muel, This book, “The Absolutely True Daily Of A Part Time Indian” by the author named Sherman Alexie. The book is about a fourteen years old Native kid called Arnold Spirit, which he goes by Junior. He grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, and then transferred to the white high school in the town of Reardan nearly 22 miles away. To say that life is hard on the Spokane rez doesn’t begin to touch it. The concept of the novel is the friendship between Junior and Rowdy. Junior friendship with Rowdy is unbelievable. I had some experience that connect to Juniors life. It makes the action unexpected and surprising. It reminded me of a time when I was in Gambia and my best friend Ismail. Who I spend everyday life with him. So In the chapter 3, when Junior says Rowdy might be the most important than his family because he spends much time …show more content…
with him.
Rowdy spends much of his time at Junior’s house and also protect Junior at school so no one wouldn’t bully him. But Rowdy was unhappy when Junior transfers to to the white school. Rowdy couldn’t get over the feelings that Junior has turned his back on his culture and therefore on their friendship. My friendship with Ismail becomes less connected when I came to the U.S. because I haven’t talk to him about a year and he thinks that I turned my back on him. But I knew the fact that I can never turn my back on someone I grew up with in the same room, and the only person I could be more comfortable to tell my secrets to. I think Junior’s experience of transferring to Reardan was positive because he wants to have a hope and achieve his dream. I was surprised when Junior and Rowdy become enemies later on. Because I think that if Rowdy is truly, he would forgive
Junior. And I got the point the reason why Rowdy is mad at Junior for moving out the Rez. Even for his sister Mary is inspired to change her life once Junior transfers to Reardan. Junior ‘s friendship with Rowdy is very limiting and he has becomes a friend with Gordy after moving to Reardan. Gordy is helping Junior with his work. So I think Gordy is a more positive friend for Junior to have, and is therefore more beneficial. The thing I liked best was how Junior identify himself as an indian and describe himself as being from many tribes. The struggle of Junior life, he feels like a “traitor” to his community. When Junior says “I realized that sure, I was a Spoken Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American Immigrants. And to the tribe of basketball player.” This part has spoken to me because sometimes I felt the same way too. However, I felt like I belonged to the tribe of soccer player too because I spent every week playing soccer with Somalian kids and I’m the only Gambian in the team. Last, I felt like this book is also educational for those who are not familiar with Indian culture and the problem between real friendship. Sincerely,
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.
I read a few chapters from Silas Houses novel A Parchment of Leaves its set in Kentucky. The story is about a young Cherokee Indian woman in the early 1900’s. The young woman’s name is vine she live in the hills of Kentucky in a place called Red Bud camp. She meets a young white Irish boy who her family is not too happy about the mother more than the father “them Irish ...
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.
Junior’s emphasis on the positive characteristics implies that Wellpinit High School does not have these standard facilities unlike most schools today. This resonates with the audience, as they most likely go to a school with all the amenities of Reardan High School. This causes the audience to pity Junior, creating pathos and causing the reader to care about The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’s message of living between two worlds. Furthermore, the author use metaphors to show the trials and tribulations of living between two worlds, further connecting the audience to the books message. After Junior and Gordy have a conversation about what it means to be White and Indian, Junior states that “A Lot of them call me an apple...because they think I’m red on the outside and white on the inside” (131).
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”.
Have you ever wanted something really badly, but couldn’t afford it? This is a common occurrence, but what about food? Have you ever went to be hungry because you couldn’t afford to eat? Unfortunately, Junior, the main character in the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, felt exactly this way for food. Even though Junior didn’t have as many resources as the other “white kids,” he still chose to look at the positives. This novel shows that even in times of great hardship, people can still choose to have hope and look at the good in their lives.
Adolescents experience a developmental journey as they transition from child to adult, and in doing so are faced with many developmental milestones. Physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes are occurring during this tumultuous stage of life, and making sense of one’s self and identity becomes a priority. Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian addresses the challenges of adolescence in an engaging tale, but deals with minority communities and cultures as well.
