Everyone has culture, am I right? So think about yours and how it could potentially change your life. In the three texts, Dancer by Vickie Sears, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, and Powwow at the End of the World by Sherman Alexie, the standing subject is change. Culture can show both, positive and negative change in those of that culture. Clarissa, in Dancer shows how her culture has a positive change, Junior, from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is negatively changed by his culture, and the narrator in Powwow at the End of the World shows his culture is changing he or she in a positive way. While all three texts show how culture can change the people of that culture, some are positive and …show more content…
some are negative. In the short story, Dancer by Vickie Sears, the main character, Clarissa, shows how her culture has a positive effect on her behavior resulting in a positive change. Clarissa is a foster child moving to her third foster home in so many months. She has experienced trust issues, anger issues, and vicious dreams. When her foster family takes her to her first powwow dance she is amazed, asks when the next powwow will be, and if she can dance. She listens to music for three weeks enjoying every second of it. Through this time, her attitude is changed towards everyday life and others around her. The story states "she wasn't hitting the animals or chopping on herself with sticks like she was doing when she first come." (Sears para. 9) This shows her behavior towards the end didn't involve those actions of when she first arrived at the foster home, showing a change in behavior. Clarissa had shown change from experiencing the dance and music that stuck out to her foster family. Another quote supporting this change reads "She didn't dance again that night, but I could see there was dreaming coming into her eyes.” (Sears para. 12) The key word in this quote is "again" when it says she didn't dance "again" that night. This implies she HAD been dancing and the second half of the quote proves that Clarissa was being changed, as the narrator could see dreaming in her eyes. Throughout Dancer, Clarissa is changed by her culture. These quotes support that her behavior is changed from negative and Clarissa ends the story a new girl with a positive and happy life. During the excerpt, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, a boy, Junior, is affected by his culture negatively. Junior talks with one of his teachers, Mr. P after an incident involving him occurs. The conversation ends up revolving around Junior’s life at the residence he is staying at. "You've been fighting since you were born," he said. You fought off that brain surgery. You fought off those seizures. You fought off all the drunks and drug addicts. You kept your hope. And now, you have to take your hope and go somewhere where other people have hope." (Alexie 43) In this quote, Mr. P explains to Junior how throughout his days at the residence he kept his hope through the many trials he faced. These trials were put upon by his culture, especially the drunks and drug addicts. This shows Junior’s culture did not have positive role models for him to follow, leading to his negative change. Mr. P sees hope in Junior and feels sorry for the life he had to live there so he gives him advice to leave the rez. ""Son," Mr. P said. "You're going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation."" (Alexie 43) The fact that Mr. P is having to tell Junior there is more hope AWAY from his reservation more so than AT his reservation shows that the rez is having some type of negative impact on Junior. Although the excerpt does not say whether Junior actually left or not, the reservation impacts Junior his whole life. This excerpt from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian tells how Junior goes through many trials before talking to Mr. P and realizing how negatively his culture has changed him and how much hope there is away from home. Through the poem Powwow at the End of the World, the culture changes those of that culture, including the narrator and has a positive, happy ending.
Powwow at the End of the World is told through a repetitious line, followed by the next section of the story. This story compares the journey of a salmon and the narrator's culture to show how culture can help he or she and eventually change them in a positive manner. "Throws a lightning bolt at the brush near my feet, and starts the fire which will lead all of the lost Indians home." (Alexie lines 18-20) This states how the salmon started the fire that led the lost Indians home, resulting in a positive change for the Indians. In the quote, "That salmon who has three stories to tell before sunrise: one story will teach us how to pray; another story will make us laugh for hours; the third story will give us reason to dance." (Alexie lines 22-25), the cultural salmon gives the Indians three stories to tell at the fire, all of which have a positive attitude. These positive stories make an impact on the Indians and give them reason to change. Because the stories are all positive it is inevitable that their change they experience is positive. Through this poem, the journey of the salmon shows how the culture of these Indians has a positive effect on them. It includes stories and acts of kindness the "salmon" did for these Indians which in the end, helps and gives them opportunity to change in a positive
way. Overall, each of these texts may have different outcomes but all three support the same theme. While The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian shows how culture can change in a negative way, both Dancer and Powwow at the End of the World showed the change in a positive way. These three texts represent how one's culture can have an impact on he or she while still having the deciding factor of a positive or negative change.
