In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, challenges are continuously being conquered. This novel is about a boy who goes by the name Arnold as well Junior. Arnold lives on an Indian reservation with very little money. Arnold leaves the reservation in order to receive a higher quality education and in search of better future. In Arnold's life, there are a number of factors that isolate him from the outside world and stop him from having the better future he wants. Arnold has been physically isolated since he was born but conquers this challenge when he finally makes a friend. Arnold lives on a reservation that has next to no money. Very few people have left the isolation the rez in search of a better future.
…show more content…
Arnold's family lives on a very poor reservation. When they can not afford to take Arnold’s ill dog to the vet, Arnold realizes just how poor they really are. Arnold writes, “We reservation Indians don't get to realize our dreams. We don't get those chances. Or choices. We’re just poor. That’s all we are…Because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor. It’s an ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about it,”(13). Everybody on the rez stays on the rez and Arnold knew that. All the Indians feel hopeless and just give up on trying to make more money. Nobody on the rez is actually trying to make their life better and Arnold hates that. He wants the future that nobody else on the rez wants. Arnold is isolated to the hopeless reservation and is surrounded by people who have just given up. One day Arnold's teacher, Mr.P, tells him if he wants to have a future then you must leave. “Son," Mr. P says, "You're going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation.”(pg #) Arnold wants hope as well as a future unlike anybody on the rez. Arnold was not going to stay with the hopeless people telling him to give up, so he left the reservation to go to a better school. He wanted more than what the rez had to offer, and was one of the few people on the reservation with the desire to become something more. When faced with the …show more content…
Arnold decides to leave the reservation and on the first day of his new school he is already an outsider. Leaving the Reservation was a whole challenge of its own, but on Arnold's first day at his new school the kids, “stared at me, the Indian boy…Those white kids couldn't believe their eyes. They stared at me like I was Bigfoot or a UFO. What was I doing at Rearden, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town,”(56). All the kids ignore Arnold because he is the only Indian kid in the school. Arnold is isolated in his own lonely world and can not make any friends because of his appearance. Once Arnold starts dating the prettiest girl in the school, things actually start looking up for him. After a school dance, Arnold's girlfriend, Penelope, finds out that Arnold is very poor and does not have a ride home. Penelope gets her friend Roger to drive Arnold home. Arnold writes, “If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing,” (129). This is the first time Arnold has opened up to people at his new school and told them that he was poor. Once they found out he was poor, Roger became a close friend and drove him home plenty of other times as well. Arnold had kept the secret and once it was out in the open, he could finally completely open up to people which allowed him to make more friends.
Arnold's family lives on a very poor reservation. When they can not afford to take Arnold’s ill dog to the vet, Arnold realizes just how poor they really are. Arnold writes, “We reservation Indians don't get to realize our dreams. We don't get those chances. Or choices. We’re just poor. That’s all we are…Because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor. It’s an ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about it,”(13). Everybody on the rez stays on the rez and Arnold knew that. All the Indians feel hopeless and just give up on trying to make more money. Nobody on the rez is actually trying to make their life better and Arnold hates that. He wants the future that nobody else on the rez wants. Arnold is isolated to the hopeless reservation and is surrounded by people who have just given up. One day Arnold's teacher, Mr.P, tells him if he wants to have a future then you must leave. “Son," Mr. P says, "You're going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation.”(pg #) Arnold wants hope as well as a future unlike anybody on the rez. Arnold was not going to stay with the hopeless people telling him to give up, so he left the reservation to go to a better school. He wanted more than what the rez had to offer, and was one of the few people on the reservation with the desire to become something more. When faced with the …show more content…
Arnold decides to leave the reservation and on the first day of his new school he is already an outsider. Leaving the Reservation was a whole challenge of its own, but on Arnold's first day at his new school the kids, “stared at me, the Indian boy…Those white kids couldn't believe their eyes. They stared at me like I was Bigfoot or a UFO. What was I doing at Rearden, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town,”(56). All the kids ignore Arnold because he is the only Indian kid in the school. Arnold is isolated in his own lonely world and can not make any friends because of his appearance. Once Arnold starts dating the prettiest girl in the school, things actually start looking up for him. After a school dance, Arnold's girlfriend, Penelope, finds out that Arnold is very poor and does not have a ride home. Penelope gets her friend Roger to drive Arnold home. Arnold writes, “If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing,” (129). This is the first time Arnold has opened up to people at his new school and told them that he was poor. Once they found out he was poor, Roger became a close friend and drove him home plenty of other times as well. Arnold had kept the secret and once it was out in the open, he could finally completely open up to people which allowed him to make more friends.