Thomas Melles K. Dirck Freshman Honor English, Period 6 2 September 2016 Dreams lead everywhere Dreams are what people live for yet, in life, dreams are almost never lived. In The Absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian written by Sherman Alexie the main character Junior tries to follow his dreams. Dreams are what people should strive for but yet many do not even try to follow them. Junior’s sister and Sherman Alexie both were following their dreams to “save their lives”. Junior has a sister in the book who is lived in their basement and was not following her dreams, while in “Superman and Me” Sherman Alexie writes about how he is trying to follow his dreams to save his life.
Junior is a young American Indian who had grown up on a reservation in the western United States. As he grew older, he realized that living on the reservation would lead him nowhere. His only chance of hope at a better life is to leave “the Rez”. Sherman Alexie perfectly captures the culture of an American Indian in his novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, by introducing white culture by sending Junior to Reardan High School. Junior’s experience in Reardan allows him to draw conclusions about his own culture and Alexie has surely done research on American Indian culture.
When I was reading Sherman Alexie’s books, Blasphemy and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I found that Alexie likes to adjust his way of writing dramatically based on his audience and the story(s) that he is trying to tell. For example, when he wrote Blasphemy he was writing to an audience that consisted more of adults that would’ve been in their early 20’s or older, based on the complexity of how this book is set up. Alexie made it so that this book was many stories of Indians, not just him or family, but a lot of people. There are some that don’t make any sense and you really have to pick it apart to understand his subtle references. His approach to writing The Absolutely True… is more for young adults, maybe 12-19 year olds,
Sherman Alexie’s “Indian Education” describes his personal experience as a Native American in the American school system while growing up in the 1970s. In this historical period, many white Americans discriminated against those of different races and ethnicities. In this short story, Alexie attempts to open the eyes of white Americans who do not realize what Native Americans and other groups go through to inform them of the hardships he encountered all his life by utilizing stereotyping and the organization of his writing. The intended audience of "Indian Education" is white Americans who either did not realize or were negligent of the troubles Native Americans were enduring.
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.
Throughout the book of the Absolutely true diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie the main character and narrator of the story gives us a variety of themes in his book, one of which is Identity. Starting from reading the title I found myself trying to predict what the book was going to be about all that came to me was a book about the story of an Indian men. The title itself gives an identity to the main character. Even from the first page of the book, in the fist sentence it shows you who this boy is. “I was born with water on the brain” he says.
In 1918 the Carlisle Indian Industrial School shut its doors permanently. What remains of this experiment started by Richard Henry Pratt are not just buildings, but ghosts and scars that refuse to be forgotten. The structures that once constituted this exploratory school now stand where the Carlisle Army Barracks are situated today, and while it may seem as if the only observable aspects to remind us of the past are tombstones and markers, the stories still swirl in this town that became flooded with the desire to assimilate Native Americans. Pratt believed Indians possessed the ability to become a complimentary asset to American society if they received the proper education. He insisted that it was necessary to remove the Indians from the confines of the reservation in order to separate them from their culture and traditions, and transplant them to a setting that encouraged the Native Americans to learn the English language, to work for a living, as well as become useful members of society.
In Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Junior, and Rowdy, are highlighted by the unique friendship between them. Through casual conversation, repeated emotions, and dialogue between the two. Showcasing their bond and depth of friendship. They use slurs and curse words with each other, showing informality and comfort in their communication. For example, in paragraphs 7-9 "I was reading a book," "Wow, you were reading a book?"
Since the dawn of time, society has always had a major issue in cultural believes. Less and less people find the need to know and understand other people’s customs, which lead to the misunderstanding of people’s lifestyle. The Carlisle Indian School was a horrible attempt to place children of Native American tribes into US culture by placing them in boarding school. The school was used to educate and civilize Indians, “kill the Indian, save the man” (Bear). Edward Thorp was one of those student at the Carlisle school.
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
Arnold expresses the value in education by comparing Wellpinit and Reardan; he compares the two school’s success rates among the students. I can relate this to my personal experiences because my high school did not have a lot of resources and only offered 3 AP classes. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Arnold realizes he is being robbed from a good education when he receives the same textbook his mom had when she was in high school. He knew no one in the reservation made it to college because none had hope.
A person’s experience in life and the way they are raised as a child can have many influence on who they become as an adult. However, that doesn’t mean we should be that stereotype that everyone else believes we should be. In the book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie. Alexie is a Spokane Indian born and raised in the Spokane Indian Reservation. This story is about a Spokane Indian Boy who should deal with medical problems and his journey to be successful.
Revolutionary War Spies By Kayne Buckley Imagine you are in the trail of a revolutionary mail route. You hear people and you know it’s your job to get whatever they’re doing. Back in the revolutionary war times there were spies of all sorts. They used all sorts of methods.
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.
Born with a rare condition that resulted in mild brain damage and occasional seizures, while also being subjected to several beating by almost everyone in his reservation; Junior has had a tough journey throughout his life. In the novel,“ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, a fifteen year old Native American boy named Junior is forced to decide between remaining in the reservation; he and his whole family have lived on for years, or tamper tradition and attend a school away from his reservation. By Junior attending school off the reservation, he is bringing dishonor to his family, betraying his Native American identity, and conforming to the Western ways. Native Americans who live on reservations like our main
