The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The United States has many accomplishments contributing to the illusion of a perfect melting-pot nation, when in fact Americans are far from shedding their prejudices. A prevalent issue transcending time is the mistreatment of Native Americans, and is often forgotten since Americans don’t want to admit to a system that frequently fails minorities. Racism within American society taints Native American culture because it denies a whole ethnicity equality, and stems from the average person choosing…

American Equality American equality isn’t quite completely equal. According to most people, equality makes everything and everyone equal. When you’re talking about American equality you take out the equal part because America isn’t always equal. Especially in literature, America has always taken the equal rights away from certain groups of people. U.S. Americans has always had strange ways of going about certain things. In America, we are supposed to be “free” and “equal”. How are we…

When Arnold decided to go to Reardan, he felt powerless because he wasn’t able to help his fellow Indians leave the reservation. He wanted to help them but, the stereotypical notion of Indians being drunkards was their downfall. Arnold knew that Indians were only going to leave the reservation if their white counterparts allowed it. The majority of them didn’t want to leave town anyway because they would be harassed by white…

As a child, my mother frustrated me by telling me to clean my room. I did not understand the concept of not living in a pigsty; I just wanted to go play. My version of cleaning was more like stuffing everything I could fit under my bed. My ignorance did not allow me to realize my cubby was not an infinite space, and eventually my beloved toys would flood over into my floor. As I grew and matured, my mom caught on to my ridiculous hiding space, and I cleaned my room. Trying to hide does not solve…

Jin vs. Junior A part of growing up is changing and accepting yourself for who you are. Although transferring to a new school may be inevitable how you handle this experience is what counts in the end. Everyone goes through a series of events that either change your life in a favorable way or unacceptable way when being apart of two cultures. In this case Junior and Jin must both battle with many different problems because they are trying to find an identity while being apart of two different…

relate to Junior because a few years ago, I was trying to find my identity and was in my awkward teenager stage and it just makes me cringe when reading the book. Lastly, the setting of the novel really intrigued. This novel takes place on the Spokane Indian Reservation, which made it unique and really taught me lots about how poorly First Nations are…

Mary Who Runs Away Siblings are often an important part of life for any who posses them, and although these relationships can be trying, they can also be extraordinary.Through the life and death of Mary in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie not only demonstrates the hardships that people can face, especially those impoverished or disadvantaged, but creates a memorable and exceptional narrative by building and destroying a source of joy in Arnold’s life using the…

In the New York Times Best Seller book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” written by novelist, short story writer, poet, and filmmaker, Sherman Alexie is a story about the narrator who is a young boy named Arnold Spirit, Jr. Throughout the story, Arnold, also known as Junior, is met with lots of challenges and difficult people to deal with. Within the story there are different characters and types of people that Junior has to learn to deal with. Also, Junior has to learn how to…

I had a lovely experience during the socratic seminar held in class. Prior to this seminar, I have participated in one in my Earth Science class. We had the guiding question of “Should we mine the moon?” and the class period went similar to ours. I personally adore public speaking when I am well prepared, so my contributions were out of pure enjoyment. I was at ease while formulating my thoughts and never felt under pressure. As a result, I look forward to my future participations in socratic…

Censorship: Is Ignorance Bliss? The issue of censorship has been a long debated topic that has become more widespread over time. It forces us to discuss what could potentially be offensive to someone or a group of people and omit details to avoid controversy. In some instances censorship is taken to the extreme and the slow build up of said omissions can lead to bigger societal issues. Censorship affects society as a whole and its overuse leads to an inept sense of communication and ignorance.…