Thomas Melles K. Dirck Freshman Honor English, Period 6 2 September 2016 Dreams lead everywhere Dreams are what people live for yet, in life, dreams are almost never lived. In The Absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian written by Sherman Alexie the main character Junior tries to follow his dreams. Dreams are what people should strive for but yet many do not even try to follow them. Junior’s sister and Sherman Alexie both were following their dreams to “save their lives”. Junior has a sister in the book who is lived in their basement and was not following her dreams, while in “Superman and Me” Sherman Alexie writes about how he is trying to follow his dreams to save his life.
When I was reading Sherman Alexie’s books, Blasphemy and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I found that Alexie likes to adjust his way of writing dramatically based on his audience and the story(s) that he is trying to tell. For example, when he wrote Blasphemy he was writing to an audience that consisted more of adults that would’ve been in their early 20’s or older, based on the complexity of how this book is set up. Alexie made it so that this book was many stories of Indians, not just him or family, but a lot of people. There are some that don’t make any sense and you really have to pick it apart to understand his subtle references. His approach to writing The Absolutely True… is more for young adults, maybe 12-19 year olds,
With the younger children, it is not always possible for them to study in a different education surrounding and insist on their goal. Sherman Alexie’s “The absolutely time of a part-time Indian” describes an Indian boy Arnold Junior left his homeland and pursued his goal in Reardan where has many white people. In Reardan, he learns something new and makes some new friends like Penelope and Gordy. Finally, he satisfies with the new life and even fix the friendship with Rowdy. The passage compares the description of Junior’s life both in Rez and Reardan, and those differences have great impacts on him.
Sometimes when you think someone has given up all hope, they might just surprise you and run; run towards their dreams and use the last glimmer of hope they had left. They surprise you with their sudden barrage of inspiration. Mary Spirit from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a prime example of sudden inspiration and spontaneity however, at first this side of Mary is certainly hidden. When I was first introduced to Mary I felt that she had an intimidating and frigid attitude. Arnold states “After high school, my sister just froze.
Throughout the book of the Absolutely true diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie the main character and narrator of the story gives us a variety of themes in his book, one of which is Identity. Starting from reading the title I found myself trying to predict what the book was going to be about all that came to me was a book about the story of an Indian men. The title itself gives an identity to the main character. Even from the first page of the book, in the fist sentence it shows you who this boy is. “I was born with water on the brain” he says.
In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Junior Adams’s expansion of his own reality has made him aware of other things and has allowed him to find joy in unlikely experiences from those he’s known. From the title onwards, Junior makes it very clear that he himself is a Native American. He indicates how he has spent his entire life on the reservation. He lives on in northwestern Washington, and he mentions how he has never been far from it; he has only been to Spokane. When reminiscing about where he could be, he mentions how “I wish I were magical, but I am really just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation” (Alexie 7).
Sherman Alexie’s novel title, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian illustrate that school at the Spokane reservation was responsible for the persecution of Indian cultures. Mr. P, the geometry teacher, revealed in his conversation with Junior, “We beat them. That’s how we were taught to teach you” (Alexie 35). Junior was informed of this when he came to visit Junior after he was suspended. Mr. P further exposed the school intention by saying, “We were trying to kill Indian culture” (Alexie 35).
The Merriam-Webster defines the word culture as, “…the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time.” This definition can be used to explain the reason in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, why Junior will never escape reservation life. Those who live in his Reservation will also never succeed in escaping reservation life because there is nothing to escape from. Juniors perceived success at leaving the reservation at the end of the novel isn’t there to make it seem like he wants to escape, it’s there to show that he has come to terms with his life, and no longer uses the reservation as an excuse for why his life isn’t what he wishes it was. It is this internal acceptance of who he is, where he comes from, and everything that
Alyssa Hogg Mrs. Sedgwick Blue 1 1 February 2023 Fahrenheit 451 Timed Writing In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, they have a society that is very different and similar to ours through books, technology, and politics. Books in their society are hated because of who they offend and the danger of the knowledge, while in this society books are a very common thing. In a conversation with Montag, Beatty states “Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So!
In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes.
Books have been banned in schools and libraries throughout the United States for centuries. They have been banned for reasons such as negativity, racism, sexual explicitness, and offensive language, all of which you see in Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian". As seen on page 25, Junior, the main character, says "I spend hours in the bathroom with a magazine that has one thousand pictures of naked movie stars...". This is one of the many controversial quotes in the book. Although this book contains material that angers and offends many, I still believe that it should not be banned.
“In the middle of a crazy drunk life, you have to hang on the good and sober moments tightly.” (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie page 216) This is a quote from the book that shows how Junior learns how to appreciate the good moments in life. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie the character Junior faces problems caused by drinking. The book starts off with his family living on the Indian reservation suffering from poverty and death.
Sherman Alexie uses a wide variety of writing techniques to emphasize the points he tries to get across in his book, A True Diary of a Part Time Indian, about the world and his culture. Those techniques are hyperbole, parallelism, dark humor, imagery, analogies, repetition, dialogue, and improper use of language. These techniques contribute to the creative ways Alexie portrays his culture and life. In my pastiche I used repetition, analogies, and dialogue to portray my situation as if Alexie himself wrote it.
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).
In India, where I was born and brought up, doctors are revered and looked upon with utmost respect. I aspired to be a doctor from a very early age. My passion only grew while seeing the important contributions physicians make in society, such as their ability to bring positive change to the health system, not only with medicines but with affection and care towards the patient. When the time came to decide my career path, becoming a doctor had remained the natural choice and the dream worthy of pursuit. After high school, while trying for admission into medical school in India, I explored other options including attending medical school in China.
