The power to be able to fall into a trance where reality and emotions are destroyed seems attractive to minority communities. Substances such as alcohol and drugs are a popular tool abuse by young teens and adults since these materials are easy to possess. However, using a substance to fall into the trance will only be harmful to the individual and their community. Sherman Alexie, a Native American writer, experiences numerous sorrows from alcohol in his life on the reservation and outside of the reservation. He illuminates the sufferings he experience through his fiction character Junior in his novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian and interviews. In addition, reporter Diane Sawyer discovers that alcohol abuse is prevalent on a Native American reservation in her television segment A Hidden America: The Children of the Plains. Even though alcoholism is portrayed as an enemy to the Native American communities, alcohol matures Sherman Alexie to become a representative for his community since he is educating the world about Native Americans’ alcoholic problem. As a result, society can promote better habits for young individuals to adopt which will better their own and community lives.
Alcoholism becomes an enemy to Native Americans because it creates neglection. In other words, alcohol separates the parents from their offspring, which makes the children despise it. This is true in Sawyer’s video because Robert, a young Indian, despises alcohol for corrupting his mother. Robert cries to Sawyer about the pain he receives when his mother visit him: “‘She calls me [negative] names. She says, I’m not her son and all that stuff. She doesn't want to be by me anymore’” (Sawyer, A Hidden America). Robert’s heart-breaki...
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... actions wisely. Moving away from learning, society can apply these knowledge into schools and medias. As a result, classes and advertisements can portray the cons of drinking, especially to underage people. By developing these types of education, teenagers and young adults are given the knowledge about alcohol: therefore, their drinking habits will be more tolerable than those who struggle with alcohol in the past. As a result, the fear of alcoholism can slowly end and become more of a celebration drink.
Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman, Ellen Forney, and Mechthild Hesse.
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Stuttgart: Klett Sprachen, 2009. Print.
Sawyer, Diane. "Children of the Plains."
YouTube. YouTube, 2020, 12 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
"Sherman Alexie | CONVERSATIONS AT KCTS 9."
YouTube. YouTube, 12 Nov. 2008. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
would sign any treaty for her (Alexie).” However, alcohol only made their lives worse. Native Americans throughout the story began to realize that sticking to tradition was more important than following the negative roads of white American culture.
Alcohol was introduced into Native American culture many years ago and has been a source of suffering since. In Flight, Zits states that his father “was more in love with vodka than with him and his mother,” and it is this statement that helps drive the story along (Sherman 4). Zits addresses the stereotype that come along with being Native American. The major one mentioned in the story is that Native Americans consume a lot of alcohol. This follows what is known as the firewater myth, which says that Native Americans “…may be genetically predisposed to crave ever increasing doses of alcohol…”—this was and still is believed by several researchers (Lamarine). This alcoholism leads to instability within homes and leaves the child to suffer. A perfect example of this is when Zits says that his father “vanished like a magician” shortly after he was born (Sherman 5). It was fear that made Michael’s father run, but it was fear mixed with alcohol that...
People can easily excuse their disputes, violence or sexual offenses simply by saying “I was drunk and didn’t know what happened” and “I lost control of myself.” At the same time, the society will easily accept their excuses because people do expect and believe that drinkers shed their inhibitions under the biological effects of ethanol. But in fact, alcohol’s behavioral effect is more of a cultural influence, and people can totally be in control of themselves even if they are drunk. In Gladwell’s essay, he provides examples of the Camba ethnic group and Italian Americans who are both in integrated drinking cultures and have the habit of drinking heavily, but can control themselves and do not usually have trouble with alcoholism after consuming alcohol because their cultures believe they can. Gladwell also demonstrates the alcohol myopia theory and the related experiment overview to prove that in ambivalent cultures, people who are heavily drunk can remain in complete control of themselves and make rational decisions if they are given proper incentives. “I was drunk and I lost my control” is never a valid excuse for behavioral problems from alcohol; to solve the alcoholism problem, our culture should change its belief of alcohol’s behavioral
Encountering struggles in life defines one’s character and speaks volumes about their strength, ambition, and flexibility. Through struggles, sacrifice, and tragedy, Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, adapts to survive difficult situations and faces his problems head-on. As he makes life changing decisions, adapts to an unfamiliar culture, and finds himself amongst misery and heartbreak, Junior demonstrates resilience to overcome adversity and struggles.
Arnold Spirit is fourteen years old, and he has already attended forty-two funerals. “And you know what the worst part is? The unhappy part? About 90 percent of the deaths have been because of alcohol.” In the acclaimed novel and award winning audiobook The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, author Sherman Alexie tells the realistic, yet fictional, account of Arnold Spirit, better known as “Junior” on the Spokane Indian reservation where he lives. Junior’s family even expected him to “croak” at six months old when doctors cut open his skull to remove the water in his brain. But, he lives. ...
Growing up on a reservation where failing was welcomed and even somewhat encouraged, Alexie was pressured to conform to the stereotype and be just another average Indian. Instead, he refused to listen to anyone telling him how to act, and pursued his own interests in reading and writing at a young age. He looks back on his childhood, explaining about himself, “If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity” (17). Alexie compares the life and treatment of an Indian to life as a more privileged child. This side-by-side comparison furthers his point that
The immigrant’s journey to America, as depicted throughout history, transports culture, language, beliefs and unique lifestyles from one land to the other, but also requires one to undergo an adaptation process. The children of these immigrants, who are usually American-born, experience the complexity of a bicultural life, even without completely connecting to the two worlds to which they belong. Potentially resulting is the internal desire to claim a singular rather than dual identity, for simplicity, pride and a sense of acceptance. Jhumpa Lahiri, an Indian-American author and writer of “My Two Lives” could never classify herself as.
Hardship is everywhere but Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” is an amusing and intelligent novel that clearly provides the reader with perfect examples of poverty and friendship on an Indian reservation. Alexie incorporates those examples through the point of view and experiences of a fourteen year old boy named Arnold Spirit Jr.
Alexie, S. (2009). The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
“80 percent of teen-agers have tried alcohol, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in the top three causes of death among teens: accidents, homicide and suicide” (Underage, CNN.com pg 3). Students may use drinking as a form of socializing, but is it really as good as it seems? The tradition of drinking has developed into a kind of “culture” fixed in every level of the college student environment. Customs handed down through generations of college drinkers reinforce students' expectation that alcohol is a necessary ingredient for social success. These perceptions of drinking are the going to ruin the lives of the students because it will lead to the development alcoholism. College students who drink a lot, while in a college environment, will damage themselves mentally, physically, and socially later in life, because alcohol adversely affects the brain, the liver, and the drinkers behavior.
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2007. Print.
Robert s. Young, Jennie R. Joe. “ Some Thoughts About Epidemiology of Alcohol and Drug Use Among American Indian Population”. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse. Vol. 8 Iss 3:(2009) 223
To begin, in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” Sherman Alexie describes a moment in
Ghosh, R. P. (2012, February 11). Native Americans: The Tragedy of Alcoholism. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from International Business Times: http://www.ibtimes.com/native-americans-tragedy-alcoholism-214046
Although there are plenty of populations stagnated with the disease of alcoholism and drug abuse, one that stands out is the epidemic amongst Native Americans. A trivial topic at best when cast in the media and the steady stream of alcoholic advertisement, but this is definitely a topic worth being researched and pulled to the forefront. The onslaught of this issue stems from varying factors of history and circumstance.