Culture is a unique way to express the way one shows the world and others how different each one is. Culture affects the way one views the world and others. This is demonstrated in the stories “Ethnic Hash” by Patricia Williams, “Legal Alien” by Pat Mora, and “By Any Other Name” by Santha Rama Rau. These stories come together to show examples of how people of different cultures are viewed by others as different. Mora, Williams, and Rau all have very unique styles, and this is shown throughout the following quotes.
Culture often means an appreciation of the finer things in life; however, culture brings members of a society together. We have a sense of belonging because we share similar beliefs, values, and attitudes about what’s right and wrong. As a result, culture changes as people adapt to their surroundings. According to Bishop Donald, “let it begin with me and my children and grandchildren” (211). Among other things, culture influences what you eat; how you were raised and will raise your own children? If, when, and whom you will marry; how you make and spend money. Truth is culture is adaptive and always changing over time because
The concept of a Powwow has changed over time due to cultural shifts within Native American communities and the introduction of European settlers. In the modern era of the Powwow, the event is used for all Plains tribes to come together and celebrate their pride and culture. The event itself is extremely
Imagine being put in a horrible situation that one has very little chance of escaping from. This happens to people all over the world and even occurs in Canada and the United States. Often this inability to escape horrible things is faced by many Native American populations. Sherman Alexie the author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian made this very clear through plot, characters and the themes. Certain points in the novel stuck out which clearly represented how hard it is for Native Americans to escape poverty. Native Americans often believe that they have no control over being in poverty so they do not try to get themselves out of it. When Native Americans try to overcome poverty, they are often unsupported by tribe members and considered outcasts. Finally money on the reservation is often mismanaged, so the people of the reservation are unable to benefit from it. Although some people believe that being born into a Native American tribe has advantages the reality is that it is often near impossible for Native Americans to escape the poverty their reservations are plagued with.
What do the following words or phrases have in common: “the last departure,”, “final curtain,” “the end,” “darkness,” “eternal sleep”, “sweet release,” “afterlife,” and “passing over”? All, whether grim or optimistic, are synonymous with death. Death is a shared human experience. Regardless of age, gender, race, religion, health, wealth, or nationality, it is both an idea and an experience that every individual eventually must confront in the loss of others and finally face the reality of our own. Whether you first encounter it in the loss of a pet, a friend, a family member, a neighbor, a pop culture icon, or a valued community member, it can leave you feeling numb, empty, and shattered inside. But, the world keeps turning and life continues. The late Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers and of Pixar Animation Studios, in his 2005 speech to the graduating class at Stanford, acknowledged death’s great power by calling it “the single best invention of Life” and “Life’s great change agent.” How, in all its finality and accompanying sadness, can death be good? As a destination, what does it have to teach us about the journey?
Native American Captivity Narratives Native American Captivity Narratives are accounts about people of European descent getting captured by their enemy “the savage” (Hawkes, par. 1). The adage of the adage. According to the “Encyclopedia of The Great Plains” These accounts were widely popular in the 17th century and had an adventurous story-line, resulting from a conflict between Native Americans and Europeans settling in the New World. A clear message through these captivity narratives is that European American culture was superior to Native American culture. In 1682 the first Native American Captivity Narrative was written by Mary Rowlandson titled “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration.”
Culture sometimes informs the way one views the others and the world in our everyday lives. Some say your culture shapes you as who you are but others say that it’s the experiences you’ve had. Whenever I hear the question “To what extent does one’s Culture inform the way one views others and the world?” I think of two different things. I think of the differences between people, an example being people who have homes and the homeless. They have different point of views because they are in drastically different situations. So I do agree with it may have to deal with experiences, but then I also think about racism and racial judgement, etc. Thats where the Culture comes into play and then with that information I stand in the middle. Its both,
In her book American Indian Stories, Zitkala-Sa's central role as both an activist and writer surfaces, which uniquely combines autobiography and fiction and represents an attempt to merge cultural critique with aesthetic form, especially surrounding such fundamental matters as religion. In the tradition of sentimental, autobiographical fiction, this work addresses keen issues for American Indians' dilemmas with assimilation. In Parts IV and V of "School Days," for example, she vividly describes a little girl's nightmares of paleface devils and delineates her bitterness when her classmate died with an open Bible on her bed. In this groundbreaking scene, she inverts the allegation of Indian religion as superstition by labeling Christianity.
