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A Part Time Indian Coming Of Age Quotes

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Losing Loved Ones And Losing yourself Have you ever lost something important to you or have you ever felt like you were losing yourself? Coming of age is anytime you make steps towards growing up whether you are 12 years old or 35. Anytime an event in your life causes you to grow up this is your coming of age. Finding one's identity and experiencing loss are two essential components of growing up and coming of age. The book A Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds is the story of a Boy named Will who just lost his brother and is trying to cope with the grief and find a way to move on. The book A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie talks about a Yound Indian boy with some physical deformities going to a white school and trying to balance being both a student and that school and a …show more content…

When Junior goes to this school people treat him differently he acts differently he even goes by a different name. He doesn’t want to forget about his heritage and the people he left behind but he feels like this school will get him on a better path for life. He also feels a little bit guilty about leaving his friends and family from the reservation behind and moving on in life. You can see this in a quote from the book "My name is Junior," I said. "And my name is Arnold. It's Junior and Arnold. I'm both." I felt like two different people inside of one body. Pg (60). Junior doesn’t know exactly who he is, is he a Reservation Indian or a White Basketball player? In this story, we see Junior grow into a more confident person because of this. In the end, he embraces both sides of himself and becomes a stronger and more capable person because of this. Knowing who you are and your identity is an important part of coming of age and becoming your own person. Some people go their whole life trying to be someone they are not when in reality they should just be themselves and they will live a much better

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724 Words | 3 Pages

After receiving an email from Rowdy of his posterior and explaining his relationship with him to Gordy after leaving the reservation to go to Reardan, Junior explains that he’s an apple, “They call me an apple because they think I’m red on the outside and white on the inside.” (Alexie 132) While being called an apple, Junior not only is he weird, but also seen as a traitor as what this quote means is that he is White on the inside and he’s Indian on the outside. Wanting to do something with his life, he chose to go to Reardan to get a better education, through that choice, he became an apple in the eyes of the people on the

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671 Words | 3 Pages

Arnold Spirit Junior is hyper-conscious of his position inside any social group. Consequently, he is aware of what it means to be Indian versus what it means to be White, he worries about what it means to be a man (when it is acceptable for men to cry, or when boys have to stop holding hands with their friends) and how to fit in as a “freak”(p.98) who is bullied by his peers and even by some adults. A big part of Junior’s coming of age is trying to figure out the extent to which people are defined by their birth or their origins, as opposed to their individual choices. At the beginning of his story Junior states, “I was born with water on the brain” (p.1) (a reference to his own disability of hydrocephalus) and identifying his tough, irrational,

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998 Words | 4 Pages

He is a poor Indian going to a middle-class white kid school, but there is more to that. At the reservation there are these unspoken rules, if someone talks badly or insults you, you have to fight them, that is the first one on that list. Getting into fights is normal at Wellpinit but at Rearden, everyone is all talk. In the book, a kid named Roger and his friends were making fun of Junior so he punches Roger. Roger is taken aback because no one at Rearden actually gets into fistfights.

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597 Words | 3 Pages

At the beginning of the story, Junior is perceived as more of a nerdy kid. He has thick glasses and a massive head shape. Junior also sadly only has 1 friend. The main conflict is Junior's struggle to find acceptance in two very different communities, the Spokane reservation, and Reardan High. A quote that represents this is: “I was half Indian in one place and half white in the other . . .

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978 Words | 4 Pages

“Who has hope?” “Son,” Mr. P said. “You're going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation”(Alexie 43). Mr. P, is telling Junior to leave the reservation, that Junior still has hope however he has to take advantage of the hope he still has to be able to succeed and get somewhere. Junior realizes that leaving the reservation is the way to succeed with his life.

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802 Words | 4 Pages

As the novel progresses Junior is keen on going to the school that is separated from his reservation called Reardon High. Even though Junior wants to go to this school so he can achieve a better education, much backlash came from Juniors tribe as it seemed as if he was abandoning his culture. Juniors started at Rearden very worried about what everyone would think of him, and on his first day he punched a white kid in the face for telling an insensitive joke to him. Junior went home feeling confident in what he did but later started to realize that him trying to prove himself to everyone was unnecessary.

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716 Words | 3 Pages

Junior’s life as a Native American on a reservation is different from a non-native American's life

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1536 Words | 7 Pages

This shows that it is important to stay hopeful and junior manages to break multiple stereotypes that are associated with native Americans. Additionally, Rowdy aids Junior when breaking stereotypes of Native Americans being inferior people. When Reardan is first mentioned Junior says that “Reardan beat us 72-5 and 86-50, our only two losses of the season. “ (Alexie 50). Alexie shows that Junior and Rowdy both have a lack of confidence and believed that Native Americans were much

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879 Words | 4 Pages

Junior takes into account that the people who beat him up didn’t do it to hurt him physically but hurt him to convey a message that not only is he a traitor but they will prevent him from getting what he wants in life. This quote shows how the environment around someone can hold them back from becoming

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Through Junior’s lens, the reader witnesses the differences between how the family mourns each death, and how they grieve. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie presents the theme that each individual deals with loss

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428 Words | 2 Pages

P's suggestion, but as he thinks about it more, he realizes that attending a school in Reardan could offer him better opportunities to escape the cycle of poverty and alcoholism that has plagued his community. However, Junior's decision to leave the reservation school is not without consequences, and he must carefully weigh the pros and cons of his decision. When Junior shares Mr. P's proposal with his parents later in the evening, his father initially reacts with anger, accusing Junior of being a traitor to his tribe. However, after some thought, Junior's parents ultimately support his decision, recognizing the importance of education in his future. Although his parents are concerned about the challenges he will face being the only Native American student at a primarily white school, they ultimately put their trust in Junior to make the right decision.

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1001 Words | 5 Pages

It goes back to when Junior’s old teacher, mr. P has this to say “when i first started teaching here, that’s what we did to the rowdy ones, you know? We beat them. That’s how we were taught to teach you. We were supposed to kill the Indian to save the child.” This foreshadows how Junior has a big rip within himself and begins to drift away from Indian culture and adopts white culture.

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544 Words | 3 Pages

A Journey of Identity and Resilience: The True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Introduction: Throughout the novel, Junior struggles to define his sense of identity; as he searches for belonging, he eventually comes to realize and accept that his identity is composed of many different tribes. Identity assimilation and culture The tension between cultural assimilation and the preservation of one's individuality is demonstrated by Arnold's choice to leave the reserve and enrol in a school with a majority-white student body.

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1469 Words | 6 Pages

At his first school, despite living there his whole life he was bullied more heavily in comparison to his new school, which he was cared about and liked by many. The text states, “They were worried for me. They wanted to help me with my pain. I was important to them. I mattered.

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1564 Words | 7 Pages

And so I became good” (pg 143). This shows how the different expectations that people have for Junior on the reservation compared to Rearden, one expected him to fail and the other expected him to succeed. This also shows the different mindsets of the people in both places, in the reservation people already gave up just like what Mr.P said but in Reardan they had more hope which is what changed Junior to be from mediocre to a better player, it was the confidence and that people believed in him. In Reardan, the basketball team has more motivation/hope than in the reservation, it was also the words and not only the expectations that helped him be better. “‘I can do it,’ I said to Coach, to my teammates, to the world.

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