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The Consequences of One's Action in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
"Actions have consequences" (Morton Blackwell). This quote is straight to the point and quite self-explanatory as it states a universally known truth. The book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie depicts such ideals in his book extremely well. His book follows Arnold Junior, a boy who lives on the Spokane reservation. On the reservation he is surrounded by people who have lost hope, many being drunks. After being told of what lack luster life he would have staying on the reservation by Mr. P, he sets out for a better future and goes to Reardan. This is a high school filled with white people. Junior battles to balance both his Indian reservation home and his Caucasian filled school sides throughout many obstacles. Being labeled traitor by his fellow Indians and racially different from the people at Reardan, on a journey through Junior's eyes. The book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie has a theme of actions having consequences, good or bad. This is shown through multiple character's experiences, such as Junior and his sister Mary.
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taking a risk, you know that the repercussions could be good or bad. In Junior's case, they were both. His action was to transfer from the outdated reservation school to the more improved Reardan. The cons to such choice was being alienated from his Indian peers and Panom 2 racially different between him and his Reardan folk. His friend and fellow tribe member on the Spokane reservation, Rowdy, accuses Junior of thinking that he is better than him, "You always thought you were better than me," he yelled. "No, no, I don't think I'm better than anybody. I think I'm worse than everybody else." (52). Even though Junior argues his views, Rowdy further labels him as an outsider, thus adding fuel to his alienation. At Reardan they stereotype Junior, the only Indian, as a tough fighter so no retaliation to punches were made, but instead call him names such as "Chief" "Red-skin" and "Sitting Bull". On the contrary to this, the pro of his move was his ability to find more hope. As stated by Mr. P, "You are going to find more and more hope the farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation” (page 43). This statement was in fact true, being that the kids at Reardan were far more optimistic about their futures than the kids back at the reservation. Through Junior, Sherman Alexie was able to show a situation where the action had both good and bad repercussions. Another example of actions having consequences is through the character Mary.
Mary was known to be a person that kept to herself before she died. As said by Junior "She is the prettiest and strongest and funniest person who ever spent twenty-three hours a day alone in a basement." (28). This shows her more hermit side. Her action that results in a premature death was to, on a whim, marry someone in Montana and move there. Though she had fun, "I love it here in Montana. It's beautiful. "(99) as stated in her e-mail to Junior, it was cut short after a night of drinking and a left hotplate caused the burning of a trailer with two people, one being Mary, in it. Her death was a result of her hastiness in moving and therefore is an example of actions having consequences, this time being
bad. Panom 3 Finally, it is evident that the theme of causes having effects is imbedded in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Sherman Alexie was able to convey such theme through the characters of Junior and Mary with their actions. Knowing said theme is great, as it is relatable to everyone, and has the ability to connect the reader with Junior and Mary, whilst reading the book regarding multiple choices and multiple outcomes.
To conclude, in the book The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian an Indian boy shows 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.
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.
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. By the end of the book, Arnold experiences a lot of deaths of people who mean a lot to him but he still found hope. Arnold becomes a warrior for leaving the reservation and going to Reardan.
Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.
Culture has the power and ability to give someone spiritual and emotional distinction which shapes one's identity. Without culture, society would be less and less diverse. Culture is what gives this earth warmth and color that expands across miles and miles. The author of “The School Days of an Indian Girl”, Zitkala Sa, incorporates the ideals of Native American culture into her writing. Similarly, Sherman Alexie sheds light onto the hardships he struggled through growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven in a chapter titled “Indian Education”.
The thought of even having to touch the aides disgust Mary because they are a physical representation of the reality she is denying. When she is told that she may have to kill her daughter, she reacts poorly, as most would expect a mother to, however she has gone to extremes. She accuses her husband of having never loved their daughter and that the only thing keeping them married was the daughter and that without Jennifer, Peter would have left Mary (156-158). This intense outburst from a woman who is usually so calm when tragedy affects those outside of her narcissistic bubble only goes to show further the indifferent attitude of denial. When made to recognize the oncoming death, she cannot fathom it, and tries to find other reasons for Peter trying to get her to come to terms with “murdering” her daughter.
Growing up on a reservation where failing was welcomed and even somewhat encouraged, Alexie was pressured to conform to the stereotype and be just another average Indian. Instead, he refused to listen to anyone telling him how to act, and pursued his own interests in reading and writing at a young age. He looks back on his childhood, explaining about himself, “If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity” (17). Alexie compares the life and treatment of an Indian to life as a more privileged child. This side-by-side comparison furthers his point that
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.
In conclusion, Mary is clearly shown to have a very manipulative and sinister character because she was a cold blooded murderer who had no feelings for her husband when she killed him, and she made people believe her grieving stories to make them feel sorry for her. But, all she wanted at the end was to cover up all of the evidence so she does not get caught and go to jail.
Racism, stereotypes, and white privilege are all concepts that affect all of us, whether we believe it or not. If an adolescent of a minority can distinguish these concepts in his society, then we all should be aware of them. These concepts are all clearly demonstrated in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”. Anyone and everyone could clearly understand this novel, but the intended audience is middle school to college level students. The novel’s goal is to help white students understand the effects of white privilege in an easier, more understandable way.
To start off i would like to talk about Mary’s bad traits. She talks about Sarah Good being arrested and confessing her crimes. She says that Sarah Good “tried to kill her many times” (Miller 1296). She also says that she supposedly “remembers everything she done” to her (Miller 1296). Even though she admitted that she didn’t know of any of this but she could have just been told what she could have done to her and easily believed it or she could have made
Mary (before her release) does not know everything there is to know about other people (because she learns something about them on her release).
When Patrick sits her down, to discuss some news, the end of their relationship (possibly an affair), she denies it, and continues to attend to her duties, not thinking about the reality, and then out of nowhere, she kills him with a leg of lamb. There’s humor in the fact that she takes the dinner she made, and utilizes the leg of lamb as a weapon to kill her husband, then there’s the aftershock and the panic mode sets in as she proceeds to cover up her crime, and the manner in which she disposes of the evidence. She kills him, and then extraordinarily, her mind became clear, she knew what to do, as it it was encoded in her genes, the wife of a detective (Dahl 2). Mary goes to Sam, secures an alibi, and then calls the police, playing the victim, falling into their arms, and crying uncontrollably, reinforcing gender roles and stereotypes, with the weak, sensitive, and emotional woman, the housewife, and the strong, brave, man, the protector. She brilliantly disposes of the murder weapon by manipulating the dumb, hungry men into eating the murder weapon, playing on their ego, pride, and protective
Maloney slaughter. “She came out slowly, feeling cold and surprised, and she stood for a few minutes, looking at the body, still holding the piece of meat tightly with both hands.” Patrick’s wife surprised herself. He triggered these emotions that resulted in his death.What leads Mrs. Maloney in even more distraught is Patrick just leaves without a care in the world. “ ‘I already told you,’ he said. ‘Don’t make supper for me. I’m going out.’” This could contribute to Mary’s shock, living with somebody that you expected to be with your entire life and then have them get up and leave
This feeling drove her to participate in the unthinkable murder. When her husband told her that he was suddenly leaving her, she tried not to believe it. “Her first instinct was not to believe any of it, to reject it all.” It was clear that Patrick Maloney was extremely inconsiderate. He would ignore his wife, making her feel lonely and isolated, and he did not seem to care about his child, but only his job. He stated, “There needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn't be very good for my job.” He left Mary in a state where she felt her world was crashing down on her, and she was not thinking when she slammed the leg of a lamb into her husband’s