Preview

Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian Summary

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1002 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian Summary
January 17, 2013 Nicole Samuels
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

Chapter 1-3 Summary

In chapter one, we are introduced to the narrator, Arnold Spirit, nicknamed Junior. He describes himself, as being of lanky build, with an overly large skull, feet and hands. He has a medical condition called Hydrocephalus, which is an excess of fluid in the skull causing swelling of the brain. Junior went through a very risky surgery at the age of 6 months, which would normally kill or permanently damage the brain of the patient, but luckily came out undamaged. Junior has frequent seizures, a lisp and stutter. He matured having 42 teeth and had to get 10 pulled all at once with minimal novocaine. He could only have cheap glasses with big black frames. He lives on the reservation and is the weakest and smallest of them all so is beat up frequently and belongs to “the Black-Eye-of-the-Month-Club”. He tells us about how he loves to draw, and that it is the only thing he is good at. Chapter two is where Junior reveals that he is poor, saying that he is "just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation". He also gives us the very important math equation of “Poverty = empty refrigerator + empty stomach”. He tells about how good a piece of KFC chicken tastes after not eating for a long time. He tells us about how he wishes he could blames his parents for their poverty but cant because he loves them too much and they were born into poverty as were their parents, and their parents, and so on and so forth. He talks about how his parents had dreams but didn’t do anything about it, and draws a picture of who his parents could have been if they had followed their dreams. He tells us about how being poor makes you feel, like you’re hopeless. Junior also delves into a painful memory

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In Arnold's case, poverty is a very serious situation, which has impacted his life into many negative aspects. Poverty among Native Americans affects them more physically than academically or socially because they have limited services and transportation. In the book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, Arnold has a very difficult time getting to school because he lives on the reservation and his school is 22 miles away. In one situation, Arnold said "My dad was supposed to pick me up. But he wasn't sure if he'd have enough gas money...If they didn't come, I'd start walking...Twenty-two miles. I got blisters each time" (Alexie 87-88). Arnold's biggest struggle everyday is trying to get to school. There…

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All Junior has ever known is poverty, but he is able to recognize that his situation is bad. Junior analyzes his situation saying “it sucks to be poor, and it sucks even more to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor (13)”. Junior is aware of the fact that he…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. ¨ If youŕe good at it, and you love it, and it helps you navigate the river of the world, then it can not be wrong.¨ This book is about how people can make mistakes and abuse others in a negative way. Things can lead out into violence and to death and heartbreak. Three characters who hope and fear are Rowdy, Mary, and Junior.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Every human being will face personal challenges and what makes it different is, how we accept those obstacles and how we make decision to overcome those challenges in our life. The absolutely true dairy of part time Indian by Sherman Alexie clearly shows how a typical Native American faces challenges in his life. In order to become a better version of ourselves, Arnold and myself had to overcome challenges like getting better education, adapting to new life style and believing ourselves and we both experienced racism. Arnold Sprit and I have to face obstacles to get a better education.…

    • 1161 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian” (PTI) is a novel written by Sherman Alexie. The novel follows a Native-American teenage boy named Arnold who lives on a reservation that has to suffer through the troubles of being the only Indian teenager in an all white school at Reardan. The challenges that confronted him when he started at Reardan seemed menacing, but through his personal spirit and courage he was able to achieve success at the school. Some of Arnold’s successes include his triumph in the Varsity basketball team as their “secret weapon”, his academic efforts and his charismatic persona which helped him blend into the all white school.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hidden America Summary

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages

    At the beginning, Sawyer says that the Lakota Sioux is “one of the poorest populations in America” (ABC 2011). Each individual highlighted throughout the video experiences poverty. Robert Looks Twice, a 12 year old, walked Sawyer through his house, pointing out the broken floor and leaking roof. He also showed his messy bedroom that was crowded with other kids and freezing cold. The schools on the reservation are also in poor conditions. Principal Whitewolf showed Sawyer the areas of her school that contained asbestos, which was not her biggest concern. “When kids come on Monday their really hungry because they haven't had anything to eat through the weekend,” she said (ABC 2011). Each sociological perspective offers a different explanation for poverty. The functional perspective says that poverty serves a social function and inequality is inevitable. Whereas the interactionist perspective says that poverty is a learned phenomenon (Leon-Guerrero, 47).…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine losing your best friend, dog, grandmother and sister in all one year. Junior, the main character in The absolutely true diary of a part time indian by Sherman Alexie overcame this, and more! Junior, the main character, has to also face all the problems of a modern day teenager, while being the only Indian at school, the only Indian who goes to a white school at home, and home being a entire 22 miles from school. Junior endures many things, while in poverty and sadness, which then enables him to help him get through the rest of his life, tougher and more confident of what he can do. The book was placed back when the book was made, 2007, but it could easily be placed in present day.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Junior

