Have you ever lost someone you loved or was important in your life? Well Junior has, he has lost many people in his life. He has gone to a total of 42 funerals in his lifetime and he is only 14. You will find out more about Junior in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Most of the people Junior has lost were due to alcohol. Alcohol is an epidemic within the Indian reservation as well as all over the world. There are many themes present in the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. One particular theme that is present throughout the story is that alcoholism kills and ruins lives.
In this section I will use quotes to show and prove why Junior hates alcohol and how it affects him as well as others. My first quote is “Yep, my grandmother was pow-wow famous. Everybody loved her; she loved everybody. In facts, last week, she was walking back home from a mini pow-wow at the Spokane Tribal Community Center, when she was struck and killed by a drunk driver” (Alexie 156 -157). I used
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So why is this theme important? Why should the reader care. This theme is important because it shows how alcohol can affect and damage lives. It shows the aftermath of getting drunk and what horrible things can happen while you are drunk. It is important to know that this might happen to the reader if they consume alcohol. This might happen to a person they love. It might happen to a stranger that the reader doesn’t know, but it will affect that stranger and will change their life completely. Many people have been changed because of the epidemic of alcohol. Many more people will get changed because of alcohol. Many more lives will be changed, the reader might be changed because of this. That is why it is important for the reader to learn and understand this throughout this
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.
Junior’s father’s drinking problems and the lack of funds to afford decent living conditions on the reservation are prevalent issues throughout the book that provide an insight into this theme. This proves that the author has written this novel to exhibit the hardships of those in poverty are detrimental to a child’s future. First, the novel shows the hardships of poverty by showing the discrimination made against Junior. On page 86, Junior states he “remembered when I [he] used to be a human being,” (Alexie 86).
In the poem “Spirit in Me” by Esther G. Belin,and the novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie both characters share similar life experiences such as effects from alcoholism that affect their lives negatively. Everyone in life has a goal they need to reach and to reach your goal you might have to go through emotional times and so did Junior from the book and the speaker from the poem. Junior and the speaker were facing life the hard way because of the effects of alcohol.in the first story junirs family was being targeted by alcohole one by one becsue the rezervation was a place where evyone got got drunk and died because of that or they were killed by people who were drunk. “We’d lost my grandmother and Eugen
Alcohol is at the root of many stories of Indigenous people that are heard on television and the news. Alcohol always seems to be the root cause of car accidents, murders and assaults. The stereotype of the “drunken Indian” plays such a vivid role in way people perceive Indigenous people . Because of the misunderstanding and marginalization that these people face, they get stereotypes placed on them that do not showcase their culture and way of living but instead showcase the mistakes and problems that they may be suffering from. Instead of bringing up the mistakes that some Indigenous people are dealing with, there should be steps taken for these people to rectify the substance abuse problems that they are facing .
No matter the place in the world there are always leaders and followers, but sometimes there are people who take their own route. Within The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior is that person who takes his own route. This is because of all the conflicts surrounding him. Junior’s decisions were impacted by the conflicts around him because he wanted to try his best to escape the hostile environment he was in. When people are facing adversity they don’t want to accept what is happening they want to fight back.
ANELISWA NALA 2015317601 ENGL1624 DUE: 28 OCTOBER 2016 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has one mutual theme that associates all the other themes in the novel together. In the chapter titled; “Valentine Heart,” we encompass the most prominent and most cognisant theme of them all- grief. This chapter conveys the most detectable attributes of grief that functions as both an individual and collective process of dealing with loss. Argumentatively one could say that grieving has its fair share of adversities.
He suffers and struggles with loss throughout the story. Right from birth life isn’t easy for Junior, but the love and closeness of his family is very helpful. Over the course of the story he has to learn to accept the loss of key people in his life. His grandmother, Eugene, and sister pass away leaving him to deal and cope with it.
He says this during the intense rivalry between his old school, Wellpinit, and his new school, Reardan High School. When Junior says this he means that one event in your life can change the way you are going to live forever. For example, when Junior decides to do something with his life and go to Reardan High School, he changes the path of his education for the better. If Junior stayed on the reservation he was going to go to a bad school and not get a good education. Going your own way can pay off in the long term.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a story about Arnold with brain damage and many conflicts. Arnold is different then other people in his tribe. He has a massive head, and his feet are gigantic. As Arnold grows older a teacher persuades him to leave his home in order to go to a different school. By going to this other school Arnold will become successful then most people in his tribe.
In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes.
Alcohol and Stereotypes keep native Americans in the reservations just like Junior 's family, in the novel, Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Before Junior transferred to Reardan High School, he got suspended from school and his teacher, Mr P., came to his house, “ 'And you’re a bright and shining star, too, ' he said. 'You’re the smartest kid in the school. And I don’t want you to fail. I don’t want you to fade away.
Facing struggles of life defines one’s character in life. The ability to confront one’s problems speaks volumes about their strength in character, hopefulness, and flexibility as a person. Through struggles, sacrifice, and tragedy, Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Junior adapts to survive difficult situations and faces his problems head-on. As he makes radical changes to his life, adapts to unfamiliar culture, and finds himself amongst misery and heartbreak, Junior demonstrates this ability to overcome wicked adversity and struggles.
Perseverance: The Road to Success and Maturation Life knocks people down all the time. But it is said that it doesn't matter how many times a person gets knocked down, it is how many times that person gets back up. This is called perseverance, which can be used to help those succeed and overcome the hardships in their life. In “The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” Alexie uses the protagonist Junior, to show how perseverance can be an effective trait, as it helps him conquer the obstacles in his life, and also expand his limits.
Argument for Banning “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” Book in Middle Schools Published in 2007, “The Absolutely True Diary of Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie says about the moving story of a Native American teenager named Arnold Spirit who made the bold decision to attend an all-white high school from Spokane reservation to find hope for the future in the Reardan. This volume won the National Book Award in 2007 and won several other awards. Even though this novel can be power of education, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” paperback should be banned because this is not appropriate for middle schools.
Overcoming a challenge, not giving up, and not being afraid of change are a few themes demonstrated in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Perhaps the most prominent theme derived from the novel is defying the odds, or in other words rising above the expectations of others. Junior Spirit exemplifies this theme throughout the entirety of the book. As Junior is an Indian, he almost expects that he will never leave the reservation, become an alcoholic, and live in poverty like the other Indians on the reservation—only if he sits around and does not endeavor to change his fate. When Junior shares the backstory of his parents, he says that his mother and father came from “poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people” (11).