In my view, intolerance is the unfair act of being treated unjustly by others. This closed-minded action is one that is unfortunately an increasing problem in today’s society for many different reasons. Intolerance is the greatest issue we face regarding discrimination and racism among others, increasing the tension and conflict between people. One example of Junior, also known as Arnold, experiencing intolerance is when he is made fun of by his peers on his reservation in Wellpinit for having a lisp and eye abnormalities. Junior cannot help that he was born with these physical defects and has no control over the fact that he has to live with them. In Reardan, Junior is picked on the antagonist, Roger that creates even more of a struggle for the “part-time Indian”. I believe that the most damaging forms of intolerance for Junior are in Reardan for multiple reasons. For example, when attending school in Reardan, Junior explains the following, “…People had either ignored me or called me names or pushed me. But they stopped after my grandmother died,” (Alexie 159). This part of the story made me wonder, why would it take the death of someone to show that discrimination is such a socially inappropriate gesture to bring upon another person? Wellpinit holds the largest amount of trouble for Junior because his peers discriminate against him racially and physically which are both serious issues. Another example of intolerance for Junior is when he tells his parents that he wants to switch schools, “’Come on, I said. ‘Who has the most hope?’ ‘White people," my parents said at the same time.’” (Alexie 45). This shows clear discrimination between the two races, and an unfortunate viewpoint in the eyes of Junior’s parents. It is almost as if ...
In conclusion, this book gave me a whole new view on life and how we can interact better with different people. The book emphasized that culture is key to understanding people. Sometimes it is hard to connect with others because they are indicated as different but in due time we can adjust. Every culture has their own traditions when it comes to what they eat, what to wear, dating, various ceremonies, holidays and more. Reading this book helped me become more accepting of who I am and where I come from.
It starts early morning “adiós, adiós México querido, yo nunca olvidarte podré” (bye, bye dear Mexico, I can never forget ) my mother carries small boxes out our bright blue front door as we walk and get in a rusty old truck. The engine purrs and the truck jumps up and down because of the rocks that make up the road. My small turquoise house starts to fade way along with the trees, and mountains. That’s how it starts early morning leaving the memories of my childhood that influenced my character.
It was approaching dusk as the conspicuous line of dark vans entered the reservation. These vehicles served the purpose of furnishing transportation for about 30 members of a Cleveland area youth group, whose mission was “to bring good news to the badlands';. In short, the group was ministering to the Indian children of the Pine Ridge Reservation, which was in close vicinity to the natural wonder found in the foothills of “the badlands';. The trip became a tradition for my church and I traveled there on three separate occasions. Each year, the team received a welcoming that could be described as anything but inviting. In fact, the first year the trip fell on the Fourth of July and as we drove in, our vehicles were bombarded with fireworks. I could never really grasp why we were so despised. After all, our intentions were commendable. The matter became clearer after I read Zitkala-sa’s “American Indian Stories';. Within this text, a Native American expresses her beliefs that actions similar to ours serve merely in altering culture.
Culture is expressed through a variety of different ways, from clothing styles to lifestyles to faithful traditions. It can also have a deep impact on the viewpoints of those around you, whether negatively or positively. No matter how a person goes about their everyday life, they can rise above the expectations of their culture to change the world around them. Culture does not have to be the basis of every thought, word, or deed of a person.
In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will discuss the major themes of the book and why the author wrote it, it will describe Native American society, its values and its beliefs and how they changed and it will show how Native Americans views other non-Natives.
Culture, where and how a person is raised, affects a person no matter how much they dislike the way they are being taught the ways of life. However, moving to different places as a child and coun...