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Absolutely True Diary Of Part Time Indian Essay

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In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, the most important chapter is “Hope Against Hope” because it shows the theme of hope. This is the chapter where Mr. P talks personally to Junior about life and his sister so he can understand her better. Eventually he tells Junior to leave the reservation and to find a better life for himself. But, without this chapter Junior might not have ever left the reservation and gone to Rearden. Towards the end of the chapter Junior is having a deep conversation with Mr. P about Rowdy. He’s lost hope and he’s just going to get worse. He goes on after continuously telling Junior to leave the rez, he then says “ "All these kids have given up," he said. "All your friends. All the bullies. And their mothers and fathers have given up, too. And their grandparents gave up and their grandparents before them. And me and every other teacher here. We're all defeated." ”(Page 42). In this he is saying that Junior may be the last person on the rez to have hope. The quote is showing something deeper than just a man telling a boy to leave the rez. This is showing how kids on reservations from a young age are taught to stay where they are. They are taught that where they are is where they should be. …show more content…

P and Junior talk about how his sister wanted to be a writer and started writing romantic novels. But then she gave up her dream. Mr. P says, “That had to be it, right? Something bad had happened to her, right? I mean, she lived in the fricking basement. People just don't live and hide in basements if they're happy.”(Page 39). This is important to the chapter because Junior sees how his sister had a dream but never accomplished it. She didn’t try or have the courage and will to, and she’s also falling into the footsteps of his father. If it wasn’t for this page in the chapter, Junior wouldn’t realize that all of his family have given up hope, and wouldn’t be determined to change

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In life you have many choices. One of which is deciding whether or not you are going to succeed or fail in life. In other words, choosing to stay hopeful or not. In the “Absolute True Diary of a Part- Time Indian” Junior goes through many situations where hope is needed. The author Sherman Alexie puts Junior as well as other characters in situations to make those hard decisions.

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In the beginning of the book, Junior says that living on the reservation has generations of Indians losing hope. They accept their lives as their ancestors did.. His parents couldn't follow their dreams because they didn't have a support system. Junior is the example of how one can break the path of the traditional life on the reservation if one has the motivation and a good support system. Junior  had the love and emotional support of his parents and was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend a prestigious  Prep school based on the suggestion of Mr. P, a teacher at the rez school.

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As Mr. P is explaining to Junior about how he needs to leave the reservation in order to escape the insidious addict filled, depressed world that he lives in finally concludes with, "'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). This conversation indicates the reservation and the community as a whole has chosen to give up, instead of finding hope for their life, and just turns to alcohol for all their issues. Mr. P acknowledges this which is why he warns Junior that in order to ever make anything of his life he must leave the hopeless reservation. After Junior accepts his father's apology for using all their remaining money on alcohol, running away to get drunk, and leaving no money left for Christmas, Junior adds, "But it wasn't okay.

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Mr. P tells Junior that “You 're going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation.” (Alexie 63). Junior’s teacher knows that in order for Junior to find hope, he must isolate himself from his miserable reservation. He knows that Junior deserves better, and has fought too hard to lose hope, therefore he must take his hope and go somewhere where other people have hope. In order to do that, Junior must separate himself from all the horrors of the sad reservation by leaving.

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When the book nears to the end, where Juniors sister had just died by being burned alive, Junior runs away from the funeral and runs into the forest and bumps into Rowdy making this an awkward moment for both of them. Near the end of the book Junior and Rowdy are not the best of friends like they used to be, but they are

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Mr. P advises Junior to have perseverance so, he should never give up on his hope of becoming better. Mr. P believes hope leads to greater things, a better future. Therefore, he wants Junior to have hope and leave the reservation for the greater thing, a better future. Another example is Junior's experience at Reardan. For instance, while Roger is making inappropriate comments, Junior decides to defend Indians, black people, and buffalo, so “he punched Roger in the face”(Alexie 65).

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Overcoming a challenge, not giving up, and not being afraid of change are a few themes demonstrated in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Perhaps the most prominent theme derived from the novel is defying the odds, or in other words rising above the expectations of others. Junior Spirit exemplifies this theme throughout the entirety of the book. As Junior is an Indian, he almost expects that he will never leave the reservation, become an alcoholic, and live in poverty like the other Indians on the reservation—only if he sits around and does not endeavor to change his fate. When Junior shares the backstory of his parents, he says that his mother and father came from “poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people” (11).

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