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Education and social class inequality
Impact of discrimination on society
The impact of discrimination on individuals
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In my view, intolerance is the unfair act of being treated unjustly by others. This closed-minded action is one that is unfortunately an increasing problem in today’s society for many different reasons. Intolerance is the greatest issue we face regarding discrimination and racism among others, increasing the tension and conflict between people. One example of Junior, also known as Arnold, experiencing intolerance is when he is made fun of by his peers on his reservation in Wellpinit for having a lisp and eye abnormalities. Junior cannot help that he was born with these physical defects and has no control over the fact that he has to live with them. In Reardan, Junior is picked on the antagonist, Roger that creates even more of a struggle for the “part-time Indian”. I believe that the most damaging forms of intolerance for Junior are in Reardan for multiple reasons. For example, when attending school in Reardan, Junior explains the following, “…People had either ignored me or called me names or pushed me. But they stopped after my grandmother died,” (Alexie 159). This part of the story made me wonder, why would it take the death of someone to show that discrimination is such a socially inappropriate gesture to bring upon another person? Wellpinit holds the largest amount of trouble for Junior because his peers discriminate against him racially and physically which are both serious issues. Another example of intolerance for Junior is when he tells his parents that he wants to switch schools, “’Come on, I said. ‘Who has the most hope?’ ‘White people," my parents said at the same time.’” (Alexie 45). This shows clear discrimination between the two races, and an unfortunate viewpoint in the eyes of Junior’s parents. It is almost as if ...
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...vides a stable offer of advice to his adolescent student. What Mr. P presents Junior with is the same “mentor” qualities that all mentors provide for their mentees. And by no means does Mr. P “go easy” on Junior for his actions; he wants him to be built tough and strong because he knows that Junior is perfectly capable of reaching those capacities. For instance, Mr. P says to Junior, “’But I do forgive you,’ he said. ‘No matter how much I don’t want to. I have to forgive you,’” (Alexie 28). This demonstrates the amount of maturity that Mr. P wants to exhibit to Junior, in hopes of earning more respect from him. I believe that Mr. P provides the strongest sense of a mentor, beside Grandma Spirit, in this story because he pushes Junior to strive for greatness no matter what.
Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. 2007. Print.
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.
Modern day Native American are widely known as stewards of the environment who fight for conservation and environmental issues. The position of the many Native American as environmentalists and conservationists is justified based on the perception that before European colonists arrived in the Americas, Native Americans had little to no effect on their environment as they lived in harmony with nature. This idea is challenged by Shepard Krech III in his work, The Ecological Indian. In The Ecological Indian, Krech argues that this image of the noble savage was an invented tradition that began in the early 1970’s, and that attempts to humanize Native Americans by attempting to portray them as they really were. Krech’s arguments are criticized by Darren J Ranco who in his response, claims that Krech fails to analyze the current state of Native American affairs, falls into the ‘trap’ of invented tradition, and accuses Krech of diminishing the power and influence of Native Americans in politics. This essay examines both arguments, but ultimately finds Krech to be more convincing as Krech’s
Pages one to sixty- nine in Indian From The Inside: Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal by Dennis McPherson and J. Douglas Rabb, provides the beginning of an in-depth analysis of Native American cultural philosophy. It also states the ways in which western perspective has played a role in our understanding of Native American culture and similarities between Western culture and Native American culture. The section of reading can be divided into three lenses. The first section focus is on the theoretical understanding of self in respect to the space around us. The second section provides a historical background into the relationship between Native Americans and British colonial power. The last section focus is on the affiliation of otherworldliness that exist between
The author emphasizes the fact that a mentor has more knowledges and experiences than a boy. In the essay, Honigsbaum uses the example of the story of Parzival. In the example, the key of the story is that when he goes for the first time to the Grail Castle, “he [is lacking] understanding and confidence” (15). After he meets the wise mentor, he goes for the second time and it is a success (15). The writer argues that with the help of a wise person, a young man will gain more knowledges and experiences. In addition, the author uses the comparison to demonstrate the similarity of his story and the example of Parzival’s story. He starts by telling about a young man which is paired with him (15). The boy says to him that he has issues and he is looking for clarity (15). Later, when he returns to see him, he tells that he will do a drumming career (16). One week later, the author calls him and he answers that “his passion for drumming was undimmed” (16). However, he is willing to change because “[he feels] a lot more stable” (16). The boy has the similar issue as the character from his example. The both need a person to help them. In brief, when a mentor helps a person, he will receive a guidance to the right path.
