Preview

The Absolutely True Diary Of Part Time Indian Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
682 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Absolutely True Diary Of Part Time Indian Essay
Imagine growing up in a society where you are told that you are dumb and stupid just because of 0your race. Sherman Alexie’s novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian tells the story of how Junior was an outsider because of his race for most of his life, until he made a change. In writing The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie sought to show that determination and hardwork can help you overcome obstacles. Junior not giving up even when he has no support from others and him stepping outside of the box illustrates how dedicated he is to succeeding. Moveover, Junior’s acts of doing things even when he is not expected to demonstrates how hard-working he is.
Junior’s dedication to his personal life illustrates the importance he put on not giving up. Junior knew that if he “took that break [he] would never make the team” (p. 140). By saying this, Junior was indicating that he would not give up, even though it was hard for him. He was not expected to do well in sports because he was Indian, but he did not let that stop him. His determination shows how he wants to do well in basketball to show everyone that he can do it, even if none of them believe in him. In the end, he proved to everyone in the reservation and in Reardan that he can do whatever he puts his mind to,
…show more content…
In analyzing Junior’s dedication to not giving up, doing something different from the norm, and doing the right thing even when no one is looking, it is clear that Junior thinks of learning as a very big, important part of his life. His constant dedication to his education and overall life is evidence to prove that he values learning a lot. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian teaches the reader that dedication, determination and hardwork can help a person overcome any

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the book, “ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- Time Indian, A kid named Junior, tells us his life story. He starts off in his reservation. Later in the book He finds courage and transfers schools to Reardan. Reardan is a school that is located outside of the rez, with all whites. Even though there are some disadvantages about going to a school with people that are a different race, He had some good outcomes. He went to get a better education. Not only did He get a better education, but He had an opportunity to do sports. Junior succeeded in that department tremendously.…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Junior both hopes and fears in many ways some can be good and others can be devastating. Junior has a tough life he gets bullied at school, and at the reservation. Rowdy is junior's best friend, but when junior moved to a new school to create a better future for himself and to stop getting bullied Rowdy and him got into a fight and stopped being friends. During the basketball game Rowdy gave junior a concussion on purpose. People have always hit and abused Junior, like when he was raising money for the homeless and people jumped him and took everything.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Analysis of Sherman Alexie's novel. Centers on character of John Smith, a man caught between two worlds: the Indian and the White and not at home in either world. Issue of John's intolerance; his suffering, alientation and violence. Negative impact of intolerance of white society and co-workers. Author's message.…

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    At the beginning of the book, Junior believes that most of the hope and opportunity in Spokane and Rearden, rests with white people. We know that he believes this because of what he says on page 50 when he recalls playing rich, white Rearden teams in competitions, he says, “Those kids were magnificent. The knew everything. And they were beautiful. They were beautiful and smart. They were beautiful and smart and epic. They were filled with hope.” This quote confirms Junior’s original belief that the hope rests with white people. Also as a result of this, we can infer that he doesn’t think he is as good as white people, which might be why the teams from the Reservation (rez) always lose to the Rearden teams. The rez teams lose to the Rearden teams not because the Rearden kids are more athletic or smarter, but because the rez teams don’t think that they can win.…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory 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

    Sherman Alexie was a young Indian child that was driven to know how to read and right. He was determined to turn other opinions, that didn't matter to him, down and set out to do what he had the desire to do. Alexie didn't let the stereotype that ¨he was an Indian¨ slow him down either. Indians were expected to be at a lower education level, but Alexie wasn't willing to obtain that thought. Frustrated with the lack of change in his Indian community, Sherman Alexie sets out to defy stereotypes, and save the lives of those without equal chance through reading and writing.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Junior is accepting of the loss and depression that he is facing. On of the first loses in the book that Junior faces is his grandmother dying. “ My grandmother's last act on Earth was a call for forgiveness, love, and tolerance.” His grandmother was very positive and helps Junior through hard times and it was really difficult to see his grandmother die, but he didn’t give up but accepted what he was going through and stayed positive. The second biggest loss is when his sister died. “No,” Miss Warren said. “ Your sister, she’s dead.” Junior could easily become really depressed and not do anything but he accepts what happened to him and that is how he overcomes his losses and depression.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    P gave him advice to leave the reservation. Mr. P’s advice to Junior was to leave the Rez so he wont give up on hope. Soon as Juniors parents got home he asked his parents to transfer him to a different school. Then his parents started to name the schools that all the poor kids attended such as Springdale and Hunters, but Junior refused. Junior wanted to go to Rearden because it was one of the best small schools in the state, had a computer room, huge chemistry lab, two basketball gyms, and a drama club. But going Rearden made Junior feel like a Part-Time Indian. The reason he feels like an Part-Time Indian is because he felt like he belonged to two tribes. Junior felt like he had to play two different roles, when he is at his reservation he was Junior and when he went to Rearden he was known as Arnold. So he becomes a multi-tribal…

