“The conflict of forces and the struggle of opposing wills are the essence of our universe and alone hold it together” (Havelock Ellis). My family often calls me an undefined equation because I have always struggled between finding the result of two opposing cultures, my identity. I grew up in Costa Rican culture, it has been the one to shape my persona. I have only been to Nepal twice, which is why I find it hard to incorporate its culture into my life. I can relate to Arnold (Junior on the reservation) in the way in which we both must learn to comes to terms with the two cultures that shape us. In Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Arnold Spirit struggles at finding his identity seeing as he tries to escape what can be defined as a fated reality.
Throughout his childhood, Junior Spirit was shaped by the hopeless and deteriorating environment of Wellpinit. Junior and his family have lived in the reservation their entire lives, yet Junior himself describes the reservation as “located approximately one million miles north of Important and two billion miles west of Happy” (24-25). Violence is very common in the reservation, and because Junior is a hydrocephalic, and the reservation’s outcast, he gets constantly beat up. In the reservation, poverty plays a major role in the lives of people, seeing as it leads them into becoming hopeless and therefore, …show more content…
He provides a thorough explanation of what it means to struggle between two strong and highly influential cultures. What I found the most impressive about Spirit was his willingness to take risks, and to allow himself the opportunity to grow. Through this text, I learned the value of one’s journey of self discovery because it is the journey itself that becomes the most
Throughout his childhood, Junior Spirit was shaped by the hopeless and deteriorating environment of Wellpinit. Junior and his family have lived in the reservation their entire lives, yet Junior himself describes the reservation as “located approximately one million miles north of Important and two billion miles west of Happy” (24-25). Violence is very common in the reservation, and because Junior is a hydrocephalic, and the reservation’s outcast, he gets constantly beat up. In the reservation, poverty plays a major role in the lives of people, seeing as it leads them into becoming hopeless and therefore, …show more content…
He provides a thorough explanation of what it means to struggle between two strong and highly influential cultures. What I found the most impressive about Spirit was his willingness to take risks, and to allow himself the opportunity to grow. Through this text, I learned the value of one’s journey of self discovery because it is the journey itself that becomes the most