Question 1 Alexie in his novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian details the hardships Native American Indians encounter through going to white public high school in Washington in the off-reservation Reardan town (Alexie and Forney 36). The novel addresses social issues, such as bullying, violence, sexual references and poverty in addition to tragic deaths of most of the characters that discuss the American culture clash with the Indian culture. Junior is one character that is in constant poverty coming from a reservation family that is incredibly poor. This is illustrated when Arnold’s or Junior’s father shoots their dog to avoid paying the veterinary treatments that are very expensive (Alexie and Forney 8). This shows the differences
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However, the native Indians have tried to assimilate themselves in the Indian and American schools through giving Arnold a chance to attend a white American school. The result of poverty experienced by a character, such as Arnold in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is being ruled or bullied by people in the community. Arnold experienced this problem when he was bullied by Rowdy in Reardan High School basketball game (Alexie and Forney 118). The problem of bullying to achieve sovereignty by white students on native Indian has made Zitkala-sa to address this same …show more content…
In the book the authors indicate that the Indians are seen as the little black-haired aborigine, while the Americans are seen as blue-eyed patriot (Zitkala-Sa 108). Therefore, the question is, can the individuals who are considered to be subjugating and destroying the native Indians be more than patriots? How will their patriotism become? Zitkala-sa has the belief that the native Indians should be treated with the same respect as the non-native Indians because they have the same rights just like everyone in America. This issue of who is sovereign led to native Indians assimilating themselves into the American society through the education system to tackle the problem of culture clash. For instance, native Indians who talked in their native tongue “murmuring of an unknown tongue” (Zitkala-Sa 51) clashed with the American English taught in public schools. The two books above have addressed key issues of poverty and sovereignty that explain the American culture clash, which has been seen to be racial towards other races. Since the majority of native Indians are living in poverty, they do not have the power to protect themselves against abuse from white Americans. However, through assimilating themselves in the Indian and American schools, they get
However, the native Indians have tried to assimilate themselves in the Indian and American schools through giving Arnold a chance to attend a white American school. The result of poverty experienced by a character, such as Arnold in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is being ruled or bullied by people in the community. Arnold experienced this problem when he was bullied by Rowdy in Reardan High School basketball game (Alexie and Forney 118). The problem of bullying to achieve sovereignty by white students on native Indian has made Zitkala-sa to address this same …show more content…
In the book the authors indicate that the Indians are seen as the little black-haired aborigine, while the Americans are seen as blue-eyed patriot (Zitkala-Sa 108). Therefore, the question is, can the individuals who are considered to be subjugating and destroying the native Indians be more than patriots? How will their patriotism become? Zitkala-sa has the belief that the native Indians should be treated with the same respect as the non-native Indians because they have the same rights just like everyone in America. This issue of who is sovereign led to native Indians assimilating themselves into the American society through the education system to tackle the problem of culture clash. For instance, native Indians who talked in their native tongue “murmuring of an unknown tongue” (Zitkala-Sa 51) clashed with the American English taught in public schools. The two books above have addressed key issues of poverty and sovereignty that explain the American culture clash, which has been seen to be racial towards other races. Since the majority of native Indians are living in poverty, they do not have the power to protect themselves against abuse from white Americans. However, through assimilating themselves in the Indian and American schools, they get