Arnold Spirit

More than 1.3 billion people in our world live in extreme poverty as stated by Explore Campaigns. Struggles that come with poverty are shown in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Arnold Spirit, an Indian who is growing up on a poor reservation, is used to a poverty stricken lifestyle where it seems impossible to create a better life. His whole family has grown up on the reservation with little money and little education. Arnold, who is determined not to end up like the other indians on the rez, changes over the course of the novel from having no hope of ever leaving to becoming a brave, ambitious, and confident person who knows that he has a bright future.
In the beginning of the book Arnold does not believe he will ever get

off the reservation.“And because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor. It’s an ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about it”. (13) Arnold thinks there is no way out of the rez and that he will be trapped in the circle forever. This attitude and the constant reminders of failed indians is what leads him to believe he is destined to stay on the reservation. Also, while Arnold is talking to one of his teachers he shows that he does not believe in himself. “‘I want you to say that you deserve better.’ I couldn't say it. It wasn't true. I mean, I wanted to have it better, but I didn’t deserve it. I was the kid who threw books at teachers”.(41) Arnold not being able to admit that he deserves better shows that he does not think he is worthy of better. He does not believe that he will ever get to a better place off the reservation and so he will not admit it to himself.
Towards the middle of the book Arnold starts to change from not believing in himself to having some hope that he will succeed.

“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”. (46) This quote shows that Arnold is starting to change. He makes the decision to go to Rearden in hopes that he can get a better education and be able to someday make a better life for himself. This choice is a major turning point in Arnold’s life just as flying to the moon would be for an astronaut. Arnold also shows he changing when he states “Getting to school was always an adventure. After school, I’d ride the bus to the end of the line and wait for my folks. If they didn't come, I’d start walking. Hitchhiking in the opposite direction. Somebody was usually heading back home to the rez, so I’d usually catch a ride. Three times, I had to walk the whole way home. Twenty-two miles. I got blisters each time”. (87) Arnold is willing to go through all this trouble to get to school which shows that he is starting to change from a boy who had no hope of ever leaving the rez into one that will make sacrifices, such as making the long trek to school, in order to provide himself with a better

future.
At the end of the novel Arnold has changed into a person that has found confidence and bravery. “I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance. I wept and wept and wept because I knew that I was never going to drink and because I was never going to kill myself and because I was going to have a better life out in the white world”.(217) Arnold has finally come to the realization that someday he will leave the rez. He has admitted to himself that he is brave and crazy but that it will lead him to a much better future. His weeping symbolizes the struggles he has to go through to create a better future but the choice to never drink represents his commitment and ambition to a better life. Arnold also shows his confidence that he will leave the rez when he says “She went searching for her dreams, and she didn’t find them, but she made the attempt. And I was making the attempt, too. And maybe it would kill me, too, but I knew that staying on the rez would have killed me, too”.(216) Arnold morphed from someone who said he was no better than white people to someone that had the confidence and ambition to try and get of the reservation and into a better world.
Arnold Spirit changed from a hopeless little boy into a bright young man who is making a better life for himself. Although many obstacles were in his way and the odds were stacked against him he never stops trying to improve. In life, things may seem like they can never get better, but all it takes is a little hope and perseverance to create a brighter ending.