...In Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the protagonist in the story is a 14-year old boy named Arnold Spirit Jr., a.k.a Junior, which they call him throughout the story most of the time. The novel begins with Junior explaining how he is Native American and lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation with his mom, dad, sister, and grandmother (Alexie 1-6). He clarifies how he was born with water on his brain, and because of this, he gets treated poorly at school. Kids call him a retard, they pants him, and they shove his head into the toilet (3-4). On the reservation, Rowdy is Junior’s best friend and pretty much his only friend. Rowdy protects and stands up for Junior when he needs help (15-18). The main conflict in the novel is Junior struggling at Wellpinit, which is his school on the reservation and how he transfers to his new school, Reardan. When he transfers to Reardan, he meets Penelope who he has a big crush on and Roger who is the most popular guy in the school. At first, he does not really get along with them, but in the end, they become the best of friends. Junior discovers that no matter where he goes he gets bullied....
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...I participated in this program and won a trip to United States. It was a first time for me to leave my hometown. But I was very happy about my dream that comes true. Arnold and me have sacred places. Where we spend time with family and friends. But sometimes these sacred places it is not enough to become whom you want in your life. Arnold left Reservation to get better education. As an Arnold I left my country to live independent life. Novorossiysk situated in the south of Russia on the Black Sea. It is the country’s main port on the Black Sea and leading Russian port for importing grain. Novorossiysk is not very big; there are only 300000 citizens in it. The Caucasian mountains surround my city. Novorossiysk is a historical, cultural and health center. It is one of the few cities honored with the title of the Hero City. During the Great Patriotic War Novorossiysk became the arena of very severe combats. Due to courage and firmness of soviet warriors the enemy, who was heading for the Caucuses was stopped here by the wall of the city in September of 1942. There are lots of monuments in Novorossiysk. On the square of Freedom, in the center of the city, the sculptural group of city defenders. Above them proudly flutters the standard of victory. Novorossiysk is a health center. It has mineral springs, sanatoriums, hospitals, physical-culture centers and others. The city is divided into several parts but the...
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...as far as to banning books for their controversial content. Books such as The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie has been banned from many high schools. The story is about Arnold Spirit Jr. who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation and endures many challenges while searching for hope. Although The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian remains banned from some high school for its “unsuitable content,” it should actually be added to the curriculum instead. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should not be banned for it’s positive messages. In the chapter “How To Fight Monsters,” Junior stands up to Roger who had been bullying him: “Did you know that Indians are living proof that n****** f*** buffalo?...that was the most racist thing I’d ever heard in my life...So I punched Roger in the face...I felt brave all of a sudden...I was telling the world I was no longer a human target.” (Alexie64-65). Teens should be able to read this book in school because it reveals an inspiring story of how a weak boy with health deficiencies overcomes a larger worldwide problem: Bullying. Maybe violence isn’t always the answer but what is there to make of the situation when another option of salvation isn’t given. Banning this book would deprive young readers from an encouraging and uprising novel. Many people argue that The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should indeed be banned in high schools for its violent content. For example in...
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...book, The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian, tells the story of a boy who betrays other Indians and chooses to go to an all white school, called Reardan, not knowing if his decision will kill him or make him stronger as a human being. In writing The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian, Alexie wants to teach the readers that if you do not attempt, you will not attain. Junior deciding to fight the stereotypes and making a commitment to going to Reardan, show he is willing to succeed no matter what the consequences may be. Additionally, Junior took every small moment of his life seriously, he knew that something as small as making the school basketball team or climbing a frightening pine tree will make a huge impact on his future. Junior knew that if he stayed a coward and didn’t try to change anything for the rest of his life, the misconceptions about Native Americans would be true....
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...You can overcome anything with the support from those around you. “If you let people into your life they can be pretty...amazing”-Sherman Alexie. In the Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, Junior faces many obstacles. Many things help him overcome his challenges, including his love for drawing, his family, and friends. Undoubtedly, Junior’s love for drawing cartoons helps him overcome many of the challenges he must face. For example, after his grandmother dies one of the ways he greves is through drawing cartoons. Through what he calls his “ceremony of grieving” he drew cartoons and made lists of what he liked. He slowly overcame his grandmother's death through this process, which drawing was a main part of. Furthermore, his family...
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...English 113B 20 Apr 2015 Identity Crisis and Resolution in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian It is natural for every person that he finds himself in a conflicting situation where he thinks that he has no identity. In such a situation of crisis, he asserts himself through different means though it may be a bitter truth or he himself gets insult in response. Arnold in The Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian faces the same situation, but he does not leave the truth. Whatever he has encountered in reservation or at Reardan, he has plainly told it in a very simple language that it seems touching obscenity and crossing the limits of decency. However, the struggle Arnold waged in order to...
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...Racial Discrimination in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian In our world, many of us have either experienced or witnessed the harmful acts of racial discrimination. This includes the use of racial slurs, and slavery. Today, people are more accepting of all faiths and backgrounds. This is one theme that is explored in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The protagonist in this novel is a 14-year-old boy named Junior. He is a member of the Spokane Indian Tribe. Throughout the novel, Junior and the people around him, are being abused through racial slurs. Because of the false accusations that usually form racial discrimination, it has the ability to pose a changing impact, directly or indirectly to our society. In this novel, Junior decides to attend a school featuring students from a dominant white culture. The following quote is an example of how racial discrimination can have a direct impact on our society. “(W)hat was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town” (56). This describes Junior’s reaction towards seeing...
