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.
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.
It may have been difficult at first, but Junior has finally seen something different, which proves to him that not everything is the same; there is something that is unique in everyone, no matter who they may be. As a result, Junior is more comfortable in his own skin and with others; he treats them with much more respect and is more gracious. At the beginning of the novel, he may have been throwing a geometry book at a teacher, but by the end, he is voicing his own opinions and sharing his thoughts. Even though Junior has made some startling advancements, he has not changed in some regards; he can still hold a grudge like no other, and has not truly forgiven some characters in the novel. He still considers many of his white classmates to have personally brought his problems on him.
One internal expectation for Junior was him never giving up. Junior leaving for Rearden was a part of his internal expectation of fighting against the external expectations. “I had to add my hope to somebody else’s hope. I had to multiply hope by hope” (43). He left the reservation in order to help his outcome of never giving up.
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).
Another case in which Junior’s ambition is recognized would be when Eugene, a friend of Junior’s father recognizes the ambition that exists within Junior and how it greatly differs from that of the other people on the reservation, including himself. When Eugene drops off Junior in Reardon, he says “It’s pretty cool you’re doing this”, he said... Yeah man I could never do it. I’m a wuss.”
And because you're Indian you start believing you're destined to be poor. It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it,” (Alexie 19). In addition, Junior remarks that it’s not just him that is poor, but his tribe in the reservation too. It shows how much poverty is affecting him and the people on the reservation. According to Sherman Alexie, he mentions in the novel, “My school and my tribe are so poor and sad that we have to study from the same dang books our parents studied from.
In this excerpt of Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Junior, a boy living on an Indian reservation in Spokane, describes the injustice of being poor. When his dog Oscar becomes sick and his family cannot pay for medical aid, Junior writes in his diary depicting the hopelessness of his situation to people who live outside the reservation and have no experience with such a despairing situation. Junior writes with a sarcastically despairing tone, and uses imagery, language, and sentence structure to create a passive aura which displays his complete and utter resignation. Junior’s grotesque imagery evokes a strong sense of sympathy in the reader with phrases such as “red, watery, snotty eyes.” He does not
Overall, “You can't give up. You won't give up. You threw that book in my face because somewhere inside you refuse to give up.” (Alexie 43) Junior threw the book shows he is tired of poverty from the school on the reservation.
In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, the most important chapter is “Hope Against Hope” because it shows the theme of hope. This is the chapter where Mr. P talks personally to Junior about life and his sister so he can understand her better. Eventually he tells Junior to leave the reservation and to find a better life for himself. But, without this chapter Junior might not have ever left the reservation and gone to Rearden.
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
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
Junior had began to find his place meeting new friends like Gordy the Reardan boy genius, Roger the best player on the basketball team, and Penelope the beautiful popular girl in Reardan. Compared to his old school in the reservation where he was beaten up just about everyday, Reardan is seeming like the best decision. Junior is speaking to himself about Penelope's decision declaring him cute. Penelope publicly declaring Junior cute made “all of the girls in school decide that [he] was cute,... [and] all of the boys in school decide that [he] was a major stud” (110).
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).
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).
