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Is Junior In Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

482 Words2 Pages

Junior is a young boy that lives on a indian reservation in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. As a result of living on the reservation, Junior is forced to deal with all the horrible consequences such as poverty, drunks, and bullies on the reservation. First off Junior lives on the reservation and has to deal with how poor his family is and he has to help them deal with the poverty. In the beginning of the story Junior tells us about the struggles of being poor by explaining “empty refrigerator + empty stomach= poverty”(8). Sometimes Junior and his family have to go without eating a meal because they can not afford the food. Junior’s dog Oscar was sick and his parents did not have enough money to take him to the vet. Juniors mom told him “Junior I'm sorry honey we can not afford to take him to the vet he's going to die”(9). Not being able to take his dog to the vet symbolizes that if one of his family members get sick they can not help. In conclusion because of poverty Junior and his family were stressed living on the reservation . …show more content…

Mr.P was explaining to Junior why Rowdy has anger problems and Mr.P said to Junior “you know Rowdy’s father hits him right”?(41). The stress that living on the reservation brings other parents to drink and end up to release their anger out on their own children. Junior’s grandma was killed by a drunk driver her last word was to forgive him and Junior’s father said “I think she was referring to the drunk driver that killed her”(157). Drinking your problems away while driving can cause a loss of a loved one. Therefore drinking had made a bad impact on the reservation and Junior’s

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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).

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Ever since Junior’s sister Mary had run away from the reservation with her new boyfriend, Junior’s family had been struggling. Nobody expected her to do that. When Rowdy found out that she fled, he blamed it all on Junior for putting too much pressure on her ever since he decided to move schools to try and better his life. But this was the time for Junior to make everything better. Being an Indian and the weakling who always gets picked on, this was his time to shine.

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Faced with many obstacles from poverty to racial stereotypes, Junior must override them if he is to make his life better than that of fellow Indians. Interestingly, rather than letting the obstacles hold him back Junior understands that his destiny is in his own hands and he must celebrate who he is even if it means fighting. In the end, we see a boy who have managed to overcome all hardships to get to the top, even if it means making tough choices such as changing schools, therefore is could be seen that race and stereotypes only made Junior

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It’s shown in the story that elders in the reservation, like Junior’s parents, don't succeed because they are around those that don’t try to succeed due to lack of

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Throughout the novel, Junior highlights the importance of his identity, but is still unable to choose a “tribe” to remain with. Junior’s alternating identity is vital throughout the story, which establishes his maturity, and ultimately makes Junior a stronger person. Junior was born an Indian, but now must choose between sticking with tradition, or making a better life for himself, but his true identity is challenged by none other than the people he cares about most, causing Junior to eventually succeed . Throughout the story, Junior is consistently set back and dismissed by all aspects of life, whether it be death, making friends, or school. The conflict is that Junior is loved at his new school by many, but loved even more at home where he has a lesser chance of succeeding; this being demonstrated by Junior stating, “I feel like being Indian was my job, but it was only a part-time job.

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He knows that if his parents were not born into poverty, his mother would have gone to college, and his father would have become a musician. Additionally, on page eleven Junior says that his parents “dreamed about being something other than poor, but they never got the chance to be anything because nobody paid attention to their dreams.” Junior believes that he is trapped in this “circle” of poverty, and his dreams will be ignored just as his parents’ dreams had been. However, after Junior launches an old geometry book across a classroom, and it hits his teacher, Mr. P, in the face, Mr. P realizes something substantial about Junior: He has fought since his birth, beginning with the

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When I see a grandmother raising her grandchildren, I see their commitment to family. Junior’s family is so familiar and transparent. Junior is a suffering poverty stricken child that overcomes the complications of illness. Perhaps, the strength from overcoming illness is what gave him the strength to be different and overcome the obstacles that he faced trying to obtain an

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