Grief and Trauma
Grief and Trauma
Grief can be described as a collection of sorrow, misery and pain, which is usually followed by trauma. Grief and trauma are intensely expressed in the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The main Character, Arnold Spirit Junior experiences grief when his grandmother passes away due to a car incident. Following by the death of Eugene, a close family friend, and the tragedy of Mary, Junior and his parents are severely traumatized by the incidents. When Junior comes to the conclusion that his grandmother as the best Indian on the reservation, a drunk driver kills his Grandmother on her way back home from a powwow and sorrow begins to develop inside Junior because he has lost the most tolerate person he ever knew. Many Indians grieved by telling stories of her and most cry with tears of melancholies. However, Junior’s mother still hasn’t forgotten how to laugh, which sets everyone else off and they were all able to laugh through their tears too. They grieve through laughter and tears because “when it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing” (page 166). The majority of them want to take death positively because they know that grieving does not have to be a horrible thing. Grieving is just a way to express deep feelings towards someone’s death. Thus, it does not have to be completely painful and it can involve some joy as well. However, the grieving process does change as many deaths occur. When it comes to the death of Eugene, who is shot by his drunken friend, Junior has very different feelings when grieving. “[They’d] lost [his] grandmother and Eugene. How much loss were [they] supposed to endure? [He felt] hopeless and stupid” (page 171). Junior finds that the world is joyless and he wants to give up his life. Junior was very mad and traumatized that he lost two important people in his life. To stay calm,
Grief can be described as a collection of sorrow, misery and pain, which is usually followed by trauma. Grief and trauma are intensely expressed in the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The main Character, Arnold Spirit Junior experiences grief when his grandmother passes away due to a car incident. Following by the death of Eugene, a close family friend, and the tragedy of Mary, Junior and his parents are severely traumatized by the incidents. When Junior comes to the conclusion that his grandmother as the best Indian on the reservation, a drunk driver kills his Grandmother on her way back home from a powwow and sorrow begins to develop inside Junior because he has lost the most tolerate person he ever knew. Many Indians grieved by telling stories of her and most cry with tears of melancholies. However, Junior’s mother still hasn’t forgotten how to laugh, which sets everyone else off and they were all able to laugh through their tears too. They grieve through laughter and tears because “when it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing” (page 166). The majority of them want to take death positively because they know that grieving does not have to be a horrible thing. Grieving is just a way to express deep feelings towards someone’s death. Thus, it does not have to be completely painful and it can involve some joy as well. However, the grieving process does change as many deaths occur. When it comes to the death of Eugene, who is shot by his drunken friend, Junior has very different feelings when grieving. “[They’d] lost [his] grandmother and Eugene. How much loss were [they] supposed to endure? [He felt] hopeless and stupid” (page 171). Junior finds that the world is joyless and he wants to give up his life. Junior was very mad and traumatized that he lost two important people in his life. To stay calm,