Examples Of Poverty In Sherman Alexis

Sherman Alexis is about a boy named Arnold Spirit, also known as Junior. He is a Native American that lives in the Indian Reservation. Junior, his family, and even the community, faced poverty and struggled financially throughout the novel. The theme Poverty is demonstrated through Junior's experiences with his family, community, and himself; showing that poverty squashed hope on the reservation, but Junior willingly fights for freedom and gives readers hope that things will change.

In the novel, examples of the theme Poverty, demonstrates through Junior's experiences with his community. When Junior introduced himself to us readers, he wished he could haved drawn a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a fist full of twenty dollar bills. In addition, Junior wished to become a magician. This quote shows how Junior easily identified himself as being poor and believes that he can't change. Although, he does wish for a difference, and realizes staying at the reservation any longer will keep that from happening. For example, Junior discovers another case of poverty in his community by the fact that his school uses the same geometry text book since 30 years ago. When Junior saw his Mother's name on the inside of the geometry textbook, he already knew that book was ancient. As a …show more content…
Junior bitterly connects his poverty with being an Indian. This quote shows Junior's connection with poverty and his ethnicity. Furthermore, another example of poverty is shown during Christmas Day, Junior's father arrives home drunk with only a five dollar bill to give to Junior as a Christmas present. Junior experienced a horrendous Christmas Eve and Christmas Day every year, without getting any gifts and instead, receives a drunk father at his service. However, Junior accepted and appreciated his father's gift since instead of his father using the money to buy more drinks, he choose to give it to his only