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Part-Time Indian Stereotypes

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You live in an underdeveloped community. Surrounding you are alcoholics, struggling impoverished families, and people who have given up. It’s sad, but you don’t do much. There aren’t many job opportunities, so pretty much everyone is living in poverty. You’ve been a “smart” kid growing up. You want to go to a good school, maybe even college. How are you supposed to? Where will the money come from? How will you get the opportunities when you are so behind from everyone else? These are all good questions, and when the “you” of this story has these questions running through their mind, they will probably think of straying away from their small community and doing something for themselves. Now they are faced with a decision best represented by …show more content…

Diverse communities are stronger. Diversity means different or unique. Not everyone in the community are exactly the same. There are some of this race, some of that race. Some of people with this type of education, some people with that education. If everyone is the same, who are you going to learn from? In the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, most of the book is focused on Junior’s struggles. You see how he benefits from going to Reardan, but not how anyone else does. When Junior joins the all white school, it helps teach the students to let go of some of the stereotypes they had been brought up with. They all stayed away from the “creepy, violent, Indian kid” at first. Until a few took the time to get to know him and became friends. Near the end of the book, the students at Reardan have learned a great deal from Junior. He earns the respect, most easily shown through the basketball team, of most students. An article was released by Diversity Digest. They talk about who exactly benefits from diversity. The truth is, everyone does. They mention how these kids growing up with diversity will be more academically developed, satisfied with their own benefits and situations, more culturally aware, and will help promote racial understanding. These are all good things that we need more of in our

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The Prom Night in Mississippi was an extraordinary documentary, which encompassed the racial and discriminative views and actions from a small community and school district from the early 2000s. While watching the video multiple emotions and thoughts rushed through my head, however what stuck out to me the most was how recent this document took place, and how severe certain individuals where to possessing certain racial qualities. From only nine years ago students where still experiencing racial discrimination, in which individuals fought so hard for to be solemnly free in the United States. In fact to have an interracial school district that thought it was “okay” or politically right to have a segregated prom in 2008 blows my mind. Especially when the school district had superior faculty members who were interracial to multiple sport teams.

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If a school consists of only one type of race or ethnic group, then the students are isolated to the ideals of that specific community. But if diversity exists, the opportunity arises to learn about different cultures and become more well-rounded. This is illustrated by Owen and his best friend Dave, who is white. Even though Owen and Dave are two different races, they do not let that prevent them from being friends. They use their differences as an advantage to learn from each other and to help each other out.

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Introduction The true diary of a part time Indian is a novel for young adults written by Sherman Alexie and illustrated by Ellen Forney, it was published in 2007 and has won several literature awards. The book tells a story of Arnold who is a hydrocephalic, a physical impairment that makes him to be picked on and bullied and which makes him vulnerable to seizures. One of the main struggles that Arnold faces in this novel is between his part-time Indian WellPoint self (Junior) and his half-white Reardan self (Arnold). On the reservation he is intimidated and picked on, while at Reardan he receives respect and chooses to be somebody.

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Courage is exemplified in the novel by, “They wanted a better life for my sister and me. My sister is running away to get lost, but I am running away because I want to find something.” (page:46) “You’ll be the first one to ever leave the reservation this way,” Mom said. (page:47) Junior attending Reardan an all-white school even though, he know want he would be known as traitor on the reservation.

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When Junior goes to this school people treat him differently he acts differently he even goes by a different name. He doesn’t want to forget about his heritage and the people he left behind but he feels like this school will get him on a better path for life. He also feels a little bit guilty about leaving his friends and family from the reservation behind and moving on in life. You can see this in a quote from the book "My name is Junior," I said. "And my name is Arnold.

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He realizes that his team has numerous economic and social advantages. Junior’s ability to address topics like poverty, racism and bullying with humor is a significant characteristic of his voice. For Junior, as well as his friends Rowdy and Penelope, part of growing up is recognizing that the world is more complicated than a strict division of opposites, it’s possible to be more than one thing—part of countless different “tribes”—is what enables him to unify his split identity and, as someone destined to travel beyond the reservation, navigate the world both figuratively and

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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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Junior’s father’s drinking problems and the lack of funds to afford decent living conditions on the reservation are prevalent issues throughout the book that provide an insight into this theme. This proves that the author has written this novel to exhibit the hardships of those in poverty are detrimental to a child’s future. First, the novel shows the hardships of poverty by showing the discrimination made against Junior. On page 86, Junior states he “remembered when I [he] used to be a human being,” (Alexie 86).

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As Winston Churchill said,” Success is not final. Failure is not fatal”. It is the perseverance and hope to continue that counts. This is the story of a boy named Junior whose key is his hope. The Absolutely True Diary is the life story of a Arnold Spirit (Junior) and his efforts to break the stereotypes about Indians.

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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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Growing up as a minority means that when you go out into the world, there are a vast majority of people who are not like you. Facing this fact allowed me to realize that different people come from different walks of life, and it is important to understand different people so that you can get along with

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Throughout my years, there was only one Black student named Sam attending the institution. He didn’t graduate with the class because he had disappeared by the third grade. The next time I saw Sam around was a few years later, sitting on the red steps behind my elementary school with some neighborhood “thugs” that sat around smoking and cutting school all the time. The circumstances in which he was placed were all positive and worked in his favor, but the choice for him to make the best out of it was all up to whether he wanted to be that one in a million or to become a statistic. The teachers encouraged critical thinking and thinking abstractedly so you could formulate your own solutions rather than follow the orthodox method.

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These lessons are not only vital in childhood but are needed throughout life. ‘‘Inclusion, multicultural, and non-sexist children’s literature also gives students in the "majority" an understanding of their "minority" peers struggles, triumphs, and contribution to our culture and society’’(Pirofski). Being exposed to people from different parts of the world or have special needs is very important in child development, hand in hand with them grasping new concepts. Children's literature gives students an understanding of what struggles and issues that goes in their society. This helps children know the full spectrum growing up and now growing up to be ignorant or misinformed of situations around them that are not hardcore taught in society.

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All students deserve to be treated fairly as individuals. When considering the diversity of the class members, we will celebrate the uniqueness that the differences contribute. Because I have high expectations that all my children can be successful, adjustments may be necessary because everyone is not the same (Burden, 2017, p. 115). It is vital that a spirit of understanding and edification is active amongst the students and from the teacher (Romans 14:19, King James Version) to produce fruits of mutual respect: reduced bias, positive academic outcomes, enhanced problem solving, and healthy group dynamics (Cousik, 2015, p. 54). For differences that stem from culture, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, the adjustments will involve bridging the cultural gap between the students’ diversity and the curriculum.

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