Junior's Family Dynamic

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Junior’s Family Dynamic “I can’t blame my parents for our poverty because my mother and father are the twin suns around which I orbit and my world would EXPLODE without them”(Alexie 11). Junior, also known as Arnold Spirit, is the protagonist in the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, his family is very important to him. Junior lives on the Spokane Indian reservation. He switches from the Wellington School on the reservation to a school twenty miles outside the reservation called Reardan. Junior's family deals with alcoholism, poverty, and death; however, they thrive in support for each other which keeps their family close. With these dynamics, Junior’s personal growth and development are impacted. Junior’s family is very poor. He …show more content…

Junior had a dog when he was younger and when it wasn’t doing very well, they didn’t have enough money to take it to the vet, so Junior’s dad just had to shoot it. When Junior switched schools, there were many times when Junior couldn’t get to school because his dad didn’t have any money left for gas. Junior’s mom was an alcoholic, but she sobered when he was seven years old. From this adversity, Juniors personal development is affected. When they didn’t have enough money for gas, he would just start walking to school or even hitchhiking. He tried to hide that he was poor when he was with his new friends at Reardan, but they soon found out when they became closer friends with Junior. This made him better at handling adversity. Along with being very poor, Junior also has to deal with many different deaths in his life. “I’m fourteen years old and I’ve been to forty-two funerals”(Alexie 199) The first major death that occurs is the death of Junior’s grandma. Junior loved his grandma very much. “She was the most amazing person in the world”(Alexie 154). Junior’s favorite thing about his grandma was that “she was tolerant”(Alexie

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