A mentor is a trustworthy and experienced person that one can look to in time of difficulty for advice and support. In the novel, Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie, Junior Polatkin is easily influenced by his surroundings, causing him to fall into the destructive patterns of reservation Native Americans, particularly alcoholism. Numerus setbacks, combine with this lack of a reliable mentors ultimately lead to Junior’s demise. Similar to Junior, I have experienced setbacks in my swimming career; however, unlike Junior, I have had positive role models and mentors in my life helping me overcome my setback and to use them as growing experiences. In the novel Reservation Blues, Junior Polatkin ultimately fails to overcome the challenges associated …show more content…
with being a Native American in a white society because of poor role models, while I have been able to use my swimming plateau as a learning experience and motivation to try harder because of positive mentors and nurturing peer relationships. A central role model in most children’s life is his or her parents; for Junior this is not the case as both his parents cope with difficulties of life on a reservation by turning to alcohol. In a dream, Junior recounts his parents leaving his siblings and him outside in a car while they got drunk in a local tavern: “Junior was in the back seat of his parents’ car outside the Powwow Tavern. Below freezing, so he shared a sleep bag with his two brothers and two sisters” and for dinner his parents came out and “shoved potato chips and Pepsi through the open window” and then “Junior and his siblings watched their parents stagger back toward the bar” (Alexie 110, 111). Parents play an important role in mentoring and developing their children. Growing up, Junior’s parents set the example that it is acceptable to use alcohol as a coping mechanism and to neglect their primary responsibilities, such as providing for and nurturing their children. Alcohol consumes his parents’ priorities and as a result, even when they are alive, they are still absent parents, meaning he does not have that essential source of support and advice needed to overcome the myriad of challenges that life presents him. Not only are Junior’s parents’ poor role models, his best friend Victor is also a negative influence on him, convincing him from a young age to engage in destructive behavior.
Having a positive role model who had faced a similar situation and been able to overcome the challenges associated with being a Native American living on a reservation would have given Junior hope and someone to look to for advice. His toxic friendship with Victor is far from the motivation and guidance that Junior needs. Even as a youth, Victor was a harmful influence on Junior. For example, Thomas recounts the summer when Victor terrorized him with snakes: Victor “dragged Thomas there once or twice a week. Come on, Victor said to Thomas and put him in yet another headlock. You’re coming with us. Ya-hey, Junior said. Don’t you think he’s had enough? I’ll tell you when he’s had enough, Victor said” (Alexie 71). Junior is a follower and docilely listens to Victor even if he does not agree with Victor’s actions. While he does try to speak on behalf of Thomas, his contribution is rejected by Victor.. This pattern continues on into Victor and Junior’s adulthood. For instance, one day when Victor tags along while Junior is delivering water, Victor tries to pressure Junior into not completing all his deliveries saying, “let’s knock off early and head for the tavern” and ultimately after all the deliveries were finished “Junior and Victor got drunk in the tavern” spending all of Juniors wage …show more content…
(Alexie 20, 21). Victor does not care about making good decisions, but rather only cares about drinking. He uses the fact that Junior is easily influenced to his advantage to get what he wants without considering the actions consequences on others. Furthermore, Victor thinks very short term, immediately spending any money he has on alcohol and as a follower Junior does the same, resulting in both having no money to use to help improve their impoverished situations. After Junior’s suicide, Victor realizes that he has been a negative influence on Junior and admits that he is “feeling the guilt that he was responsible for the suicide” (Alexie 282). Victor knew that Junior looked up to him and followed him and Victor often used this too his advantage. Victor could have been a positive role model in Junior’s life and helped him to escape the destructive alcoholic cycle of reservation Indians, but instead Victor is too focused on personal gain. Similar to Junior, I have faced challenges in my swimming career and while they are not of the same gravity as those which Junior faced, they are still challenges which I have learned to overcome.
