The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Essay

Bradley Cooper

Mr. Rodriguez

Academic Lit.

21 April 2023

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Analytical Essay

Although everyone wants to succeed in their lives, success is only earned by those who work diligently to achiev it. The YA novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and illustrated by Ellen Forney develops a theme throughout characters in Spokane, Washington: "In life, success will likely come to the ones who strive for it.” This powerful theme that Sherman Alexie wants us to understand is perfectly demonstrated through Junior and Mary in defying the generational expectation of failures, as seen in Junior’s parents, and obtaining the success they strived to achieve.

Instead, their vast potential for success withers to nothing because they never genuinely strive for the opportunities of success they are given by their talents. This is mainly shown through Junior’s conversation about his future with Mr. P when he states,“‘All these kids have given up," he said. "All your friends. All the bullies. And their mothers and fathers have given up, too. And their grandparents gave up and their grandparents before them. And me and every other teacher here. We're all defeated,’”(Alexie 42). At that moment, Junior realized that the “unavoidable” chain of failure in his reservation needed to be broken for the first time in all generations for him to achieve success in his life. Leaving his reservation and moving to Reardan where he’ll have the opportunity to strive for success was the first step in achieving the milestone of success he desperately wants to obtain. Although Reardan was an atrocious obstacle and Junior faced a multitude of setbacks that almost made him want to give up on going to Reardan and kiss his potential for success behind, he worked assiduously through these setbacks. He finished his first year of Reardan where he ended with outstanding grades, an abundance of new and supportive friends, and a bright future ahead of

Agnes Adams Spirit and Arnold Spirit Sr. both had a vast amount of potential to achieve success in their lives. They could’ve been somebody in this world, instead of blending in with the clutter of failures that the reservation was made up of. According to the novel it states, “Given the chance, my mother would have gone to college. She still reads books like crazy. She buys them by the pound. And she remembers everything she reads. She can recite whole pages by memory. She's a human tape recorder,”(Alexie 11-13). Agnes had the potential to fulfill a rewarding career in life, but she never took the big step and left the reservation to tap into the potential she had. Similar to Agnes Adams Spirit, Arnold Spirit had the talent and skill to make a name for himself, but never left the reservation to pursue his potential of extraordinary success. According to the novel it states, “Given the chance, my father would have been a musician. When he gets drunk, he sings old country songs. And blues, too. And he sounds good. Like a pro. Like he should be on the radio. He plays the guitar and the piano a little bit,”(Alexie 13). Both Spirit parents had outstanding gifts that could’ve set them up for an immense amount of success in their life to release the