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Expectations It is said by Jeb Bush that, “Our children can achieve great things when we set high expectations for them”. Well, Arnold (Junior) Spirit in the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, doesn’t have high expectations, if anything he is expected to fail, in life and in school. But Junior has ambition like none other, that is why he decides to break away from his reservation and attend the racist school Reardan. During his time in Reardan and on the Reservation, Junior rises above the life he was expected to live; he demonstrates ambition through perseverance and finds his identity, which proves humans ability to rise above expectations. The choice to have true ambition is made by few individuals, Junior has plenty of it and demonstrates it in many ways, one is through his perseverance, and …show more content…
willingness to continue through hard times.
Junior is constantly being told that white people are better, white people have more hope. Junior sometimes believes these expectations himself, but through all of that negativity he perseveres and demolishes those expectations: “Who had the most hope?” “White people,” my parents said at the same time. That’s exactly what I thought they were going to say, so I said the most surprising thing they’d ever heard from me. “I want to transfer schools,” I said...”I want to go to Reardan,” I said again. I couldn’t believe I was saying it. For me it seemed as real as saying, “I want to fly to the moon” (45-46). The repetition Alexie uses shows the importance of attending Reardan to Junior, it shows how much he cares and wants to make his life different. The simile about flying to the moon shows Junior is not only uncomfortable, but excited for Reardan, it explains the relationship of his words to what he is thinking in a powerful, imaginative way. Even Juniors parents expect him to
fail, but he knows that he can’t fail. He is demonstrating ambition by taking the initiative to make his life different. Alexie makes the tone super hopeful through his word choice, such as; “hope”, “surprising”, and “fly”, but also through the contrast of what his parents say to what he says. Without a doubt, Junior is incredibly hopeful, and he has many dreams and wishes for the future, attending Reardan has helped him rise above the life he is expected to live. Junior declares, “We were supposed to be happy with our limitations. But there was no way Penelope and I could sit still. Nope, we both wanted to fly” (112). The “limitations” that he talks about are the expectations and the restrictions society puts on him, he breaks free from that cage and chooses to pursue the path less taken. The metaphor “we both wanted to fly”, shows Junior wants to excel in life and branch away from the life he is living, he doesn’t want to “Sit still” and live the life he is expected to live. The tone of this is hopeful and positive through the word choice “happy”, “limitations”, and “fly”. Furthermore, Junior is a committed kid, he doesn’t give up on his dreams, and that is what makes him unique on the reservation. Junior explains,“‘I have to prove that I am stronger than everybody else. I have to prove that I will never give up. I will never quit playing hard. And I don’t just mean basketball. I am never going to quit living life this hard, you know? I am never going to surrender to anybody. Never, ever, ever’” (186). The many metaphors that Alexie puts in his text, sparks the imagination of the reader and makes a powerful statement about Juniors beliefs and state of mind. He not only works hard in school and sports he has an amazing ambition in life, and commitment that he will never let die. Everyone in his life expects him to fail, but he has to prove them wrong, prove he is stronger than them, so he will not give into their expectations and surrender. The repetition provides a hopeful tone, as well as the word choice with; “stronger”, prove”, and “never”. Junior definitely rises above the life he is expected to live, and one of the ways he does that is by constantly demonstrating ambition through perseverance. Finding one’s identity is an important step in life, and a step that everyone must make, Junior takes that step in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Throughout the novel Junior is accepted at Reardan, and befriends many of the students. Junior notes, “Instead, it was Gordy who defended me. He stood with his textbook and dropped it...Penelope stood and dropped her textbook. And then Roger stood and dropped his textbook...Then all the classmates walked out of the room. A spontaneous demonstration” (175). Reardan is a part of junior, and when his classmates stand up for him, Junior becomes a part of Reardan. Part of his identity is this new school and he recognizes that when the class makes a demonstration of the inequality the teacher showed Junior. Even Junior expected not to be accepted in Reardan, but because of his humorous personality he made many friends, rising above the expectations he had set for himself. In addition, Junior faces many hardships, but he also realizes that there are positive aspects to his life. Junior acknowledges, “I realized that I might be a lonely Indian boy, but I was not alone in my loneliness... I realized that, sure, I was Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American immigrants...But that's when I know that I was going to be ok” (217). He is both Arnold and Junior, he is Indian and American, and he is himself. Arnold has a strong sense of self identity, and realizing that he did not belong to just one group of people helped him realize who he is. The repetition makes the quote vivid and inspirational, it focuses on the many “tribes” he belongs too. Some of these tribes aren’t actually tribes, but represent groups of people, parts of him that he and others belong to, and what he likes. By saying he belongs to these tribes, he is finding out who he is and wants to be, which in turn helps him find his identity, one which he didn’t expect. Further, Rowdy is Junior’s best friend, they have had some rough patches during his year at Reardan, but Junior attempts to fix the relationship he had with Rowdy, because Rowdy is a part of him. Rowdy explains, “‘Hardly anybody on this rez is nomadic. Except for you. You’re the nomadic one’...’I always knew you were going to leave us behind and travel the world’...’You’re an old-time nomad,’ Rowdy said. ‘You’re going to keep moving all over the world in search of food and water and grazing land. That’s pretty cool’” (229-230). The repetition emphasizes the important words, his nomad personality, he is constantly moving around, changing his goal post, and doing what he believes are what he needs to do to change his life. In order for Junior to rise above expectations, he needs to find his identity, and he did just that. Humans have the ability to rise above expectations set on them, Junior demonstrates this through his ambition, constant hard work, and perseverance in challenges like none other. He also finds his identity with the help of many hardships, friends, experiences, and events. Not only does Junior rise above the life he was expected to live, but he he grew and developed as a person. We can break free of the expectations set on us.