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...Great decisions come with great thought and time. In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Junior had a dilemma that would ultimately affect his life. Although, the pressure was building up Junior made the right decision to leave the Rez and attend Reardan because of the environment and the opportunity to grow and prosper. There was a greater opportunity for growth in Reardan mostly because of their white middle-class population.According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, nearly 9.2% of Native Americans ages 12 and older were current heavy alcohol users, the highest rate of any ethnic group (Hanes 1) while at Reardan a typical middle-class neighborhood almost “more than half of the graduating class...
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...How can somebody persevere through racism, poverty, and death? What if they're only fourteen years old? Is the struggle even worth it? In the semi-autobiographical novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the main character, Junior, learns that through perseverance, hope, and the gain of new knowledge, life can get better for anybody (white or otherwise). He overcomes a major school change, abandonment of friends, and the death of family members, but in the bittersweet end, things have started to look up for him. There is evidence of this occurring throughout the book, starting with Junior's (former) pet dog Oscar. On page 15, the quote "After Oscar died, I was so depressed that I thought about crawling into a hole and disappearing forever" tells us that Junior maybe doesn't deal with grief in the healthiest way. However, by page 215, Junior writes "We Indians know how to celebrate our with our dead. And I felt okay" showing that at this point, he's learned how to get through the struggle of the death of his grandmother. Through time, and with the new lessons he's learned, he gained the gift of acceptance....
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...Should the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian be taught? The book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should be taught at Douglas High School. It has a lot of good life lessons in it for people to learn. It has many themes that are relevant in today’s society such as, loss, addiction, alcoholism, hope, and many more. The book may have many inappropriate things in it, but it’s still worth taking a lesson from it. If taught at a high school, those inappropriate things might actually keep people reading and get a kick out of it. The book itself is pretty short, so it’s a short and sweet lesson teachers can do with their class if they can look past the inappropriate humor, harsh language, racism, talking about sexual things,...
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...If it wasn't for three significant events in Juniors first year of high school he might be dead. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, recounts the life events that an Indian boy named Junior goes through, his struggles, and the critical decision he makes to change what would otherwise be a disastrous life. Against all odds he must somehow find a way to raise himself above the many obstacles that he will face. It is the choices he makes in several critical circumstances that allow him to escape the clutches of this dismal system. It all started when Junior was in school on the Indian reservation. "I couldn't believe it" (Alexie 31) Junior thought to himself. Junior was fed up with the old book that belonged to his mother and took action on his impulse and blasted the ancient object at his teacher, Mr.P. He was dying to start geometry and his expectation and hopes were completely shattered. If this didn't happen Mr.P wouldn't have later apologized and advised Junior to leave the hopeless reservation. This clearly was a significant event that begins to change his life and forces him to think about...
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...Arnold’s Determination Arnold is a boy born with many brain problems, despite his brain problems he turns out to be one of the most determined people in his community. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is a book by Serman Alexie about a boy named Arnold and his life. Arnold grows up with two undependable parents, and his dad was an alcoholic while his mother was an alcoholic. He grows up having a hard life because of his brain damage, so if he gets hit in the head he will suffer severe consequences. Also his parents do not have much money that would help get treatment for his condition. Arnold lives on a reservation with his best friend Rowdy, one day Arnold decides he wants a better life and decides to switch to an mostly all white school called Rearden, with this decision he lost many friends and community members but stays devoted to stay at Rearden. Arnold with his brain damage stays insistent to go to Rearden, make the basketball team at Rearden, and eventually beats his...
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...Submit your text hIn the book, An Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie it talks about a young boy named Junior who lives on the Spokane Reservation. On the reservation, the only thing Indians do is drink and try to forget about the dreams they never achieved. Junior believes that he shares the same fate as everyone else. But Junior decides that he wants to succeed in life, he wants to go beyond staying at the reservation in his parents' home to be left alone with only two things, alcohol and the regret of knowing he didn't do anything great in life. Instead, he tries to understand the world with cartoons and wishes to be the first to truly follow their dreams in life. Junior is the only survivor of leaving the reservation, he knows he doesn’t have to feel helpless...
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...Arnold is the misfit Native American teenager outcast that just wants to find his place in the world. In the novel, the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie, Arnold discovers his true self by trekking his way through a series of challenging events. He breaks stereotypes by coming to realize the struggles of an alcoholic, addictive lifestyle and in the process, finds himself. There are three hundred and thirty six reservations in America. One of the biggest difficulties each reservation faces is addiction. Arnold, as well as many others on these reservations come across the reality of this, in their own homes. The stem of alcoholism among Native Americans can be one of many things, including hurt being passed down among generations and generations. Native Americans have lived in America for years and years, even so, they...
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...According to the 2010 U.S. census, about 22% of our country’s 5.2 million Native Americans live on tribal lands along with reservations. The main character in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is about a Native American who lives on a reservation and learns to follow his own path. The topics in this essay are Indian reservations, Indian schools and, Indians today. Some Indians on reservations are very poor, for example, “I picked up the other boot and dug in side. Man, that thing smelled like booze and fear and failure. I found a wrinkled and damp five dollar bill. “Merry Christmas,” the dad said.” This quote is on page 153. This quote made a point because, junior’s dad is an acholic and because the dad saved...
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