I have been swimming year-round on a club team since the age of six and when I was younger improving came relatively easily. However, around age 13, I hit a training plateau despite having the same work ethic and focus that I had previously had. I grew to despise swimming and at points I wanted to quit. However, unlike Junior, I had role models and mentors who were positive influences on me and who helped me to overcome this challenge. Primarily, I had several of my best friends on the team who convinced me to keep persevering and to not simply quit the sport that I loved so much just because I was no longer dropping time. For example, every day I watch my close friends Lizanne and Cate come to practice and give it their all, regardless of the numerous injuries and medical issues that plagued their swimming career; their positive outlook and dedication motivated me to try even harder than I had before. Moreover, I had by parents, something that Junior did not have; my parents were always there to support me after yet another disappointing meet reminding me that “you get five minutes for a win and five minutes for a lost”. My parents where my voice of reason as I tried to work through my issues; they were always there to encourage me, but also were very honest with me
which helped me to keep everything in perspective. Furthermore, I my coach Tony was one of the main reason that I stayed with the support. Even when I had given up on myself, he did not; he helped me to see that positives could come out of a negative event, such as a slow swim. By surrounding myself with all these positive role models I armed myself with the resources that I needed to face the challenges that swimming presented me with. Through the mentoring and leadership of my parents and Coach Tony I began to see that there was more to life than just swimming and who I am as a person is defined by much more than how fast or slow I swam at the meet. Everyday people face challenges, both large and small. In the novel, Reservation Blues, Junior’s life from the beginning is plagued with challenges; initially he is able to overcome some of them, but the pressure and expectations overwhelms him and he ultimately decides to prematurely end his life. While Junior and my situation are similar in that we both faced difficult situations, which challenged us to the point of wanting to quit, I ultimately was more successful at overcoming my challenge because of the people I surrounded myself with. A quick search on Google regarding overcoming failure will yield a plethora of quotes talking about how the only difference between success and failure is how you recover or that failure is inevitable, and it is about what you learn from failing. Ultimately, I am of the belief that each challenge, hardship or failure that life presents me with is there for a reason and that there is something to be learned from it. My challenge with swimming in high school helped me see that there is more to swimming then just dropping time, there is the bonds I formed with my teammates, the race to beat an opponent to the wall, and the excitement of winning a championship with my team. It also made me value improvement much more because every time I drop time, I know how many hard hours of training had gone into going that person best.
The Essay, I have chosen to read from is ReReading America was An Indian Story by Roger Jack. The topic of this narrative explores the life of an Indian boy who grows up away from his father in the Pacific Northwest. Roger Jack describes the growing up of a young Indian boy to a man, who lives away from his father. Roger demonstrates values of the Indian culture and their morals through exploration of family ties and change in these specific ties. He also demonstrates that growing up away from one’s father doesn’t mean one can’t be successful in life, it only takes a proper role model, such as the author provides for the young boy.
This book shows what a role of a mentor has on someone’s life. It is a simple story about an unlikely pair of friends who learn the meaning of trust to overcome their failures and turn those failures into
A mentor is a trusted guide who shows you the way in life. Through the mentors of Pi and Antonio, they help save and point them to the right way in life. In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Ultima shows Tony that good can always overcome evil, no matter how evil it may be. Life of Pi by Yann Martel, shows that Pi can face his fears by the help of a big Bengal tiger in a small boat, and that the littlest things in life can change the course of how your destiny awaits.
In the story by the way Victor speaks I personally see he's smart but learning and very cautious since he's been through so much all his life. I learned that Victor is trying to find himself, even though there's so much going on in his life. Victors second grade teacher Betty Towle punishes him rather rewards him for acing his spelling bee showing that she didn't think as a Indian boy he wouldn't amount to much. In ninth grade, a teacher assumes that Victor is an alcoholic because he is native American.
A mentor is someone who shares one’s wisdom, knowledge or experience with one’s junior person so that the person could learn and grow. Mentors have many different style of training or passing on their knowledge to other people. The movie “Something the Lord Made” directed by Joseph Sargent shows a kind of mentoring style in between the two main characters Dr. Blalock and Vivan Thomas who invent a way to treat “blue babies” back in the 40s. Vivan Thomas is a brilliant black men who wishes to go to college, and to become a doctor; however, due to the Depression, he loses all his saving. Instead of going to college, Thomas finds an opportunity to work in the hospital. Dr. Blalock, Thomas’s employer, discovers Thomas’s incredible knowledge in medical, and promotes Thomas as his assistant instead of a janitor. Dr. Blalock is a mentor to Thomas. Dr. Blalock trained Thomas with only a high school certification becomes a medical scientific lab technician. Although Dr. Blalock’s mentoring style of Vivan Thomas is similar from my high school speech team coach Mrs. Kuznicki mentoring style of me, they both speak out their criticism of other without consider other’s feeling, and also acknowledge mentees for what they have done, but Mrs. Kuznicki treats me with more patient, less selfishness and encouragement than Dr. Blalock treats Thomas.
During the trip, Victor reflects on his past experiences with Thomas. At fifteen, they “had long since stopped being friends [and] got into a fistfight” (183). As adults, though they would often see each other on the reservation, however they would rarely interact. As an opportunity arises, when they arrived to his father’s trailer in Arizona, Victor finally apologizes to Thomas. He adds, “I never told you I was sorry for beating you up that time” (185) and accepts him for who he is.
Victor doesn?t seem to be very attached to his Native American culture. When his father left, his mother married a white man, so Victor grew up with a significant figure in his life being white. He seems to follow his mother?s example to some extent, and is frequently attracted to white women. Although Victor doesn?t seem to care about being Native American, in some way, his tendency to t...
Overall, Alexie clearly faced much difficulty adjusting to the white culture as a Native American growing up, and expresses this through Victor in his essay, “Indian Education.” He goes through all of the stages of his childhood in comparison with his white counterparts. Racism and bullying are both evident throughout the whole essay. The frustration Alexie got from this is clear through the negativity and humor presented in the experiences he had to face, both on and off of the American Indian reservation. It is evident that 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.
