ipl-logo

The Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Essay

676 Words3 Pages

Junior, a misunderstood boy not only has to live as an outcast in a school filled with white people but, also has to live as an outcast among his own people. In The Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian, Sherman Alexie explores the terrible losses that occur on the reservation and how for that very reason Junior is becoming more alone than how he was before. He loses his sister, grandmother, the man who he says is like an uncle to him, and also himself in such a short amount of time.
Junior’s sister was secretly into writing romance novels so she turned her life into one. She ran away from home and got married. She was living in a small trailer home and searching for a job. Her novel didn’t end with a happy ending. Her trailer caught …show more content…

Junior feels as if he’s lost everything, like all Indians lose everything. Junior says “We lost our native land, we lost our languages, we lost our songs and dances. We lost each other. We only know how to lose and be lost.”(Alexie 173) I think these are the reasons for why he goes to school in Reardan, he’s tired of losing people, especially because of alcohol, he was tired of being and feeling alone.
Junior didn’t die, at least not like the rest. Some may say he lost his identity and some may say he got stronger. I think both. As he was around white people more he started doing more to be like them. As he says in one of his comics “White people have a bright future and hope.” (Alexie 57) He thought surrounding himself with hope would give him hope and hope was probably what he needed most. Hope keeps everyone going, even at the toughest times.
The loss of his sister, grandmother, uncle, and himself made him more alone than he has ever been. He lost so much during such a short amount of time. Even though he got new friends at Reardan, new people that cared about him, it would never replace the people he lost. They represent who he is and who he is

Show More
Related

Absolute True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

610 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Purpose Of The Other Wes Moore

854 Words | 4 Pages

This goes to show that by exploring his options and opening up his mind to things helped pull him out of this dark place he was in and start thinking of how he was affected by his environment and many other things. He realized that his environment, genetics, or just bad luck affected him more than he thought it did when he was younger. He shows how thankful he is when he states, “People who taught me that no accident of birth-not being black or relatively poor, being from baltimore or the Bronx or fatherless-would ever define or limit me”(5) and when he states, “What changes was that I found ii was surrounded by people-starting with my mom, grandparents, uncles, and aunts, and leading to a straight of wonderful role models and mentors-who kept pushing me to see more than what was directly in front of me, to see the boundless possibilities of the wider world and the unexplored possibilities within myself”(5). These quotes demonstrate how thankful he was for the people that helped take care of him and change him for the better even if he didnt treat them lively for a while. This shows that if you surround yourself with kind, loving, and caring people, you can

Read More

Comparing And Still The Turtle Watched And The Absolutely True Diary Of A Native American

1038 Words | 5 Pages

Native Americans has taken a real toll because of certain obstacles they must deal with to keep their culture alive. In the book, And Still the Turtle Watched by Shelia Macgill-Callahan shines light on the topic of change and power that has been taken the Native culture away. It stars a turtle that an old Indian carved in a rock who watches the Native land change and their culture dwindle of the power of white people. In both books, And Still the Turtle Watched and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, shows the struggles that Native Americans have to face with change, as well as my experiences at the Powwow. Junior expresses the noticeable change when he decides to attend a new school in the white community.

Read More

Short Story Of Arnold Spirit

671 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More

Intergenerational Trauma In There By Tommy Oranges

774 Words | 4 Pages

The Indian boarding school system also had a direct influence on Jaquie's family. She was taken from her home as a child and separated from her sister before being placed in a white foster home. This traumatic experience has led her to battle addiction and feel disconnected from her cultural roots, as seen in her quote, “It felt like I was living in two different worlds … the white world and the Indian world … and I don't belong in either one. ”(Orange, 103) This passage reveals how isolated Jacquie feels as a Native American in a predominantly white society.

Read More

Part Time Indian Figurative Language

1256 Words | 6 Pages

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.”

Read More

Analysis Of Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian By Sherman Alexie

1121 Words | 5 Pages

In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes.

Read More

An Analysis Of Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie

933 Words | 4 Pages

They are trying to save their lives.” Although Sherman Alexie’s success seems as if it has only opened up doors for himself it did not, it opened up doors for other Indian kids that are still on the reservation. When Sherman Alexie wrote his books and poems the kids on the reservation read them. They gave them hope, he gave them a reason to fight for their lives the way he did. Those kids too started to write their own short stories and found the same joy in learning that Sherman Alexie did.

Read More

Part Time Indian Poverty Essay

634 Words | 3 Pages

Alongside this, Junior’s poverty only seems to get worse in his mind when his dad dropped him off at

Read More

Essay On The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian

735 Words | 3 Pages

I have realized that even when there is so much violence and death surrounding you, you can always find a way to look at the world. Once Junior goes to his new school he stops getting bullied and isn’t as surrounded by all of the drinking at his new school. “Drinking would shut down my seeing and my hearing and my feeling” she used to say. “Why would I want to be in the world if I couldn't touch the world with all of my senses intact”(The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie page 158) “I mean, the thing is, plenty of Indians have died because they were drunk.

Read More

The Absolutely True Diary Literary Analysis

761 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Themes In The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

702 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More

Native American Upward Progress

180 Words | 1 Pages

In modern society, the belief in upward progress dictates how most live their lives, and has also affected how Native Americans live today. This is represented by the lives of Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian and

Read More

Themes In The Absolute True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

920 Words | 4 Pages

He does this by not telling anyone he poor and about his struggles to get to and from school. Even though Junior begins being isolated from everyone when he starts Reardan he eventually is accepted and loved by his

Read More

National Economic Council: A Case Study

1320 Words | 6 Pages

In regards to this particular assignment, as the Director of the National Economic Council I need to offer my position on the energy policy while also analyzing the domestic and international economic impact. To begin, the energy bill needs to propose solutions to addressing the multiplicity of growing problems, technological advancements/ obstacles, international political events, changing energy needs, and environmental concerns. Also, the comprehensive energy policy needs to not only meet the economic goals of the nation but also environmental goals. Therefore, the policy positions of both the Director of the National Economic Council and the organization at large are important in effectively creating a comprehensive energy bill.

Read More

More about The Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Essay

Related Topics

Open Document