Arnold’s Family Dynamic Development Deb Caletti once said “That’s what people do who love you”. They put their arms around you and love you when you're not so lovable.” Arnold's parents have always supported him and loved him even when he has hydrocephalus, which in result makes him look different. Sherman Alexie wrote in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” about a fourteen year old boy Arnold, also called Junior, who goes through many struggles as he grows up. When he reaches high school he decides he wants a better education and leaves the reservation he lives on to attend a school, Reardan, filled with only white kids. Junior makes many new friends and learns that the outside world isn't as scary as everyone makes it out to …show more content…
In the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Junior’s family dynamics show his personal growth through the way he speaks of his family, and how he evolves emotionally throughout the book. At the beginning of the book, Junior's maturity level was much lower on the reservation compared to later in the book when he starts making better decisions for himself and his education. Early on in the book, Junior was always with his best friend Rowdy. There was a Powwow on the reservation and Rowdy had asked if Junior wanted to go but he was scared that he was going to get beat up and later he did (Alexie 21). Arnold went on to make mature choices for his own education and decided to go to an all white school, Reardan, where he could further his own education after talking to one of his teachers from the reservation (Alexie 42). After Junior started going to Reardan, he realized that people don’t fight off the reservation like they do on the reservation. Arnold got into a fight with one of the characters and that was when he had registered, it was not normal …show more content…
Arnold goes on to say that his dad “may have not loved me perfectly, but he loved me as well as he could” which was very mature of him because he recognized that his dad may have some issues but he still loves Junior as much as he can. Arnold’s mother was just as supportive, but also on the other hand worried greatly about Arnold. After Arnold's sister had passed away after passing out drunk in her trailer, his mother made Arnold promise never to drink (Alexie 208). The way Junior's family dynamics function and his family gives support to Junior helps with his development and later adulthood. How Arnold expresses his family dynamics and how he mentions his family members, especially his parents, shows how he grows and matures throughout the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” which later will help him become an adult. As his parents gave him the support to gain confidence and maturity, Arnold grew and developed as a person. Arnold said, “They talk to me. And best of all, they listen to
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
The book, The Absolutely True of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is light-hearted. It focuses on the life of Arnold Spirit, Jr., a character developed from Alexie’s experiences while maturing on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, WA. The narrator, Arnold itself, is a hilarious, sensitive, honest and talented fourteen-year-old Native kid who draws cartoons for his pleasure. He is unhappy with his poor life and dreams of something greater for himself, perhaps becoming an important artist. In addition to his dissatisfied life, Arnold is a hydrocephalic bullied kid.
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.
Sherman Alexie elaborates on his views of many themes through the experiences of Arnold Spirit in “The Absolutely True Diary Of a Part-Time Indian”. Creating a unique situation Alexie enables himself to touch particularly on the themes of identity and poverty, Arnold struggles through two different lives, the one at the reservation (home) and the one at school he struggles to find himself. After much turmoil in his classroom, his teacher suggests Arnold transfer to the all-white school in the neighboring town. Through the situations of Junior’s life, Alexie uses the setting, symbolism, and tone to describe his views on identity and poverty.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian showed all of the problems that arose in Junior’s journey. From poverty and alcoholism to bulimic semi-girlfriends, he had so many excuses to stop, but the passion of his dreams pushed him forward. Like a hero, Junior continued, determined to do well and build a greater future for himself. An example that showed Junior’s passion for education and desire to achieve his goals was when he threw an old geometry textbook at his teacher: “My school and my tribe are so poor and sad that we have to study from the same dang books our parents studied from. That is absolutely the saddest thing in the world…My hopes and dreams floated up in a mushroom cloud” (Alexie, 31). Junior clearly understood his disadvantaged education and he was very upset about it. He longed for a better education. Junior was passionate about education, because it would allow him to achieve his goals and break the depressing pattern he was trapped in. Bravery and determination are caused by passion, and heroes are very passionate about their actions. Passion clearly drove Junior when he walked to school, since he said, “Getting to school was always an adventure…Three times I had to walk all the way home. Twenty-two miles. I got blisters each time” (Alexie, 87). Putting all of this effort into simply going to school, Junior must have had
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.
