The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Essay

This book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, is about a boy called Arnold Spirit aka Junior. He is a Native American that lives in an Indian Reservation. He isnt really satisfied with his life, since hes pretty poor, but he gets along. He doesnt really accept himself, since he has multiple medical problems, and he has been beaten up since he was little. When he starts to gain more friends in this new (American) school, he starts to like and accept himself more than before. In this book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (by Sherman Alexie), the main theme is about Arnold trying to accept himself. At first Junior didnt like himself; he was constantly beaten up (but saved by his†¦show more content†¦109), because hes an absolute stranger to Reardan, and also, Penelopes dad is racist. Still, they become close friends and start dating. He also makes friends with Roger (surprisingly), since Roger is a friend of Penelope. When Junior made the basketball team, they become closer. Roger even gave Junior a ride home after a basketball game. Arnold also becomes a friend of a geek, Gordy. They were both outcasts, and they understood how it felt to not fit in. After making all these friends, he feels that he is starting to fit in with the white people. Even after hanging out with a bunch of the American people, Arnold still feels attached to his own heritage. He loves his family and his best friend, Rowdy, and he feels that he needs to make amends with Rowdy. He was really scared that Rowdy would hate him and Junior would need to leave his old Indian self. Later he fixed his problems while playing one-on-one (basketball) for hours... (pg. 230) and they didnt keep score (pg. 230). Also, Junior cares about his family a lot. When two of them died in a row (his grandmother and sister), he didnt know what to do without them. He also thinks that Indians are forgiving of any kind of eccentricity (until the Americans came). Gay people were seen as magical, too...Gay people could do anything. They were like Swiss army knives! (pg. 155). He is pretty accepting of his heritage. He knows that he is Indian going to a whiteShow MoreRelatedThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Essay1131 Words   |  5 Pagesof life, and making sense of one’s self and identity becomes a priority. Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian addresses the challenges of adolescence in an engaging tale, but deals with minority communities and cultures as well. Establishing an identity has been called one of the most important milestones of adolescent development (Ruffin, 2009). Additionally, a central part of identity development includes ethnic identity (ACT for Youth, 2002). While some teens searchRead MoreThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Essay795 Words   |  4 PagesIt All Goes Down Wellpinit and Reardan, WA The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian features two main settings, the Pacific Northwest towns of Wellpinit and Reardan. These contrasting locations – one an impoverished Indian reservation and the other an affluent white community – become very important to the ever-shifting identity of our narrator, Arnold Spirit, Jr. Wellpinit, WA First, theres Wellpinit, the home of the Spokane Indian Reservation where Arnold lives with his mother, fatherRead MoreAbsolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Analysis Essay1292 Words   |  6 PagesShort Answer Questions Leslie Silko has said that If we Indians do not represent our communities as we see them, then others ...will concoct fantasies that pass for the truth. What truths does Alexie represent in his novel about Indian communities? The audience discovers there are many truths between the ‘Indian communities’ that Sherman Alexie describes in his novel. One truth is the fact that in American Indian communities, inhabitants feel a loss of culture due to the mainstream items thatRead MoreThe House On Mango Street And The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Essay1168 Words   |  5 Pagesstill making them relatable to the audience. They can recognize the common conflicts within the readers and incorporate them into their main characters in a unique way. The main characters from The House On Mango Street and The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian have common internal and external conflicts throughout the story that are relatable to the expected audience. Their physical differences are factors that cause individual problems, but also help to contribute to the connection betweenRead MoreAnalysis Of Sherman Alexies The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian1175 Words   |  5 Pages The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, reveals one of life’s most relevant purposes that stretches across cultural and relates to every person. The novel examines the life of the strong-willed Arnold also known as Junior who goes constantly back and forth with his identity as he lives between Arnold and Junior. Identity is most simply defined as a persons own sense of self, their personal sense of who they are. In this essay research was gathered from the novel; The Absolutely True DiaryRead MoreThe Power Of Opportunity For Young Adults1346 Words   |  6 PagesEssay #2: The Power of Opportunity for Young Adults Author Sherman Alexie once stated that he writes to give