“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.
Owens, Lewis. Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel. Norman, OK: U Oklahoma P, 1994.
Ever wondered what gets readers hooked on a book? In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, the authors have many ways to grab the reader's attention by using many techniques from humor to emotional and traumatic suspense. In the book, the main character named Junior is an Indian boy growing up on a reservation. By growing up on the reservation junior makes a choice to leave the reservation and go to a white school which gives Junior obstacles in his life. There are many obstacles that happen even before Junior decided to go to another path with his life.
During the course of the novel “The Outsiders” there are three linked deaths that change the relationships between the Curtis brothers in many different ways. The soc, Bob Sheldon, dies first. When Ponyboy and Johnny flee after Darry hit Ponyboy they run into their rivals Bob and his best friend Randy Adderson. Bob takes Ponyboy and starts drowning him until Johnny gets his switchblade out and kills Bob. After this, Johnny dies. Dally (a greaser with a criminal record) sends Ponyboy and Johnny to an abandoned church so they can hide after what they did. When they go to leave after a few days, the church catches on fire with a few elementary school kids trapped inside, so they go into the church to save them. When Johnny gets the last kid out, a piece of the roof falls on his back, breaking it. The last death is Dally. After Johnny dies, Dally goes crazy and robs a store. The police chase him and shoot him down because he pulled out a gun at them. As you can see at the beginning of the novel, the brothers are constantly getting into arguments about stupid little things, but after Darry hits Ponyboy, things change. After these deaths, Ponyboy’s grades start dropping and he starts to lose sight of himself. Him and Darry get into many more arguments until Sodapop Curtis tells them to promise to stop arguing because it’s tearing him apart. They both agree and it makes their relationship really strong at the end of the novel. Although the Curtis brothers do not have a close relationship at the beginning of the novel, after experiencing the deaths of Bob, Johnny, and Dally, it makes their relationship stronger.
People need to create a balance of stories and tell them from many different perspectives so that a more accurate picture can be shown of what is actually happening in today's society. In Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the main character Junior is automatically judged as soon as he gets into school his first day at Reardan, the closest school off the rez. This teenage character is made fun of because of his skin color, background, abilities and culture. Arnold Spirit Junior has to overcome challenges with people assuming things about him because he is an Indian from the Spokane Reservation.
Grace Pulpit once said “A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.” True friends will always be present and have your back regardless of the circumstances. Amir and Hassan share a unique relationship; they are friends, brothers, and enemies. Growing up together, Hassan always had Amir’s back, but Amir did not always have Hassan’s. This developed a friendship that was one-sided, but the boys still had a close bond regardless. Amir says “…we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that…(25).” The relationship between the two boys is one that is difficult to fully comprehend. The bond they share is one that not many people get to experience. The boys are separated from each other after the Russian invasion, but it is Amir’s decisions later in life that show what Hassan truly meant to him. They share a relationship that had varying definitions, but in the end they both loved each other. Amir and Hassan share this diverse friendship because of Amir’s selfishness, jealousy, and cowardly actions.
In these two stories the friendship between Amir and Hassan is different from the friendship of Marianne and Michael.” Hassan and Amir’s friendship is complicated as Hassan and Amir were friends, but Amir never called Hassan his friend. ”but he’s not my friend! I almost blurted. He’s my servant! Had I really just thought that? Of course I hadn’t. I hadn’t. I treated Hassan like a friend, better even, more like a brother. But if so, then why when Baba’s friends came to visit with their kids, didn’t I ever include Hassan in our games? Why did I only play with Hassan only when no one else was around?” (Hosseini.44) on the other hand Hassan thinks differently, “Amir agha and I are friends,”(hossaini, 77) but at the same time The quotes “Hassan and I climbed its branches [Everyday] and snatched blood red pomegranates. After we’d eaten the fruit and wiped our hands on the grass, I would read to Hassan.“ “We sat for hours under that tree, sat there until the sun faded in the west.” (Hossseini , 30), “we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either. I spent most of the first twelve years of my life playing with