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Passage In 'The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian'

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Alone in the world, Junior is a young Native American, fighting against the rising tides against him to be hopeful. The novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, written by Sherman Alexie, is about the growth of a teenage Native American, Junior, as he strives to be more than what is given to him. Junior is trying to find himself amidst the dying world of his forefathers and is stripped of his culture. He is also initially hesitant of success for it may cost him the only thing he has left, which is his community. In the passage, “If You Stay On The Rez…” is an extremely important passage since it not only kick starts Junior’s desire to leave and have a chance verse the pitiful life he would continue on the reservation but also draws into the light, the feeling of ‘should I stay or should I go.’ In the novel, “If You Stay On The Rez…” is the most significant passage because it expresses the overlapping theme that hope and chances are only earned through taking risks, and propels the plot of the story in a different direction, one that is brighter than the initial dark, humorous beginning. This specific passage is essential in the …show more content…

P explains to Junior how hard he has fought, how Junior fought off brain surgery, seizures, drunks and drug addicts, that Junior is stronger than he thinks. As Junior slowly comprohends the truth that his teacher was laying out, he began to question where is hope? Mr. P responds to his question saying, “‘Son,’...’You’re going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation!” (Alexie 43) Mr. P’s statement emphases Junior’s need to go somewhere other than the reservation, so that he might be successful. This passage connects to the overarching theme, Junior needs to leave the reservation to be successful but if he leaves, his community will disown him. Losing his community is one of Junior’s fears, making it one of the risks he must take in order to have

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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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Junior being born on the Reservation has always been poor and put down by others. He has had a horrible life with pain coming from a new direction each day but has coped with it that is why he is still alive today to write this book. Although he may or may not admit it, the ways he coped with his life were not great after all. When faced with a

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The abuse of alcohol is prevalent in many aspects of Indian life. In the Novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” and the film “Smoke Signals” alcohol abuse is one of the main factors of creating hardships. The negative effects of alcohol are evident in both stories through the examples of Death, Physical abuse and Addiction. First, The abuse of alcohol is prevalent in the novel and film because it's the main factor of death in both stories. The death of juniors sister mary in the novel was caused by alcohol.

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When he went on the first day he handled it better than I thought he would. In the time that it was set people didn’t like indians or colored people. Junior is the bravest person in this story by far. Knowing that it’s an all white school and you’re the darkest there but still wants to go to get the education you need shows courage.

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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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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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Junior fought through being disabled from birth. He overcame the obstacle of being poor. He even overcame the obstacle not knowing who he really is and what he

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Junior loses a lot of friends and family at the young age of fourteen. He gets bullied because he was born with too much cerebral spinal fluid inside his skull, but he has his best friend Rowdy there to help him. Junior realizes that he needs to leave the reservation to get a better life for himself. He goes to a new school off the

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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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