Victor knew he was a Native American that lived on the reservation. However, as he has grown up, it seems he has forgotten the tribal ties of the Native Americans. The people of that culture consider everyone in the tribe to be family and they are not ashamed of who they are and where they come from. Towards the end of the fictional narrative it is said, “Victor was ashamed of himself. Whatever happened to the tribal ties, the sense of community? The only real thing he shared with anybody was a bottle and broken dreams. He owed Thomas something, anything” (519). At the end of the story, Victor has finally realize that he is acting self absorbed. He realizes that this is not who he wants to be and he should not be ashamed to talk to Thomas Builds-a-Fire. Remembering his tribal ties, Victor gives half of his father 's ashes to Thomas. By doing that, Victor is thanking Thomas in his own way. Victor said, “listen, and handed Thomas the cardboard box which contained half of his father. “I want you to have this” (519). Individuals on the reservation thought Thomas was just a madman with weird stories. But in reality he was always true to his tribal identity and has even taught Victor how to get back to that. For example Thomas says, “I’m going to travel to Spokane Falls one last time and toss these ashes into the water. And your father will rise like a salmon, leap over the bridge, over me, and find his way
To most Americans today, life on the reservation is not at all like is glorified to be. Sherman Alexie uses his literary talent to expose the truth inside the reservation. In particular, in his short stories, “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation No Longer Flashes Red,” “Every Little Hurricane,” and “Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” Alexie reveals the ever continuous cycle trend of alcoholism, poverty, and racial injustice from one generation to the next. As the trend continues, the earlier it seems that the Native American youth are falling into the habits and life choices of their parents. Thus, each of the previously stated short stories addresses the negative turn-of-events that lead to the Native American youth following the same corrupt path as the generations before them from a different angle to expose the truth within the reservation.
Indian Education by Sherman Alexie places the reader in the shoes of Sherman Alexie. Taking the reader step by step through different school years of his life. As each year passes by the evidence of his struggle become more apparent. Although the story is told in that of a narrative, it doesn’t have anything spectacular separating it from other stories. There were a few moments that captivated the attention of the reader such as “But on the day I leaned through the basement window of the HUD house and kissed the white girl, I felt the good-bye I was saying to my entire tribe. I held my lips tight against her lips, a dry, clumsy, and ultimately stupid kiss. “Personally, this sentence stood out because it displayed the struggle and difficulties
There are various issues on Indian Reservations that have significant impacts on the lives of many Native American people, young and old. Among these are domestic violence, suicide, severe medical issues, and extreme poverty. These issues have a negative impact on family life, employment, and self motivation. A vicious cycle is created by the continuance of issues as generation after generation of Native Americans are exposed to similar conditions and find themselves struggling to adapt to a judge mental society and some cases, to survive. Two works of literature that portray the lives of Native Americans and their struggles are Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich and Where White Men Fear to Tread by Russell Means. The character Albertine
Because of the deaths that had happened, Junior begins to think about his grandmother and how she taught him things throughout his life. Junior’s grandmother was one of his favorite people in the world. He went to her when he was having problems with Roger at school. Junior was confused on why Roger reacted differently when he was punched and his grandmother replied by saying Roger respects him and wanted to see how tough he was because he was the “new dog”(68). This provides evidence that states his grandmother taught him that Roger doesn’t care what his background and where he came from instead Roger just wants to know if he could respect Junior for who he was. Furthermore with all the alcoholics in the reservation, Junior's Grandmother was
We are always judging people and thinking we are better than they are. When Junior finally leaves the Rez, and goes to Rearden all the boy think they are better than him and make fun of him. Even if you don’t like that person you never know what they are going through, just like the boys didn’t know what Junior was going through. He lost his best friend, he didn’t have any friends at the new school, and his dad didn’t care about him. One day when he was at school Roger asked Junior if he wanted to hear a joke and Roger says, “Did you know that Indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo?’
On one hand, he belongs to his tribe based on shared history, ancestry, and values. On the other hand, past and present medical conditions alienate him from a group of people that are already alienated by the majority of society: he’s an outcast to the outcasts. As an outsider, Junior oftentimes falls victim to the fists and words of other people on the reservation. It is his best friend, Rowdy, that stands up for Junior on multiple occasions. Rowdy and Junior were born on the same day and like Junior, Rowdy has an alcoholic father. Rowdy’s father, however, beats him where Junior’s father wouldn’t dream of laying a hand on his son. At one point Junior makes the observation: “I was born all broken and twisted, and he was born mad”(17). Their birth foreshadows the way both boys fight when they are older, Rowdy has a direct approach to fighting while Junior has an indirect approach. So when Junior is faced with fighting his “predetermined fate” as a citizen of the reservation, he initiates the battle by throwing a book at Mr. P, his geometry teacher, but then refers back to his own style of fighting. It is because of this “predetermined fate” and a fear of being stuck in a perpetual cycle of alcoholism, abuse, and hopelessness that Junior decides it is time for him to leave the reservation, at least for high