Cerena Leaffer
See Ya, Stereotypes!
The American Dream is the opportunity for all to pursue happiness, whatever or wherever that may mean to them. If you constantly receive stereotypical remarks and people expect a certain standard of you, does that make you more likely to find the American Dream? Probably not. But in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the characters prove otherwise and defy or disregard stereotypical comments and expectations in order to achieve happiness. While stereotypes can be rather demeaning and damaging to one’s self-esteem and prevent them from pursuing their American Dream, those who choose to overlook them and go after their dream anyways tend to find new, exciting life experiences, …show more content…
For his whole life, Junior lives on the reservation and is faced with a poor quality of life as well as dangerous threats. After some encouragement from his teacher, Mr. P, Junior transfers to Reardan High School in desire of finding something that makes his life more meaningful. Junior says that he does not know “if hope is white. But I do know that hope for us is like some mythical creature. Man, I was scared of those Reardan kids, and maybe I was scared of hope, too” (Alexie 51). Junior feels as though this all-white school is where hope can be found and plans to go there. He even says that he is scared to be doing this, but he does it anyway despite the white label of the school. He is brave to be breaking the stereotype and believes that he can find a better life at the Reardan school.. It turns out that Junior is correct, and after he joins the basketball team at Reardan and begins to succeed, he exclaims that he “was scoring twelve points a game . . . Coach was thinking maybe I'd play some small-college ball. How often does a reservation Indian kid hear that? How often do you hear the words "Indian" and "college" in the same sentence?" (180). Junior finds a niche for himself at Reardan when he becomes a basketball superstar, and contrary to the belief that Indians will never make it in life, he now has a chance to better his future by going to college! Opportunities like these would have never arose back at the reservation. Inspired by all of Junior’s courageousness to explore unfamiliar places and find a new life, Mary, Junior’s sister, follows suit by exploring and pursuing her dreams. She stays in the basement for years and feels her life slipping from her, and seeing Junior taking this bold move of trying to achieve his own dreams outside of the reservation aids in compelling her to escape and finding a new life as well. When
See Ya, Stereotypes!
The American Dream is the opportunity for all to pursue happiness, whatever or wherever that may mean to them. If you constantly receive stereotypical remarks and people expect a certain standard of you, does that make you more likely to find the American Dream? Probably not. But in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the characters prove otherwise and defy or disregard stereotypical comments and expectations in order to achieve happiness. While stereotypes can be rather demeaning and damaging to one’s self-esteem and prevent them from pursuing their American Dream, those who choose to overlook them and go after their dream anyways tend to find new, exciting life experiences, …show more content…
For his whole life, Junior lives on the reservation and is faced with a poor quality of life as well as dangerous threats. After some encouragement from his teacher, Mr. P, Junior transfers to Reardan High School in desire of finding something that makes his life more meaningful. Junior says that he does not know “if hope is white. But I do know that hope for us is like some mythical creature. Man, I was scared of those Reardan kids, and maybe I was scared of hope, too” (Alexie 51). Junior feels as though this all-white school is where hope can be found and plans to go there. He even says that he is scared to be doing this, but he does it anyway despite the white label of the school. He is brave to be breaking the stereotype and believes that he can find a better life at the Reardan school.. It turns out that Junior is correct, and after he joins the basketball team at Reardan and begins to succeed, he exclaims that he “was scoring twelve points a game . . . Coach was thinking maybe I'd play some small-college ball. How often does a reservation Indian kid hear that? How often do you hear the words "Indian" and "college" in the same sentence?" (180). Junior finds a niche for himself at Reardan when he becomes a basketball superstar, and contrary to the belief that Indians will never make it in life, he now has a chance to better his future by going to college! Opportunities like these would have never arose back at the reservation. Inspired by all of Junior’s courageousness to explore unfamiliar places and find a new life, Mary, Junior’s sister, follows suit by exploring and pursuing her dreams. She stays in the basement for years and feels her life slipping from her, and seeing Junior taking this bold move of trying to achieve his own dreams outside of the reservation aids in compelling her to escape and finding a new life as well. When