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The Absolute True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian Sparknotes

978 Words4 Pages

Fatima Chica
Mr. Rodriguez
Academic Lit.
21 April, 2023
Analysis Essay of The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Many may say that where one may come from or cultural backgrounds influence the ways others see one, and one may possibly feel lonely or like an outsider. The book The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, is young adult literature, which takes place on the Spokane reservation and Reardean in Washington State. Protagonist Arnold Spirit Jr. learned a different view on the Rez, and sees that he should leave it in order to succeed in life. Therefore, Arnold decides to leave Wellpinit Tribal school on the rez, and transfers to Reardan, taking place in an all-white fancy town miles from the Rez. Initially …show more content…

In the book, True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, it says, “You fought off that brain surgery. You fought off those seizures, you fought off all the drunks and drug addicts. You kept your hope. And now, you have to take your hope and go somewhere where other people have hope.” I was starting to understand. He was a math teacher. I had to add my hope to somebody else's hope. I had to multiply hope by hope. “Where is hope?” I asked. “Who has hope?” “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). Mr. P, is telling Junior to leave the reservation, that Junior still has hope however he has to take advantage of the hope he still has to be able to succeed and get somewhere. Junior realizes that leaving the reservation is the way to succeed with his life. With living on the reservation, opportunities are limited or scarce, being where Junior is, most, if not all, have lost their hope, the hope to succeed or to get …show more content…

In the book, True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, it says, “She went searching for her dreams, and she didn't find them, but she made the attempt. And I was making the attempt, too. And maybe it would kill me, too, but I knew that staying on the rez would have killed me, too. It all made me cry for my sister. It made me cry for myself. But I was crying for my tribe, too. I was crying because I knew five or ten or fifteen more Spokanes would die during the next year, and that most of them would die because of booze. I cried because so many of my fellow tribal members were slowly killing themselves and I wanted them to live. I wanted them to get strong and get sober and get the hell off the rez. It's a weird thing. Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear”(Alexie 216). Mary had progressed, although she was Native American, one can see how she decided to pick herself out and get out of the Rez. “And maybe it would kill me, too, but I knew that staying on the rez would have killed me, too.” One is able to see how Junior realizes that he too has to leave the Rez with the hope that he still has. Natives have lost hope, and with staying on the reservation this would eventually leave them to “death”. The act of Mary leaving the Rez shows how valued the influence

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Mr. p was one of the biggest inspirations to juniors actions. If it weren't for him Junior would be stuck at the rez forever and most likely become like all the other adults, drunk and angry. When junior began his journey to achieve his goals at Reardan it was very difficult. He was the only “different” kid there. Different meaning he was the only Indian in a school of white kids.

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Human beings rely on the power of storytelling to maintain hope, this hope allows them to continue to believe that one day, they’ll be able to achieve their dreams. Sherman Alexie explores the idea of hope and dreams by reminiscing about the heroes of the reservation. In “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore” by Sherman Alexie, Alexie demonstrates the hope the characters have by sharing their memories of the heroes they’ve lost, as well as discussing their hope that they have that the younger heroes will do what no one else has and make it all the way, achieving their dreams. Victor and Adrian share their stories of reservation heroes, hopeful that Julius Windmaker will make it all the way.

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Perseverance: The Road to Success and Maturation Life knocks people down all the time. But it is said that it doesn't matter how many times a person gets knocked down, it is how many times that person gets back up. This is called perseverance, which can be used to help those succeed and overcome the hardships in their life. In “The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” Alexie uses the protagonist Junior, to show how perseverance can be an effective trait, as it helps him conquer the obstacles in his life, and also expand his limits.

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Following up to Mr.P, Junior goes to the rich white school. Consequently, it is not easy for Junior because there are no first nations at this school. Both of his parents have enough problems to deal with already and Junior cannot find his parents so he turns to his grandmother for advice. His grandmother has a lot of wisdom to share with others. In this case, her grandmother gives him insight of how to fit in and to get more friends.

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(72). The people on the reservation are impressed by Junior’s courage and his willingness to face his fear in lieu of a positive outcome. This is especially important on the reservation due to the fact that people have specific ways of living and specific patterns of life that they follow. Going against this is extremely rare and can be met with criticism.

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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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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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The continuous loss of relatives is too harsh for a boy, so Alexie uses a kind of “slight sorrow” to let Junior realize the weakness of life in the face of death. In addition, while cleaning the cemetery later, Junior says, “Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear. But somehow or another, Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps.”

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1121 Words | 5 Pages

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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634 Words | 3 Pages

Lyric Sinan Sinanian Mr. Rodriguez Academic Literacy 21 April 2023 The Issue of Poverty The damaging consequences of poverty are a big issue in America, and have raised in severity over the years. In the realistic fiction novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the life of a poor Native American exhibits the terrors of poverty and how it can affect families within the poor communities in the country. The economically unfortunate have seen the worse come over them and their family.

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594 Words | 3 Pages

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

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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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663 Words | 3 Pages

With Junior’s town being affected by alcoholism and poverty, his choice for getting a better source of education allows him to start making a better life for himself. The advice for this decision was given by his former teacher Mr.P. who said, ”You fought off all the drunks..kept your hope. And now...take your hope and go somewhere other people have hope.” The need to escape a toxic situation helped Junior to see a different perspective in his life. As his friend Rowdy and all the drunks in his rez, stifled and hindered his individual growth.

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761 Words | 4 Pages

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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1001 Words | 5 Pages

It goes back to when Junior’s old teacher, mr. P has this to say “when i first started teaching here, that’s what we did to the rowdy ones, you know? We beat them. That’s how we were taught to teach you. We were supposed to kill the Indian to save the child.” This foreshadows how Junior has a big rip within himself and begins to drift away from Indian culture and adopts white culture.

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