The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian touches on many issues faced by many modern-day Native Americans throughout their lives, one such issue being poverty, which appears to be present in most Indian families. The sort of poverty that plagues the Spokane reservation is the same kind that has plagued Native Americans for generations. One possible root cause for the situation would be that the current natives on the reservation see that their parents couldn’t do anything to rid themselves of poverty, so they lose hope and, as a result, perpetuate the problem. While the degree of poverty in Junior’s Indian reservation is extreme, the underlying struggles that come with such a financial predicament are to be made note…
Throughout this novel alcohol has a major negative impact on Arnold and his family; an impact that costs the ultimate heart wrenching price: death, destruction, and despair. Although the momentous subjects of alcohol and death are made evident from the very start of the novel, the first moment these two topics interact with each other are towards the middle of the book. Located on the Spokane Indian…
Self-identity is a form of individuality that has been molded by the surroundings people enclose themselves with. Human beings are constantly interpreting who they are. The human mind is a stream of thought that is constantly churning in motion, while the evolution of the conscious awareness is a lifetime process of interpreting the world around us. Sherman Alexie, a Spokane-Coeur d'Alene American novelist, exemplifies the conflict of self-identity in his novel Flight, where he seeks to reveal…
The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie focuses on teenager Arnold Spirit Jr. growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Always considered an outsider, Junior is further ostracized when he decides to leave the reservation to attend the much richer and whiter Reardan high school. Although most of his tribe sees this decision as a betrayal to who he is, Junior hopes to better himself by leaving the reservation. Through this decision he finds new inner strength, better…
of Indian Americans. There were multiple characters within this book that had different lives and scenarios but they all had some correlation to the main point of this book which was to show the struggles, pain, and heartbreak that happens in each of their stories. Two characters that I was intrigued by were in the first two stories in the book. Corliss is a nineteen year old Spokane Indian who had a strong love for books and poetry whereas, Richard was an executive liaison for the majority of…
born in 1966 and spent his childhood years on the Spokane Indian Reservation in northeast Washington. Before the forced resettlement and assimilation of the Native Americans, the Spokane Tribe was a proud nation that roamed the Pacific Northwest fishing, hunting, and camping. In 1881, President Hayes relocated the tribe to a small reservation that was soon overrun by poverty and corruption (U-s-history.com). Jackson Jackson, the narrator and protagonist, is a homeless Spokane Native American…
1 Significance of title/cover art • “Our white dentist believed that Indians only felt half as much pain as white people did” (2) • “And then you start believing that you’re stupid and ugly because you’re Indian. And because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor. It’s an ugly circle” (13) The key words in the title that carry the most significance are the words “Absolutely True”, which promises that the narrator is reliable, and that he had experienced everything he says…
“Superman and Me”, by Sherman Alexie, is a brilliant autobiography. The essay is about how Alexie learned to read from a Superman comic book at the young age of three. He was a Spokane Indian boy living with his family on the Spokane Indian reservation in Washington state. The essay consists of the hardship that Indian people went through and how they lived. Not only how all the Indians in his area lived but especially his own family. His family was poor, but his parents always seemed to have a…
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is about a fourteen year boy named Arnold Spirit who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation that is drowning in poverty. Arnold lives with his family, surrounded by other poor Native Americans with depression and alcoholism. With his appearance and many health issues, he is often targeted on the reservation. A desire to break away from a place lacking hope and opportunity motives Arnold to transfer to Reardan. After shifting…
What are you willing to do to fulfill your dream? Would you abandon your culture so you can succeed? Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Is a book that poses these questions to the reader. This books main character also has to answer these questions throughout the book. The book is follows Junior, a 14 year old boy from the Spokane indian reservation and his struggles through grief and poverty. On top of these struggles, Junior decides to attend an all white school…