Indian Trauma

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The Damaging Effects of Alcoholism Alcoholism is a very harmful type of trauma, and can be extremely damaging for a person who is prone to it, most likely causing mental damage such as anxiety and depression. The novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian illustrates the topic of trauma and how events regarding alcoholism affect the characters, their actions and relationships. The novel is told from the perspective of an Indian boy named Junior, and the most impactful source of his trauma being alcohol, and how he’s consistently exposed to it in his environment, as followed by the death of his sister, grandmother and his relationship with his father. One of the traumatic events Junior goes through is the death of his grandmother, someone whom he loved most and admired greatly. “But my grandmother never drunk …show more content…

“He took what little money we had and ran away to get drunk. He left on Christmas Eve and came back on January 2. With an epic hangover, he just lay on his bed for hours.” (Alexie 120 pdf) "It's okay," I said. But it wasn't okay with that. It was about as far from okay as you can get. If okay was the earth, then I was standing on Jupiter. I don't know why I said it was okay. For some reason, I was protecting the feelings of the man who had broken my heart yet again.” (Alexie 120 pdf) Junior hides the feelings of disappointment with his father and his alcoholic habits, after he favored booze over spending time with his family. He then discovers his father had gifted him five dollars instead of being drunk for another day and was grateful for it, which seems like a heartwarming moment at first, but is overall beneath the bare minimum to show Junior is sorry as opposed to a heart-to-heart talk about despite his addiction, he still loves him. The strain alcohol has on Junior and his father’s relationship has a big impact on Junior’s

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