Berkhoffer, Robert F., The White Man’s Indian, 1978, Random House, Inc., New York, 261, nonfiction.
God and the Indian is a two person play written by Drew Hayden Taylor. In this play we have a man named George that was a former priest at a residential school. We also have a lady named Johnny Indian that was a former student at said residential school. In the play Johnny accuses George of having molested her as a child. George tells Johnny that she is delusional and will not admit to his wrongdoings. The author tells the story from both George and Johnny’s sides. I think what the author is really trying to portray here is the denial of the people that worked in the name of the church at residential schools years after they had left and/or been shut down.
In Philip J. Deloria’s Athletic chapter from his book “Indians in unexpected places” he talks about his grandfather’s connection to sports. He goes into further detail about how his grandfather’s place in sports is similar to other Native Americans. Native Americans used sports as a way to find their place in a new society. Sports was also used to strengthen the community. “Many Indian communities responded by drawing webs of kingship and unity ever tighter, trying to keep sport stars humble” (113). Athletics was now being used to bring all of the community, especially in times when it seemed divided. Sports also disproved the “Vanishing Indian” idea because society saw Native Americans playing in these sports and saw that they still existed.
The novel The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian and the movie Smoke Signals both originated from the mind of a man named Sherman Alexie. The novel and the movie have some similarities, but each similarity has a subtle difference. Some subtle differences between the topics in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of A Part Time Indian, and the movie Smoke Signals is the emphasis the author puts on each of the topics. There are a few topics that are shown in both the novel and the movie such as racism, identity, and loss. These topics are expressed very strongly in the novel but are vague in the movie.
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.
Junior was born in a desperate, hopeless place. His parents and community were withering in despair. However, Junior did not choose to languish like the rest of his community; he boldly left his comfort zone for a better education—facing obstacles from losing
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.
In her book American Indian Stories, Zitkala-Sa's central role as both an activist and writer surfaces, which uniquely combines autobiography and fiction and represents an attempt to merge cultural critique with aesthetic form, especially surrounding such fundamental matters as religion. In the tradition of sentimental, autobiographical fiction, this work addresses keen issues for American Indians' dilemmas with assimilation. In Parts IV and V of "School Days," for example, she vividly describes a little girl's nightmares of paleface devils and delineates her bitterness when her classmate died with an open Bible on her bed. In this groundbreaking scene, she inverts the allegation of Indian religion as superstition by labeling Christianity.
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 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.
“I’m never going to act like my mother!” These words are increasingly common and yet unavoidable. Why is it that as children, we are able to point out every flaw in our parents, but as we grow up, we recognize that we are repeating the same mistakes we observed? The answer is generational curses: un-cleansed iniquities that increase in strength from one generation to the next, affecting the members of that family and all who come into relationship with that family (Hickey 13). Marilyn Hickey, a Christian author, explains how this biblically rooted cycle is never ending when she says, “Each generation adds to the overall iniquity, further weakening the resistance of the next generation to sin” (21, 22). In other words, if your parents mess up you are now susceptible to making the same mistakes, and are most likely going to pass those mistakes to your children. In The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie shows the beauty of hope in the presence of a generational curse. Even though the elders are the ones who produce the curses, they are also the ones who attempt to break Junior from their bond forming mistakes. The curses that Arnold’s elders imprint on him lead him to break out of his cultural bonds and improve himself as a developing young man.