Starting your first year of high school can be so fearful, you hear all the rumors about all the frighting things that happen your freshman year not knowing what to expect or how to handle it all. You hear the seniors bully the underclassman, if you didn 't fit in with the “cool” kids then mine as while hid out in the bathroom all day, and don 't be alarmed when you hear someone was talking negatively about you behind your back. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Lexie is an award winning novel that displays many struggles freshman end up coming across in high school. Unfortunately schools are banning this novel from their readings due to many reasons that include but are not limited to sexual behaviors, vulgar It also shows that they aren 't alone when it comes to having to face these fears at such a young age. While reading this novel there is a freshman, Arnold, who ends up facing many issues during his freshman year and had to overcome poverty, bullying, racial issues, and even loss of support from family and friends. Using Arnold as an example these students can take his motivation and ways to move forward from these terrible issues. Arnold even says that ,“I used to think the world was broken down by tribes. By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn’t true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not” (Alexie___). Arnold experienced theses issues first hand and was strong enough to overcome these issues, any freshman can overcome these Having freshman read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will give them ways to handle the situations and overcome them like Arnold. They can use Arnold’s experience and sense of hope that he had throughout the novel and use in their own lives. Arnold’s hope got him to where he was in life he states, “I don 't know if anybody else has ever climbed that tree. I look at it now, years later, and I can 't believe we did it. And I can 't believe I survived my first year at Reardan” (Alexie___). Schools should look at the positive overall outcome their students would get out of this novel, then looking at all the negativity that lead up to it, without the negativity situations there wouldn 't be a positive end. Nobody’s life is perfect and everyone gets ripped down, but only so many know how to get back
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.
How White people assumed they were better than Indians and tried to bully a young boy under the US Reservation. Alexie was bullied by his classmates, teammates, and teachers since he was young because he was an Indian. Even though Alexie didn’t come from a good background, he found the right path and didn’t let his hands down. He had two ways to go to, either become a better, educated and strong person, either be like his brother Steven that was following a bad path, where Alexie chose to become a better and educated person. I believe that Alexie learned how to get stronger, and stand up for himself in the hard moments of his life by many struggles that he passed through. He overcame all his struggles and rose above them
During the 1950s, African Americans struggled against racial segregation, trying to break down the race barrier. Fifteen year old Melba Patillo Beals was an ordinary girl, until she’s chosen with eight other students to integrate Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. They are named the Little Rock and fight through the school year, while students and segregationists are threatening and harassing them. Warriors Don’t Cry—a memoir of Beals’ personal experience—should be taught in schools because it teaches students to treat each other equally and to be brave, while it also shows the struggle of being an African-American in the 1950s. Another lesson taught in the retelling is that everyone can make a change.
Adolescents experience a developmental journey as they transition from child to adult, and in doing so are faced with many developmental milestones. Physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes are occurring during this tumultuous stage of life, and making sense of one’s self and identity becomes a priority. Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian addresses the challenges of adolescence in an engaging tale, but deals with minority communities and cultures as well.
Growing up as an only child, I was everything to my parents. They were always overprotective of me and wanted to be sure that I was never in danger. When I graduated high school, they expected me to stay in my hometown, living with them, to further my education at the local University Center. Unfortunately, despite what they wanted, I chose to be independent by going away for college. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Mary is in the same position I am. It is stated, "Ever since the Spokane Indian reservation was founded back in 1881, nobody in my family had ever lived anywhere else"(Alexie 89). Not caring about her family 's history, Mary decides to pack up and leave the reservation. She has a vision for
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is a humorous and intuitive novel written by Sherman Alexie. The reader gets an insight into the everyday life of a fourteen year old hydrocephalic Indian boy named Arnold Spirit, also referred to as Junior Spirit. He is living on the Spokane Indian reservation and is seen as an outcast by all the other Indians, due to his medical condition. Against all odds Arnold expands his hope, leaves his school on the reservation and faces new obstacles to obtain a more promising future at a school off the reservation. The novel is told through Arnold’s voice, thoughts, actions and experiences. Alexie incorporates one point of view, different themes and settings, such as poverty, friendship, Spokane and Reardan within Arnold’s journey to illustrate the different hardships he must overcome to gain a higher education.
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2007. Print.
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” from Sherman Alexie is a novel which shows a normal native American boy’s life, author tells the story as the first person, Arnold. In the book, it shows the life of Arnold’s teenager time and his life between the reservation full of Indians and a little full of white people. Like the name of the book, the way author writes down the story is like the diary, they are in chronological order, the only difference is that there is no date shows on the book. The reason that author uses the word “part-time Indian” is because protagonist, Arnold was studying in Reardan, “Reardan is the rich, white farm town that sits in the wheat fields exactly twenty-two miles away from the rez”, but he was studying
Ever wondered what gets readers hooked on a book? In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, the authors have many ways to grab the reader's attention by using many techniques from humor to emotional and traumatic suspense. In the book, the main character named Junior is an Indian boy growing up on a reservation. By growing up on the reservation junior makes a choice to leave the reservation and go to a white school which gives Junior obstacles in his life. There are many obstacles that happen even before Junior decided to go to another path with his life.
Every day, people live their lives without deep thought about the health and wellness of their community. When faced with harsh living conditions or situations, it is easy to become stuck in a negative mentality which doesn’t allow room for positive thoughts in order to create positive change. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, it explores the areas and factors of public health that ordinary people may or may not be aware of. The main character in the story, Junior, says “There’s always time to change your life”, a statement that can be true for anyone who is still young, has a decent amount of support, and hope to pull them through tough situations.
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.
Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.
Emily Danforth’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post is an engaging, meaningful novel, but one would only know that if he or she actually read the book. Others challenge the book because of the troubling passages, heavy content, and intense language. In fact, the majority of opposing people have not even read the book to appreciate its contribution to young adult literature. Rather, these people are consumed by the deep content that is strewn throughout the pages. From a generalized perspective, I think that this reluctant attitude comes from an uncomfortableness of and ignorance to important stages or events in an adolescent’s life. Having read this novel prior to Professor Danforth’s explication,
Racism, stereotypes, and white privilege are all concepts that affect all of us, whether we believe it or not. If an adolescent of a minority can distinguish these concepts in his society, then we all should be aware of them. These concepts are all clearly demonstrated in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”. Anyone and everyone could clearly understand this novel, but the intended audience is middle school to college level students. The novel’s goal is to help white students understand the effects of white privilege in an easier, more understandable way.
Have you ever wanted something really badly, but couldn’t afford it? This is a common occurrence, but what about food? Have you ever went to be hungry because you couldn’t afford to eat? Unfortunately, Junior, the main character in the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, felt exactly this way for food. Even though Junior didn’t have as many resources as the other “white kids,” he still chose to look at the positives. This novel shows that even in times of great hardship, people can still choose to have hope and look at the good in their lives.