Learning to reject stereotypes can be a lifelong journey that some may never reach. In Sherman Alexie’s National Book Award winning Young Adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Arnold, a Native American, learns to accept others by going to an all white school, Reardan. In the beginning of the novel, Arnold believes in certain stereotypes, some about himself and some about those different from him. Similar to Alexie, Arnold learns he is not so different and learns to embrace everybody. As Arnold learns to accept everyone, he shows the reader that by going to a new place and meeting new people you can learn to accept others. When Arnold first arrives at Reardan, it is like a whole new whole word him. He feels like he is very different from white people. On the reservation, issues are handled differently than at Reardan. When talking about the Rez “Rules of Fisticuffs [or fighting]”, he say rule 9 of Fisticuffs is “You must always pick fights with the sons and/or daughters of any white people who live anywhere on the reservation” (Alexie, 62). On the reservation, fighting is normal. Especially fighting white people. Which is why Arnold thinks its normal to punch a strong white kid, Roger. Arnold is confused that Roger doesn’t fight back. Arnold says, “I had behaved exactly how I was supposed to. But these …show more content…
Arnold, however soon learns she is not. When Arnold discovers that she is bulimic, he thinks to himself, “There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain.” (Alexie, 107). This is when Arnold realizes that people are different but that doesn’t mean everyone doesn’t have similarities, as well. In this case, Arnold sees that people are united in their pain. He sees people aren’t really that different. Later in the novel, people stand up for Arnold when a teacher is rude to him which shows that the class and Arnold realize that they are equals and friends. The text