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Junior is the main character and the narrator of the novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie. At the beginning of the novel Junior introduces himself as a guy born with a brain damage, 42 teeth, and very big feet (shoe size 12 in the third grade). He has large hands, an epic skull and a very skinny body. “With my big feet and pencil body, I looked like a capital L walking down the road“ (p.12, II.28-29).…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Junior exhibited a different form of wealth when Reardan became an environment that began to lack the constant discrimination and prejudice he felt when he first started attending school there. This moment of self-awareness allowed him to see the inequality at the Reardan v. Wellpinit basketball game rematch after he won. Junior describes “I mean, jeez, all of the seniors on our team were going to college” and “I knew that none of them was going to college. Not one of them” (195). The image Junior narrates for the reader, depicts the systemic problem of poverty is a result of inequality. For a second, Junior was comfortable enough that he almost forgot the oppression but reality soon sets. In order for Junior to attain hope, he had to assimialte to the culture that benefitted off of the reservation’s…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Leaving the reservation can affect individual love ones and can impact the future. In the story The Absolute True diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, a boy named Junior is born with cerebral spinal fluid inside his skull. As a result of being born with cerebral, “I ended up with forty-two teeth. The typical human has thirty-two right? But i had forty-two… My brain left me nearsighted in one eye and farsighted in the other… My hands and feet were huge… And my skull was enormous” (3). Also, Junior was smarter than every kid in his school. After throwing a book and accidentally hitting Mr.P, he says, “You have to leave this reservation… Forever… The only thing you kids are being taught is how to give up… all these kids have given up……

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Defeatism is a dangerous mind set to have. When one expects to fail and accept it, is likely one will fail. Defeatism takes away one’s ability to handle pressure and one’s composure. It leaves a person unable to handle events in an effective way. It also robs people of the ability they will need to succeed at whatever they set out to do. With a defeatist attitude people give up quickly and fold at the first sign of trouble. In the book The Absolute True Story Of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi several of the characters suffered from a defeatist attitude. “Self-confidence is an inner quality that is not a steady state. It comes and goes depending on the environment we find ourselves in”. (Edmunds, USA Today) The characters Arnold, Rowdy and Arnold’s parents all displayed life altering attitudes of defeatism.…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At one point or another, whether we grew up poor or are living as poor college students now, many Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and the vast majority of us think we know very well what it means to be poor. And while many of us are fortunate never to know true poverty, we are rarely so fortunate to know true financial security. Many Americans are only a small medical emergency or moderate natural disasters away from extreme financial distress, or even bankruptcy. The authors of The Glass Castle and Being Poor extraordinarily impact their readers about the issue of poverty based on their own experiences, the time periods, and their specific childhoods.…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Essay On The Glass Castle

    • 1927 Words
    • 8 Pages

    For example when Jeannette was trying to own up to her sister's promise she couldn’t. She wanted to so bad but to other people that had read that quote that's motivation that the author was trying to tell us. Why this illustrates with other people till today is that there's examples out in the real world with poverty and also have their own different type of struggles just as Jeannette’s. On the page 255 Jeannette presents again about being homelessness from the parents view making the entire situation that they’re in a great wild adventure. The parents disguise the truth to the kids making their lives look like a breeze in the wind and refuse to even tell the truth. The parents like being poor they say to Jeannette Walls and the other children because having money is being spoiled and giving your children too much attention is bad as well. The parents almost make it sound that being homeless good and being poor is a good thing. That is why when Jeannette and the other kids try offering money to help their parents they refuse. This describes a deep introduction to…

    • 1927 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    When freshman change schools, does it impact their identity? The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is about an young kid named Junior goes through a dramatic change of schools and friends but manages to make it work. “School Days of an Indian Girl” by Zitkala-Sa is about a Indian girl who is forced into a boarding school and has to the teacher they to make her forget about her culture. In The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Junior’s identity has changed by being brave by playing in the basketball game, then to making friends at Reardan High School and being more of a forgiving person to Rowdy.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays