modern infrastructure in cities. This is a problem hidden in plain sight, yet many fail to notice. For many Native Americans, this harsh reality is their daily life. Poverty is a heavily discussed theme in Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. Due to the underfunding of schools on the reserve, Junior decides to attend Reardan High, an all-white school where the majority of students are from well off middle class families, a stark contrast from the reservation.…
The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, focuses on the effects of colonialism on Native Americans, the pressures of assimilation historically and contemporarily, and cultural appropriation. Junior, a Spokane Indian teen who chooses to leave his reservation school, Wellpinit, attends a predominantly white school off-reservation called Reardan. While there, many of Junior’s friends and family die from alcohol related incidents. It is interesting that this occurs because…
Because of this, we often have to manage collective identity with individuality. In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie the main character, Junior, has to balance being loyal to his community and embracing his individual dreams. When Junior is on the reservation he describes himself as being half-white, and at his majority white high school, he feels half-Indian. Despite the conflict between these two groups and feeling like the rope in a game of…
The House on Mango Street and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian were amazing novels. The House on Mango Street was a novel I could a way relate to. As a Latina, racism is often seen as a black and white issue which excludes the other ethnicities which also struggle. Reading the novel enriched…
Comparative Essay “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be lead, like sheep to the slaughter.” (George Washington) In “The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian” and “The Boy Who Dared” this is a great and bold statement for these two novels. These two books are magnificent examples of two boys that decided to take their life into their own hands and not leave it in the mainstream of hopeless and following people. These fiction novels match in a number of…
struggle to remain hopeful. In The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian,the cynical attitude that is passed down, lack of hope and inertia on the reservation turns children, like Junior, into despairing people convinced that they are going nowhere in life and there is nothing they can do about it. But Junior overcomes this by rejecting negative influences and staying hopeful through life’s problems. In The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian, Junior struggles with his…
Director Barbara Jones interview Sherman Alexie. This video highlights authors whose books have been banned; therefore, Sherman Alexie is a guest for this interview. Olukotun and Jones ask him a series of questions about his novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. In the interview, there are three intriguing questions: Do people feel uncomfortable discussing and dealing with Native American issues? Does the controversy surrounding your works change the way you write? What is your…
“the nature of humans; especially : the fundamental dispositions and traits of humans”. Though this may be true in that of a more vague and superficial nature, not all humans are the same. So, how is human nature really defined and how are people reflected on by their overall nature? Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare and Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian are two narratives combined to portray a strong message regarding human nature. Shakespeare's Julius…
How does a weak and shy ninth grader manage to become a very self-confident person by the end of the book? In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Arnold is a dynamic character because he changes throughout the story. By leaving the reservation and attending a different school he grows as a person. He experiences the loss of family members and close friends and that crushes him. His changing relationship with his best friend Rowdy causes him to be more…
cope with these hardships in a novel by Sherman Alexie. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a novel about Arnold Spirit, the main character that lives on the Wellpinit Reservation with his family. Arnold struggles with finding his identity through tough times in his life and transferring to a new school, Reardan High School, that is located just off of the Wellpinit Reservation. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie explores that even if people have…