Over the course of the past semester we have read several books about Native American’s and their culture. The two books I found to be the most interesting were Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. In each story we see a young person from a reservation dealing with their Native Identities, Love, Loss and everything in between. Both of these novels have their similarities and their differences, but I believe they both offer insight into Native American culture that would be hard to come across elsewhere.
Indian culture has been disappearing for centuries since the Native Americans were forced to migrate from their original homes. In the book, The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian, an Indian boy displays how to escape the poverty of his Indian Reservation by going to a wealthy white school, as well as keeping his Indian Culture alive when living on the reservation. The Native American boy Arnold is able to show toughness, courageousness and the capability to overcome obstacles, by illustrating comics and playing basketball. For Arnold, drawing comics and playing basketball is a way to build his character and self-esteem. Without the freedom in writing comics and the self-confidence builder in playing basketball, Arnold would act
It creates a statement that is made of judgement and changes the overall feeling of an individual, therefore resulting in alienation. Junior, an Indian who transferred for his own hope into a new perspective. He is facing prejudice as he enters into Reardan,a white school as someone from a different tribe. He was overseen by who he is by looks and opinions of others.In the book The Absolutely True Duary of a Part-Time Indian, the main character says,”After all, I was a reservation Indian, and no matter how geeky and weak I appeared to be, I was still a potential killer. So mostly they called me names. Lots of names” (Alexie 63). Alexie shows how Junior is defined as someone who isn’t like his peers and he was affected through the use of their one word descriptions. Junior is described as “geeky and weak” to the point whene he believed he was this label. He made himself be let down for what he is and the remarks being made. He thought he was someone that influenced people to what they think he is. Junior saw that he was a target of stimulating stereotypes based on him, yet he wasn’t able to cope with these. His feelings overlapped with getting through a school day at Reardan. Junior is being weighed down by the stereotypes implied to him that causes him to be divided. Jin who is chinese in relation to Junior’s experience has a stereotype against him.
Can you imagine growing up on a reservation full of people with no hope? The character Arnold in the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie did. In the beginning of the book, Arnold was a hopeless Native American living on a hopeless reservation. In the middle of the book, Arnold leaves the reservation and finds out that his sister left too. By the end of the book, Arnold experiences a lot of deaths of people who mean a lot to him but he still found hope. Arnold becomes a warrior for leaving the reservation and going to Reardan.
...or white, would agree that they wouldn’t have this strong of hope at fourteen years old. This strength is very crucial because he already wasn’t growing up in the best of circumstances, but he proved that he could make it through anything.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. Just do the best you can. But it won’t matter.” (Antoine, 66) Grant’s former teacher, Matthew Antoine, has been bittered up by the whites and has no hope for African Americans. He has opened his eyes to the obvious and believes African Americans are stuck below the whites and have been born to work like mules and live like dogs. Antoine says, “Forget it. Just go on and be the nigger you were born to be, but forget about life.” (65) He was a realist, and a noncomformist; the world needed someone like Grant, someone who would stand up for his or her race, fight for equality, and break Antoine’s belief of the colored men’s doom. Which is what Grant did. He stood up for his class and became a teacher to make a difference in any possible way.
