The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian is a novel written by Sherman Alexie that depicts the struggles of Junior, a Native American teenager living on a reservation while attending a predominantly white school. In this novel, the majority of the obstacles faced by Native Americans were due to alcoholism. Alcohol reveals its damaging effects by destroying family relationships, exacerbating violence and mortality rates, and demonstrating its generational nature. Alcoholism has the power to destroy family relationships and create distance between its members. This destructive influence is evident in Junior’s family, especially between Junior and his father. In the novel, Junior describes how sometimes he walks many miles to school when his …show more content…
Research has shown that children of parents who misuse substances are more than twice as likely to have a substance use disorder by young adulthood compared to their peers (NCBI). This means that when parents frequently misuse alcohol, they unconsciously pass these habits down to their children, who pass them down to their children, and so on. Hence, the ongoing problems with alcohol are not from Native Americans’ desire to consume it, but rather because many of them are trapped in an addictive and inescapable cycle of alcoholism, carried through generations. Junior recognized this dangerous truth when he expressed, “I cried because more Spokanes would die because of booze. They were slowly killing themselves and I wanted them to live. I wanted them to get strong and get sober and get off the reservation” (Alexie 216). Alcohol’s harm extends far beyond its immediate effects on families and death rates. The grim nature of it lies in its ability to captivate the entire community, making escape unreachable, while current and future generations remain stuck in its vicious
I can still remember the day, June 2, 2013, my cousin took his own life due to alcohol. This is not the first time alcoholism has taken a family member from my family. I lost my uncle ten years ago to the same things, but running his truck into a tree. Like Scott Russell Sanders’ my family has suffered from the pain and disease that alcohol causes. Although Sanders’ case was much different than mine, my families is more unknown until all of a sudden one of my family members is gone. In Sanders’ essay, “Under the Influence: Paying the Price of my Father’s Booze,” he discusses how it was growing up around him, his father’s life being taken, and his life now.
Encountering struggles in life defines one’s character and speaks volumes about their strength, ambition, and flexibility. Through struggles, sacrifice, and tragedy, Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, adapts to survive difficult situations and faces his problems head-on. As he makes life changing decisions, adapts to an unfamiliar culture, and finds himself amongst misery and heartbreak, Junior demonstrates resilience to overcome adversity and struggles.
In the fictional story, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie, a Native American author, describes the problems of a teenager living between two different cultures; one Native American, and the other white. Alexie uses figurative language elements to convince teenagers to be aware and support people living between two worlds in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. By using these literary elements, Sherman Alexie guides the audience to respond emotionally and act upon about the book’s message. Throughout the story, Alexie uses juxtaposition to show the differences between the two worlds the protagonist lives in.
Picture yourself in a town where you are underprivileged and sometimes miss a meal. In the novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Sherman Alexie wrote the book to show hardships that Native Americans face today. Alexie shows us hardships such as poverty, alcoholism and education. In the novel, Junior goes against the odds to go to an all white school to get a better education to have a better 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.
They considered drunkenness ‘degrading to free me’ and questioned the motives of those who would offer a substance that was so offensive to the senses and that made men foolish. Most Native people who did drink alcohol were reported to show ‘remarkable restraint while in their cups’. Most drank alcohol only during social or trading contact with whites. Although drinking patterns since colonization grew almost exponentially, since 1975, drinking patterns among Native Americans have remained constant.( Alcohol 3)
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.
Ghosh, R. P. (2012, February 11). Native Americans: The Tragedy of Alcoholism. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from International Business Times: http://www.ibtimes.com/native-americans-tragedy-alcoholism-214046
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.
Although there are plenty of populations stagnated with the disease of alcoholism and drug abuse, one that stands out is the epidemic amongst Native Americans. A trivial topic at best when cast in the media and the steady stream of alcoholic advertisement, but this is definitely a topic worth being researched and pulled to the forefront. The onslaught of this issue stems from varying factors of history and circumstance.
Reflecting on the many western movies of my youth, it can be clearly recalled that the Native Americans were either scalping Euro Americans or getting sloppy drunks so they could not function physically and/or mentally. This abuse of alcohol and, in general, acceptance of drunken behavior beyond recollection of actions or knowledge of one’s environment, was widely accepted as the norm by Euro Americans outside of the Native American world and far from the arid, treeless reservations.
The impact of various kinds of substances to cultural groups has historically been precipitated by the significance of particular substances on different cultural groups (Moore, 2010).This is mainly because the long term usage of these substances leads to the integration of the consumption of the substance into the cultural patterns of the given group. One such group that has been affected by the extensive usage of a particular substance is the Native American community. According to the Associated Press (2014, August 28), as noted on the MSNBC website, out of ten deaths among the Native American population, one is Alcohol related. Additionally, the prevalence of Alcohol consumption among the Native American population relates to the fact that it’s associated with the various cultural events that define the way of life of Native Americans. Therefore, the focus of this paper shall be on the cultural aspects, effects and prevalence of Alcohol among Native Americans. Particularly, the paper shall outline a brief introduction of the Native American culture and the prevalence of Alcohol in this culture; compare the aspects of alcohol abuse between the Native Americans and the African Americans; analyze the particular effects of alcohol in the body; and demonstrate the cultural impact of Alcohol abuse among the Native Americans.
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.
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.