The Part-Time Indian By Sherman Alexie

The novel Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese, depicts the societal injustices done to the Native Americans in the 1960s. The protagonist, Saul, endures an arduous journey that extends throughout his life. At the beginning of his life, he lived with his native family, only to get ripped away from them by an atrocious residential school. The horrid residential school, St. Jeromes, inflicted detrimental damage upon Saul, physically and emotionally. Saul was able to escape the confines of the school through hockey.

The short story is about an Indian named Junior Polatkin and his school career from 1st grade to graduation. He had a hard time being at school and each grade, he tells us something he has learned. Junior went to school on an Indian reservation from 1st grade to 7th grade. The government tried to keep the Indians on the reservations and wants to make them more like Americans. When Junior was in first grade the government tried to make him less like an Indian and this can be seen when he said, “My hair was too short and my U.S. Government glasses were horn rimmed, ugly, and all that” (Alexie 170).

Mr. p was one of the biggest inspirations to juniors actions. If it weren't for him Junior would be stuck at the rez forever and most likely become like all the other adults, drunk and angry. When junior began his journey to achieve his goals at Reardan it was very difficult. He was the only “different” kid there. Different meaning he was the only Indian in a school of white kids.

Sexual violence is a sensitive topic for any and every woman. Whether it is sexual harassment, rape, or domestic violence, no woman wants to be taken advantage of by any man or even a woman. In the article, “Not an Indian Tradition. The Sexual Colonization of Native Peoples,” author Andrea Smith contrasts sexual violence and history from white woman to Native American women. Sexual violence differs for woman of color than white women alone.

Life of a teenage Indian was hard being forced to leave. We were ran out of our land by men with guns. When we left we said goodbye to the mountains. We were put on a trail in winter many of us did not survive. This trail was taking us from are homes in Georgia to Kansas.

Sometimes when you think someone has given up all hope, they might just surprise you and run; run towards their dreams and use the last glimmer of hope they had left. They surprise you with their sudden barrage of inspiration. Mary Spirit from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a prime example of sudden inspiration and spontaneity however, at first this side of Mary is certainly hidden. When I was first introduced to Mary I felt that she had an intimidating and frigid attitude. Arnold states “After high school, my sister just froze.

This quote shows how Juniors goes through stuggles with money because nobody wants to hire a “Resevation Indian boy”. This helps present how hard it is for a avrage kid on the reservation get a job so they would struggle with money because of this

Rowdy was an upstander but also a bully and a brave person in the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” written by Sherman Alexie. Rowdy was the best friend of Junior , the main character of the novel. Rowdy helps Junior by protecting him. Rowdy was a good friend to Junior since the Andruss brothers who were triplets and about 30 years old hit Junior and Rowdy wasn't scared of them even if they were older than him. Rowdy did whatever he could to keep his relationship with Junior.

An author by the name of Gloria Jahoda describes how an Indian population dropped and how the responsible ones for this action due to the whites. Johoda make all Indians to be an image of defenseless as she states in her readings. I believe that she felt that excuses for Indians because they were not fighting for what was rightfully theirs. Indians did not know how to stand up for themselves, and instead let the whites bully them. Unfortunately citizenship was granted with and exception to the Choctaws not living their everyday life style and due to this fact under citizenship, the tribal government was abolished.

It helps teach individuals on the struggles that Indians endured. It also made Americans aware what Indians were promised, but had failed to receive from the government. The authors also spoke of how the Indians were forced to leave their homes. The words in each of the excerpts help people become aware of how Indians were treated. Each author approached race differently in their excerpts and had different ideas about the Indian race.

An individual that conforms to society will only go as far as society allows. It seems as if an individual’s personal aspirations are held at the will of society’s judgment if there is even a slight whiff of deviation from the ‘social norm.’ Arnold is a teenage boy who dreams big but feels limited due to his circumstances, so he seeks better education at Reardan. On the surface, Sherman Alexie’s, “The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian” portrays a teenager’s struggle of poverty growing up on an Indian reservation, however, it more importantly conveys an individual’s struggle against societal constraints. Arnold has a clear conscious when it comes to the reality of the poverty he lives in.

The short story “One-Two-Three Little Indians” shows examples of the effects of colonization on Native Americans. The differences of culture between the Native Americans and the Americans caused them to resist their colonization, creating cultural conflict. “One-Two-Three Little Indians” is based in the early 1920’s. The story follows a Native American couple and their baby son. The

Faced with many obstacles from poverty to racial stereotypes, Junior must override them if he is to make his life better than that of fellow Indians. Interestingly, rather than letting the obstacles hold him back Junior understands that his destiny is in his own hands and he must celebrate who he is even if it means fighting. In the end, we see a boy who have managed to overcome all hardships to get to the top, even if it means making tough choices such as changing schools, therefore is could be seen that race and stereotypes only made Junior

Expectations often impose an inescapable reality. In the short story “Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie, Victor often struggles with Indian and American expectations during school. Alexie utilizes parallelism in the construction of each vignette, introducing a memoir of tension and concluding with a statement about Victor’s difficulties, to explore the conflict between cultures’ expectations and realities. Alexei initially uses parallelism to commence each vignette with cultural tension. In second grade, Victor undergoes a conflict with his missionary teacher, who coerced Victor into taking an advanced spelling test and cutting his braids.

Throughout history, there have been many literary studies that focused on the culture and traditions of Native Americans. Native writers have worked painstakingly on tribal histories, and their works have made us realize that we have not learned the full story of the Native American tribes. Deborah Miranda has written a collective tribal memoir, “Bad Indians”, drawing on ancestral memory that revealed aspects of an indigenous worldview and contributed to update our understanding of the mission system, settler colonialism and histories of American Indians about how they underwent cruel violence and exploitation. Her memoir successfully addressed past grievances of colonialism and also recognized and honored indigenous knowledge and identity.