    • 1808 Words
    • 8 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

    Nobody thought that it would be possible for an Indian to bring back a victory for Rearden, one of the many all white schools. Junior decided to transfer to Rearden and this decision turned many heads. Most of the Indians in the Reservation were extremely dishonoured by his choice and decided to seclude him from their community. Not only did he lose his community but, he also lost his only best friend Rowdy. Despite all that, Junior knew that it was best for him to leave all of this behind so that he can have a better future. Fighting through the verbal abuse that he faced at Rearden he decided to showcase his skills after joining their varsity basketball team. He travelled back to his hometown of Wellpinit to play his first game of the season…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 1960’s, when Sherman Alexie was born, was not an easy time for people of colored backgrounds. With the Civil Rights Movement and other movements for colored people, it must have been difficult for Native Americans to make it in life. By reading books and acquiring knowledge, even a Native American can be successful and “save his life.” Even though they were expected to fail during this time period, acquiring wisdom made them smarter in school, causing them to gain respect, not pity from whites. Alexie tries to express the idea that reading books can give one knowledge, therefore allowing them, white or colored, to be successful in life to “save their life.” Alexie believes that by reading books, he “saves his life” and becomes successful, inspiring other Indians in his society to follow his path and “save their lives.”…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author’s persona in “An Indian Father’s Plea”, written by Robert Lake, is an angry Indian father who is upset with the treatment of his child in school. He claims the teacher has, “already labeled him a “slow learner”’ because his son is Indian (Lake 109). This plays on the major controversial topic of racial or cultural profiling. The narrator speaks in a very intelligent tone, which only proves to his argument that you can be culturally diverse and intellectual. “An Indian Father’s Plea” is a prime example of why you cannot judge a book by its…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After accidentally throwing a book at his teacher, he was told to leave the reservation so he wouldn’t lose hope. As a result of leaving, Junior lost his best friend, gained a new friend, had an identity problem and now he feels to blame for the deaths of his sister. After leaving the reservation, Juniors sister mary got married and moved to Montana. Furthermore, Mary lived in a trailer home with her husband. After drinking so much one night Mary and her husband knocked out in their bedroom. Therefore, someone left the stove on and as a result of that, mary and her husband burned to death. Mary's dream was to write a romance novel but because she lost hope, after Junior left the reservation mary ran off to live her romance novel. At the funeral, Junior ran into the woods where he saw rowdy crying, “It’s all your fault… your sister is dead because of you left us. You killed her” (211). As Rowdy ran deeper into the woods, “I had killed my sister” (211). Afterwards Junior was starting to lose hope but his friends at Reardan gave him hope by standing up for him when he walked into class late. In conclusion, even though Junior left the reservation, lost his best friend, gained new ones, had an identity problem and blamed himself for the death of his sister Junior had a bright future…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “I have to prove that I am stronger than everybody else. I have to prove that I will never give up. I will never quit playing hard.” pg (132). Junior is an intelligent Native American teenager that wishes for nothing more than a hopeful future. Though the story is written with a humorous tone the message of the novel is tragic. The tragedy that Alexie through the voice of Arnold presents in his story is that Native American have under privileged lives due to their history and culture. Society has grown to expect them to fail which in turn discouraged them and sucked them dry to their hope and then they continue to live in their poverty. Arnold, who is the exception, finds the courage to leave the reservation even though he is racked with guilt to know that his tribe because they couldn’t find the mutation to prove society wrong.…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    After Junior throws the book at Mr. P’s face, he visits Junior at his house. He says to Junior, “You need to leave this reservation. . . the only thing you kids are being taught is how to give up” (42). Junior feared being like every other Indian by giving up. So he made the bravest decision of his life. He decided to switch to the all-white high school, Reardan. Many people tried to convince him to say and got mad at him for leaving. Rowdy, Junior’s best friend, is a great example. As soon as Junior told him he was switching, Rowdy punched him right in the face. Rowdy is known for being the strong, scary, aggressive boy, who you wouldn’t want to mess with. Another example is Junior’s parents. They asked him many, many times if…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays