reservation is a tough thing to do. Everyone is poor, and almost every adult is drunk and unhappy. Junior’s father suffers from alcoholism.
Because of the deaths that had happened, Junior begins to think about his grandmother and how she taught him things throughout his life. Junior’s grandmother was one of his favorite people in the world. He went to her when he was having problems with Roger at school. Junior was confused on why Roger reacted differently when he was punched and his grandmother replied by saying Roger respects him and wanted to see how tough he was because he was the “new dog”(68). This provides evidence that states his grandmother taught him that Roger doesn’t care what his background and where he came from instead Roger just wants to know if he could respect Junior for who he was. Furthermore with all the alcoholics in the reservation, Junior's Grandmother was
We are always judging people and thinking we are better than they are. When Junior finally leaves the Rez, and goes to Rearden all the boy think they are better than him and make fun of him. Even if you don’t like that person you never know what they are going through, just like the boys didn’t know what Junior was going through. He lost his best friend, he didn’t have any friends at the new school, and his dad didn’t care about him. One day when he was at school Roger asked Junior if he wanted to hear a joke and Roger says, “Did you know that Indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo?’
On one hand, he belongs to his tribe based on shared history, ancestry, and values. On the other hand, past and present medical conditions alienate him from a group of people that are already alienated by the majority of society: he’s an outcast to the outcasts. As an outsider, Junior oftentimes falls victim to the fists and words of other people on the reservation. It is his best friend, Rowdy, that stands up for Junior on multiple occasions. Rowdy and Junior were born on the same day and like Junior, Rowdy has an alcoholic father. Rowdy’s father, however, beats him where Junior’s father wouldn’t dream of laying a hand on his son. At one point Junior makes the observation: “I was born all broken and twisted, and he was born mad”(17). Their birth foreshadows the way both boys fight when they are older, Rowdy has a direct approach to fighting while Junior has an indirect approach. So when Junior is faced with fighting his “predetermined fate” as a citizen of the reservation, he initiates the battle by throwing a book at Mr. P, his geometry teacher, but then refers back to his own style of fighting. It is because of this “predetermined fate” and a fear of being stuck in a perpetual cycle of alcoholism, abuse, and hopelessness that Junior decides it is time for him to leave the reservation, at least for high
A mentor is someone who shares one’s wisdom, knowledge or experience with one’s junior person so that the person could learn and grow. Mentors have many different style of training or passing on their knowledge to other people. The movie “Something the Lord Made” directed by Joseph Sargent shows a kind of mentoring style in between the two main characters Dr. Blalock and Vivan Thomas who invent a way to treat “blue babies” back in the 40s. Vivan Thomas is a brilliant black men who wishes to go to college, and to become a doctor; however, due to the Depression, he loses all his saving. Instead of going to college, Thomas finds an opportunity to work in the hospital. Dr. Blalock, Thomas’s employer, discovers Thomas’s incredible knowledge in medical, and promotes Thomas as his assistant instead of a janitor. Dr. Blalock is a mentor to Thomas. Dr. Blalock trained Thomas with only a high school certification becomes a medical scientific lab technician. Although Dr. Blalock’s mentoring style of Vivan Thomas is similar from my high school speech team coach Mrs. Kuznicki mentoring style of me, they both speak out their criticism of other without consider other’s feeling, and also acknowledge mentees for what they have done, but Mrs. Kuznicki treats me with more patient, less selfishness and encouragement than Dr. Blalock treats Thomas.
During the trip, Victor reflects on his past experiences with Thomas. At fifteen, they “had long since stopped being friends [and] got into a fistfight” (183). As adults, though they would often see each other on the reservation, however they would rarely interact. As an opportunity arises, when they arrived to his father’s trailer in Arizona, Victor finally apologizes to Thomas. He adds, “I never told you I was sorry for beating you up that time” (185) and accepts him for who he is.
Victor doesn?t seem to be very attached to his Native American culture. When his father left, his mother married a white man, so Victor grew up with a significant figure in his life being white. He seems to follow his mother?s example to some extent, and is frequently attracted to white women. Although Victor doesn?t seem to care about being Native American, in some way, his tendency to t...
There are various issues on Indian Reservations that have significant impacts on the lives of many Native American people, young and old. Among these are domestic violence, suicide, severe medical issues, and extreme poverty. These issues have a negative impact on family life, employment, and self motivation. A vicious cycle is created by the continuance of issues as generation after generation of Native Americans are exposed to similar conditions and find themselves struggling to adapt to a judge mental society and some cases, to survive. Two works of literature that portray the lives of Native Americans and their struggles are Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich and Where White Men Fear to Tread by Russell Means. The character Albertine