“I would always love Rowdy. And I would always miss him, too. Just as I would always love and miss my grandmother, and my big sister, and Eugene.” When facing hardships it is important to stay resilient and not let them ruin your connection with others. In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian the main character Arnold Spirit becomes more resilient as the novel progresses as he deals with being poor, racism from his predominantly white school, and dealing with the deaths of many important figures in his life.
“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.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a novel about Arnold Spirit (Junior), a boy from the Spokane Indian Reservation who decides to attend high school outside the reservation in order to have a better future. During that first year at Reardan High School, Arnold has to find his place at his all-white school, cope with his best friend Rowdy and most of his tribe disowning him, and endure the deaths of his grandmother, his father’s best friend, and his sister. Alexie touches upon issues of identity, otherness, alcoholism, death, and poverty in order to stay true to his characters and the cultures within the story. Through the identification of the role of the self, identity, and social behavior within the book, the reader can understand Arnold’s story to a greater depth.
In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the main character Arnold, also known as Junior, has many health issues, and notably stands out in the crowd. It does not help that he is a poor Indian boy that lives on a reservation, and that he decides to go to an all-white high school. Many of his experiences at school, and on the Reservation, impact his identity. Experience is the most influential factor in shaping a person’s identity because it helps gain confidence, it teaches new things, and it changes one’s outlook on the world.
With the obstacles that happen to Junior, it creates an emotional and traumatic impact on Junior as well as getting the readers hooked to turn the page and keep reading. To begin, in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” Sherman Alexie describes a moment in Junior's life before he went to the white school. From comparing the death rates and even mentioning the deaths, Alexie shows an emotional impact on Junior from the deaths he has to go through. Alexie writes about how Junior being an Indian has impacted his life.
Sherman Alexie grew up on a Spokane Indian reservation, in fact Junior and the story as a whole is based on his childhood; as he also struggled with the effects of poverty, alcoholism, identity, and social injustice. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is follows the life of Junior; a fourteen year old, Spokane Indian boy, who lives on an Indian reservation filled with poverty and addiction. The story begins when Junior decides transfer to a high school called “Reardan,” which is located outside the reservation in a rich white farm town. At first, Junior is a misfit at his new school; he has trouble making friends, mainly because he’s Indian. His transition to Reardan also causes a fight and other conflicts between him and his best friend, Rowdy, who feels betrayed by Junior. In fact, the whole reservation sees him as traitor.
In Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie the main character Junior is automatically judged as soon as he gets into school his first day at Reardan, the closest school off the rez. This teenage character is made fun of because of his skin color, background, abilities and culture. Arnold Spirit Junior has to overcome challenges with people assuming things about him because he is an Indian from the Spokane Reservation. This is partially because of the lack of knowledge Reardan has of the Indian population. They think the Indians are all just red colored, dangerous savages because of the single story that they were told growing up. They only knew about them from a cowboys and Indians standpoint, often told from the white cowboy’s perspective. He also struggles because his head looks a little big because he was born with water on the brain, causing slight delays in Arnold’s development. Arnold received many demeaning and belittling nicknames from the kids at school, all based on preconceived notions of his identity. Throughout the beginning of the book, and into the middle, Junior is trying to establish his intrinsic values to this new community of
Imagine walking 22 miles to school every single day. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a book by Sherman Alexie following the life of Arnold, also known as Junior, and his struggles as a poor Native American boy going to a wealthy white school. Being poor throws challenges at Arnold in and outside of school, and he must hold onto hope, new friends, and perseverance to escape the cycle of poverty.
On the self-awareness questionnaire, I scored a total of 14. With that being said, I have a lot of great skills with my self-awareness. I am able to know when I am about to become angry and upset. I always tell myself when I feel that I’m in a good or bad mood, and I know what causes my emotions to change. There is need for improvement in this area because I’m unsure if I pay a lot of attention to how I feel. However, I do know when I start to become a little defensive.