teens â€Å"Weapons in the form of words†. He writes these words to empower the youth generation. He writes to encourage, and direct the â€Å"ever-struggling† young adult. Most of his novels, and written publications attest the idea of opportunity for teens that are battling negative environmental factors. Factors such as poverty, alcoholism, or prejudice. Alexie uses enthusiastic, and critical in-textRead MoreHow Boys Become Men Essay example933 Words   |  4 Pagesus and are willing to do anything just to resemble coolness and absolutely no tolerability of getting pushed around. It called Guy Code, a set of ruthless, unspoken rules and every guy knows one, never show fear. Men are the worst when it comes to expressing any type of physical affection and a lot of it has to do with the way men are raised as children. Junior, the main character in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I believe does however, conform to the explanation outlined by KatzRead MoreThe Color Purple ( Purple )998 Words   |  4 PagesIn this essay, I will be comparing The Color Purple (Purple), The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Indian), and Just Mercy (Mercy). I am analyzing these three books because there is a theme of brokenness. In each book, their brokenness is apart of the characters rising above the stereotypes they were set to be. Through each hardship in each book, each character finds their strength to fight back against their brokenness through support of others, their selves, and the stories of othersRead MoreThe Absolutely True Dairy Of A Part Time Indian By Sherman Alexie1557 Words   |  7 Pages Essay: The Absolutely True Dairy of a Part-Time Indian. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,† by Sherman Alexie is a book full of valuable life lessons and themes. The book expresses about the experiences of racism, prejudices towards other people, and living in poverty. Reading this book has taught me some valuable lessons, some of them being; Identity and self-esteem, and family relations. The book s main character is Arnold Spirit or, JuniorRead MoreAnalysis Of The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian1044 Words   |  5 PagesThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian essay Mentors are people who provide support, strength, and inspiration. Many people have a mentor in their life that they aspire to be like, and seek out for guidance. Mentors play a big role in many lives, including Juniors from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Some of the biggest mentors for Junior are his parents, his Wellpinit teacher Mr. P and his Rearden basketball coach. If it werent for these mentors inspiration The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Essay Adolescents experience a developmental journey as they transition from child to adult, and in doing so are faced with many developmental milestones. Physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes are occurring during this tumultuous stage of life, and making sense of one’s self and identity becomes a priority. Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian addresses the challenges of adolescence in an engaging tale, but deals with minority communities and cultures as well. Establishing an identity has been called one of the most important milestones of adolescent development (Ruffin, 2009). Additionally, a central part of identity development includes ethnic identity (ACT for Youth, 2002). While some teens search†¦show more content†¦Not only is Junior unpopular and alienated, but the victim of taunts and bullying as well. Furthermore, he’s considered a traitor after he transfers to Reardon. At Reardon, he’s called names and endures racial jokes until he finally finds acceptance through basketball and surprisingly finds friends with similar interests. Ultimately, Junior comes to the â€Å"huge realization† that not only does he belong to the Spokane Indian tribe, but to no less than 13 additional groups (Basketball players, cartoonists, bookworms, and sons to name a few). It is the first time he knows that he will be â€Å"OK†, sending a positive message to readers that identify with his struggles. By reading abo ut characters similar to themselves, young adults can see that their challenges are not unique and are shared by other adolescents (Bucher Hinton, 2009) Junior’s discovery of identity and place within his world is a predominant theme in the novel and one with which teens can relate; however, several other young adult characteristics and developmental issues are addressed as well. Junior and his peers are experiencing a time of rapid physical, hormonal and cognitive development as are the most likely readers of the book. Like many adolescent girls, Penelope is concerned with her body appearance and popularity. She is a bulimic attempting to keep up her â€Å"pretty and smart and popular† (108) image. Junior is concerned with appearances in a more internal way - hiding hisShow MoreRelatedThe Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian1296 Words   |  6 PagesIn Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) a teenage boy named Junior, explains his struggle of breaking the cycle of his indigenous people and moving between an Indian American reservation (the ‘rez’) and a mains tream school in a town called Reardon. The protagonist explains, through first-person accounts, his life on the reservation and his experiences as he attempts to break the cycle of alcoholism and poverty that is imposed on him merely because he is an IndigenousRead MoreThe Absolutely True Diary Of The Part Time Indian1932 Words   |  8 Pageslifestyles, sexual situations, violence, and inappropriate behavior for the age it s been given to. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is one of those books and actually almost consists of all of the reasons most books are banned. The book is actually one, if not the most, challenged book in the United States. Sherman Alexie s 2007 novel The Absolutely True Diary of the Part-Time Indian is considered a controversial novel because of it s demeaning references to alcohol, poverty, bullyingRead MoreThe Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian2462 Words   |  10 PagesAdolescence is a time of Changes Adolescents experience a multitude of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social, and mental changes during a short span of years in their developmental journey to adulthood, and this transition period is full of many developmental changes and milestones. Some typical changes and milestones in an adolescent’s life include puberty, learning to drive, dating, developing new social relationships and social roles, cognitive changes, becoming sexually active, obtainingRead MoreThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian799 Words   |  4 PagesThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian After reading the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I got a much better understanding of what that title means. When you think of part-time you normally think of having a part-time job when you only work some days but not all the time. Well that is a lot like the life of the main character in this story. Throughout the book, Junior manages to be â€Å"half Indian† and â€Å"half white.† He says â€Å" It was like being Indian was my jobRead MoreThe Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian2017 Words   |  9 PagesTrauma in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian In Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Alexie shows trauma in a realistic and believable way. He has characters experience traumatic events that stay with them and affect them for a long time, and change said characters in a significant way. He also shows characters who share a common trauma, but react differently - to the point where some characters experience trauma from a situation while others do notRead MoreThe Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Essay1409 Words   |  6 PagesNicolà ¡s Juà ¡rez â€Å"Each funeral was a funeral for all of us†: Notions of Race, Identity and Mortality in Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian The American Indian occupies a unique place in the White American imaginary. Indians, one is told, are cordial, wise, poor in the â€Å"humble poverty† sort of way, brown, there assist whites with either mystic knowledge or humorous ignorance. Figures such as Squanto, Tonto and Disney’s Pocahontas along with a large smattering of WesternsRead MoreThe Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian1050 Words   |  5 PagesArnold/Junior Spirit is a fourteen year old Spokane Indian who lives on a small reservation in Washington state. In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a part-Time Indian, Junior leaves his reservation for a primary white school called Reardan to find hope. He struggles with friendships, family, basketball, school work and identity through the year. His experiences on and off the reservation, are constantly changing his beliefs to become less racist and more positive. For example, Junior beginsRead MoreThe Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian126 7 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"I was born with water on the brain† (Alexie 1), Sherman Alexie starts his novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. His first sentence explains it all; the main character of his book, Arnold Spirit Junior, is not an ordinary boy. Junior was born with a rare condition called Hydrocephalus; it made him prone to seizures, brain damages and to get picked on and bullied. However, the same impairment makes him a fighter. He fights off his brain surgery, seizures and the bullies. He fightsRead MoreThe Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Essay1869 Words   |  8 PagesIn a novel by Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, important issues are brought to light, such as poverty, racism, alienation, and more, with little to no sugar coating. It is a one of a kind novel due to the vivid descriptions and sense of humor that give a first-person perspective on the life of a teenage Indian struggling through life an d pushing past all odds in search of success. This book focuses on a small isolated reservation in Wellpinit Washington. As it bringsRead MoreThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Essay763 Words   |  4 PagesThis book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, is about a boy called Arnold Spirit aka Junior. He is a Native American that lives in an Indian Reservation. He isnt really satisfied with his life, since hes pretty poor, but he gets along. He doesnt really accept himself, since he has multiple medical problems, and he has been beaten up since he was little. When he starts to gain more friends in this new (American) school, he starts to like and accept himself more