Throughout his journeys from his poor Indian reservation to a neighboring all-white school, Arnold Spirit, the main character in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, learns various life lesson; Junior’s experiences on and off the reservation positively impact his life and help him understand that he shouldn’t be afraid to be different, don’t lose hope or he won’t succeed, and to follow his dreams, even if others disagree. One of the life lessons Junior learned throughout his experiences was don’t be afraid to be different. In the chapter ‘Dance, Dance Dance’ Junior has to wear his Dad’s old suit to the school dance. He believed everyone would make fun of him for being different. After everyone compliments his suit, he realizes it is okay to be different. Another example of this lesson is when Junior goes to Reardon, knowing he is going to be the only Indian there. Junior knows he will be the only non-white student at reardon, yet he goes anyway. Even though he has to deal with being picked on, and standing out, he learns to cope with it. In conclusion, Junior is not afraid to be different, since he has had a lot of experience as always being different in his life. …show more content…
One example of this is when Junior’s teacher tells him not to lose hope. Junior’s teacher is the one that teaches him this lesson. He explains how, if he loses hope; he will be stuck in a cycle like the rest of his family. This influences Junior to go to rearden, so that he doesn’t lose hope in the reservation. Junior knows that everyone in the reservation lacks hope, that is why they are stuck in a cycle. He is hopeful that he can one day leave the reservation and be successful, the only way to do that is to go to reardon. To conclude, Junior is very optimistic, that he can leave the reservation and become