According to Explore Campaigns more than 1.3 billion people in our world live in extreme poverty. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Arnold Spirit has to prove that he can break the never-ending circle of hardship that is present on his rez. The struggles associated with stepping out of his comfort zone are clearly shown throughout the novel. As the book progresses Junior chooses to go to a rich white school in hopes of a better future, and when he gets there he is treated differently than the other students because he does not look or act the same as them. Middle school is a difficult time for a normal kid, but coming 22 miles everyday from a reservation makes life even more challenging. Arnold
I can relate to this, not as far as race, but in a different way. At my school, there were stereotypes about the “volleyball girls”, and I was part of the volleyball team. At one point people thought this group of girls was all about partying and not school. Although, I was only focused on school and ended my high school career with only two B’s. Although this is not as an extreme case as Junior, I can still relate. In more of an extreme case, after Junior finally overcame his fear of leaving the reservation for a new and more positive life, he was not treated fairly. In the beginning of his experience at Reardan he writes, “After all, I was a reservation Indian, and no matter how geeky or weak I appeared to be, I was still a potential killer” (Alexie 2007:63). This is a perfect example of how easily people believe things they hear. Junior was literally a weak fifteen year old that could never hurt a fly, yet people looked at him as a killer because that was a stereotype about Indians. This idea goes along with Johnson’s thoughts of symbols, “symbols go far beyond labeling things” and “Symbols are also what we use to feel connected to a reality outside ourselves” (Johnson 2008: 36).
... and doomed to failure. Racism has shaken Grant to the very core and rattled his beliefs in teaching, where he could express his power and act for change in the community. However, through helping Jefferson to be strong and express his own power over his self-worth, Grant regains his belief in his role as a teacher and the impact he can have on his community.
With all of these facts, the author tries to prove that racial differences and privileges appear exaggerated and unrealistic. The privileged and less privileged exist at all levels of society. Duke wants white people to understand that they are in the same position as all other races. The awareness of “white privilege” is only a fallacy that causes feel of guilt without foundation.
Dear White People is a film that depicts the white framework of society that pertains to a prestigious college that is predominantly middle-upper-class, white, students. The film follows the perspective of several African American students as they try to develop themselves towards self-actualization despite the oppressive stereotypes that label and sets parameters of socially acceptable behavior. The film provides a great example of ethnic attrition in the character of Lionel Higgins, as well as using the conflict perspective in connection with racism, and provides examples of both individual discrimination, and institutional discrimination.
The focus of the column is about the plight of African-American male students who have begun to enter the white prep schools in the south. Marvin Barnard and Bill Alexander were two black teenage boys who were among the first African-Americans to integrate into Virginia Episcopal School, an all-white prep school in Lynchburg, Virginia. They recognized the opportunity that they were given to start a trend of change in society, and throughout the article, these students challenge themselves to rise above the hate and unfair expectations put on them by their peers. As the title states, they begin to excel in the classroom while also keeping their noses clean. Their diligence and hard work helped to pave the way for other black students to enter these segregated schools. While as a result, it seemed that these students were unfairly pressured and their teenage lives were left unfulfilled because of the decisions they made to behave the right way. However, in the end, their sacrifice helped to complete a new change in the schooling system Not only did white students begin to respect and change their views on blacks, the entire system had to change to accommodate those who were coming in and trying to create change for
During most meetings this fairly homogeneous group of people eloquently and thoughtfully engage in passionate conversations about children of color and their inequitable schooling experiences. Dialogue in the room turns into subtle conversations about students’ academic traits, neighborhoods, language, parents, and poverty levels as they relate to the educational misfortunes of students of color. And then it happens, a white colleague or group of colleagues ...
America is going through a realm of racial tension that has started movements about equality and open dialogues about race. Living in America has always been based on the guidelines of white America. Often the word white privilege emerges when groups outside of the white race are stigmatized for doing the same thing a person of the white race does. America is known to predominantly draw the line between black and white people. I thought it would be interesting to interview a coworker from the white race and get a glimpse of what it was like for her to grow up white and what it meant to her.
In prominently white schools, students may be uncomfortable or lack the ability to understand what is considered the normal culture in America or the difficulties students of other races may face. Students who are members of prominently white schools often fail to describe white culture thoroughly, often having to pause and reconsider multiple factors that define their experiences as not only students, but also people. One student interviewed by sociologist Pamela Perry had extreme difficulty defining what white culture was, replying by saying her family had a diverse range of ancestors, but mentioned very little about how whites are perceived currently or the culture surrounding white people (2002: