ipl-logo

What Is Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

443 Words2 Pages

The Merriam-Webster defines the word culture as, “…the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time.” This definition can be used to explain the reason in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, why Junior will never escape reservation life. Those who live in his Reservation will also never succeed in escaping reservation life because there is nothing to escape from. Juniors perceived success at leaving the reservation at the end of the novel isn’t there to make it seem like he wants to escape, it’s there to show that he has come to terms with his life, and no longer uses the reservation as an excuse for why his life isn’t what he wishes it was. It is this internal acceptance of who he is, where he comes from, and everything that …show more content…

Everything. We weren’t trying to kill Indian people. We were trying to kill Indian culture.” (Alexie 35) This was explained by Mr. P to Junior how the school teachers initially tried to make the students give up their culture. Apparently, taking the culture of being an Indian is supposed to save the child but, noticing how brutal this was laid out. Knowing teachers didn't only beat the students but, took away their hopes. This is important because it shows how cruel the world is. In fact, what if a teacher came and told you it is the worse thing to be white, African, Asian or Asian Pacific Islander, etc... Would this change the way you thought about yourself? This probably would start a conflict. 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. Junior hits Mr. P on accident breaking Mr. P’s nose. Which leads to Junior deciding whether or not he should listen to Mr. P’s advice by leaving and attend a white

Show More
Related

How Has Residential Education Changed Before The Indian Act

203 Words | 1 Pages

Many Native children were taken by forced from their families and were submitted for a long time into residential schools. It was

Read More

Junípero Serra

1262 Words | 6 Pages

These schools have been described as an instrument to wage intellectual, psychological, and cultural warfare to turn Native Americans into “Americans”. There are many reports of young Native Americans losing all cultural belonging. According to an interview with NPR, Bill Wright was sent to one of these schools. He lost his hair, his language, and then his Navajo name. When he was able to return home, he was unable to understand or speak to his grandmother.

Read More

The Absolutely True Diary Of Part Time Indian Essay

781 Words | 4 Pages

Argument for Banning “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” Book in Middle Schools Published in 2007, “The Absolutely True Diary of Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie says about the moving story of a Native American teenager named Arnold Spirit who made the bold decision to attend an all-white high school from Spokane reservation to find hope for the future in the Reardan. This volume won the National Book Award in 2007 and won several other awards. Even though this novel can be power of education, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” paperback should be banned because this is not appropriate for middle schools.

Read More

The Purpose Of Unit V: American Indians

667 Words | 3 Pages

The purpose of the boarding schools were to strip the Indians of their culture, to punish them until they believed and practiced English ways. Boarding schools were made to isolate the children and break the patterns of their backgrounds. The adolescents at were treated horribly at the school, their hair had been cut, they had been abused for speaking the only language they knew and they were locked in closets for crying. The children of the boarding schools were neglected, they returned with the language of the English and some knowledge of christianity but they did not return with the basic skills to work in the white society. The children could no longer relate to their families and the impact was huge negativity.

Read More

Indian Horse Sparknotes

939 Words | 4 Pages

Historically, cultural genocide is a reoccurring issue in Indigenous communities. This is true in Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. Cultural genocide originates from the belief that certain ethnic groups should assimilate according to established standards. Furthermore, cultural genocide occurs in residential schools through the violating treatment of Indigenous children. Moreover, survivors of residential schools are deeply affected by the loss of their culture, which has a long-lasting impact.

Read More

Poem Analysis: Legal Alien By Pat Mora

429 Words | 2 Pages

Culture: the beliefs, customs, art, etc. of a particular society. Being a part of a culture is amazing, diverse, and interesting until the conflict from being a part of more than one culture becomes involved. This type of conflict can even change the way you see your culture. In the poem, “Legal Alien”, by Pat Mora, Pat Mora depicts her culture colliding with another, causing cultural conflict.

Read More

Compare And Contrast Allotment And Assimilation Era

992 Words | 4 Pages

This greatly impacted Native Americans in the long run because the children creating the new generation were unable to pass down the culture as they lost it themselves. As the older generation started to disappear, the Native American culture was quickly vanishing. Although some children kept some culture and values from their Native American life, their way of life still was greatly impacted by their time in boarding school. Most children even were taught to be ashamed of their own culture, which led them less likely to go back to that way of life. Through removing children at a young age, giving them new Anglo names, cutting their hair, and teaching the ways of Christianity these children were forced to completely forget about the culture they once possessed.

Read More

The Creation And Implementation Of The Carlisle Indian Industrial School

821 Words | 4 Pages

They did not take the time to get to know the students, but instead made their judgements based on the clothes they wore, the language they spoke, etc. The staff of the school were quick to replace parts of Native American culture with their European American counterpart. Students were forced to cut their hair, change their diet, and were only allowed to speak english. These changes were overall extremely harmful to the students of the Carlisle Industrial Indian School. Luther describes that “the change in clothing, housing, food, and confinement combined with lonesomeness was too much, and in three years nearly one half of the children from the plains were dead.”

Read More

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

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

Read More

Character Analysis Of Junior In The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

594 Words | 3 Pages

One example of this is when Junior’s teacher tells him not to lose hope. Junior’s teacher is the one that teaches him this lesson. He explains how, if he loses hope; he will be stuck in a cycle like the rest of his family. This influences Junior to go to rearden, so that he doesn’t lose hope in the reservation. Junior knows that everyone in the reservation lacks hope, that is why they are stuck in a cycle.

Read More

Racial Slurs In To Kill A Mockingbird

1200 Words | 5 Pages

Censorship is an extremely debated topic in America, with people saying it contradicts with what the Bill of Rights has allowed the American people and how it may deny people use the Freedom of Speech. Yet, the censorship of books in American public schools is one of the most controversial topics today because of the use of racial slurs in classic literature, this is the case with To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Opinions on this topic vary, with some of them being: schools should have the right to censor books because they have racial slurs in them, schools should have teachers open up a conversation about race and the use of racial slurs with these books, or schools should not have the right to censor any book. I firmly believe that schools

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

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).

Read More

Indian Education Sherman Alexie Summary

490 Words | 2 Pages

Expectations often impose an inescapable reality. In the short story “Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie, Victor often struggles with Indian and American expectations during school. Alexie utilizes parallelism in the construction of each vignette, introducing a memoir of tension and concluding with a statement about Victor’s difficulties, to explore the conflict between cultures’ expectations and realities. Alexei initially uses parallelism to commence each vignette with cultural tension. In second grade, Victor undergoes a conflict with his missionary teacher, who coerced Victor into taking an advanced spelling test and cutting his braids.

Read More

Loss Of Culture In Sherman Alexie's 'Indian Education'

777 Words | 4 Pages

In Sherman Alexie’s short stories (and poems), there usually three central themes that the story rotates. In this paper, I will be exploring how he (Alexie) explores the themes losing culture, a cycle of regret, and using drugs (mainly alcohol) to escape. In Indian Education, the short story, Alexie seems to show that whenever young Victor tries to express himself through his culture, he is punished. Take the section “First Grade” for example. In first grade, Junior (the main character and narrator) says that “The little warrior in me roared to life that day..” and makes comparisons to traditional Native American warriors, such as describing the brusies on the other boy’s face as “war paint” or how Junior chants “it’s a good day to die”, which is phrase typically associated with Crazy Horse, who was a Native American chief.

Read More

More about What Is Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

Related Topics

Open Document