...of Hydrocephalus? . I'm going to be reviewing a book by Sherman Alexie called “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”. The sidesplitting narrator of The Absolutely True Diary is a fourteen-year-old Native kid named Arnold Spirit, Jr., and Arnold is funny, sensitive, and a budding artist. Arnold, though, is not only a teenage Indian going through the entire usual coming of age stuff. Arnold is also a hydrocephalic with a stutter and a lisp that is picked on ruthlessly. He's the reservation outcast, and he's been beaten to a flesh more times than is probably healthy. Arnold makes a choice to leave the reservation and attend the prosperous white school twenty-two miles away in Reardan. Branded a traitor, Arnold then gets caught between two worlds: his home on the reservation and the white kids' high school he attends. Feeling as though he fits in no where, Arnold is forced to create a new kind of identity for himself... as if being fourteen years old wasn't hard enough. We see how the reservation is a place of great beauty, but also a...
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...Anyone and everyone can make friends. Some you may not of even thought of happening. In the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, there are many friendships. Some you know already know of but some come out of the strangest circumstances. There are many themes present in the book, one particular theme that is present throughout the story is friendships can come out of the strangest circumstances. In the story Junior makes multiple friends in the strangest circumstances.These quotes are part of the most compelling evidence that can be found in the book. The first one is when Junior and Roger start to respect each other and grow closer together. “ Wow, he didn’t kick my ass. He was actually nice. He paid me some respect...
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...In the Book "The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-time Indian" By Sherman Alexie Arnold Transferred schools from and rundown school that he was pushed around at then at his new school he that everyone was all white he didn't get pushed around and it seemed that he had more control/power. There were actually two Different setting at different time periods. The first setting was when he was at an old rundown school and the second setting was when he was at the new all white school that he has power and control at. The story's first book is Wellpinit, the home of the Spokane Indian Reservation where Arnold lives with his mother, father, sister, and grandmother. "I am really just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the...
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...In Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the protagonist in the story is a 14-year old boy named Arnold Spirit Jr., a.k.a Junior, which they call him throughout the story most of the time. The novel begins with Junior explaining how he is Native American and lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation with his mom, dad, sister, and grandmother (Alexie 1-6). He clarifies how he was born with water on his brain, and because of this, he gets treated poorly at school. Kids call him a retard, they pants him, and they shove his head into the toilet (3-4). On the reservation, Rowdy is Junior’s best friend and pretty much his only friend. Rowdy protects and stands up for Junior when he needs help (15-18). The main conflict in the novel is Junior struggling at Wellpinit, which is his school on the reservation and how he transfers to his new school, Reardan. When he transfers to Reardan, he meets Penelope who he has a big crush on and Roger who is the most popular guy in the school. At first, he does not really get along with them, but in the end, they become the best of friends. Junior discovers that no matter where he goes he gets bullied....
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...In the book The Absolutley True Diary of a Part-Time Indian it’s very common on Junior’s reservation for people to give up on their dreams. But it seems like Junior is a exception to that trend. It seems like he will succeed and in the book you can see examples of qualities that Junior has that will correlate into success in his life. Some of the internal qualities Junior has that will help him in his road to success are he is true to himself, he is truthful, and he lives his dreams. Junior is a authentic kid he always is himself and he doesn’t lie to Rowdy when he makes the decison to leave the reservation to go to Reardan he tells him he is going when he easily could have avoided Rowdy from that point on but he is a truthful person so...
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...banning books for their controversial content. Books such as The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie has been banned from many high schools. The story is about Arnold Spirit Jr. who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation and endures many challenges while searching for hope. Although The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian remains banned from some high school for its “unsuitable content,” it should actually be added to the curriculum instead. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should not be banned for it’s positive messages. In the chapter “How To Fight Monsters,” Junior stands up to Roger who had been bullying him: “Did you know that Indians are living proof that n****** f*** buffalo?...that was the most racist thing I’d ever heard in my life...So I punched Roger in the face...I felt brave all of a sudden...I was telling the world I was no longer a human target.” (Alexie64-65). Teens should be able to read this book in school because it reveals an inspiring story of how a weak boy with health deficiencies overcomes a larger worldwide problem: Bullying. Maybe violence isn’t always the answer but what is there to make of the situation when another option of salvation isn’t given. Banning this book would deprive young readers from an encouraging and uprising novel. Many people argue that The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should indeed be banned in high schools for its violent content. For example in the chapter...
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...Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian, tells the story of a boy who betrays other Indians and chooses to go to an all white school, called Reardan, not knowing if his decision will kill him or make him stronger as a human being. In writing The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian, Alexie wants to teach the readers that if you do not attempt, you will not attain. Junior deciding to fight the stereotypes and making a commitment to going to Reardan, show he is willing to succeed no matter what the consequences may be. Additionally, Junior took every small moment of his life seriously, he knew that something as small as making the school basketball team or climbing a frightening pine tree will make a huge impact on his future. Junior knew that if he stayed a coward and didn’t try to change anything for the rest of his life, the misconceptions about Native Americans would be true....
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...How can somebody persevere through racism, poverty, and death? What if they're only fourteen years old? Is the struggle even worth it? In the semi-autobiographical novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the main character, Junior, learns that through perseverance, hope, and the gain of new knowledge, life can get better for anybody (white or otherwise). He overcomes a major school change, abandonment of friends, and the death of family members, but in the bittersweet end, things have started to look up for him. There is evidence of this occurring throughout the book, starting with Junior's (former) pet dog Oscar. On page 15, the quote "After Oscar died, I was so depressed that I thought about crawling into a hole and disappearing forever" tells us that Junior maybe doesn't deal with grief in the healthiest way. However, by page 215, Junior writes "We Indians know how to celebrate our with our dead. And I felt okay" showing that at this point, he's learned how to get through the struggle of the death of his grandmother. Through time, and with the new lessons he's learned, he gained the gift of acceptance....
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...You can overcome anything with the support from those around you. “If you let people into your life they can be pretty...amazing”-Sherman Alexie. In the Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, Junior faces many obstacles. Many things help him overcome his challenges, including his love for drawing, his family, and friends. Undoubtedly, Junior’s love for drawing cartoons helps him overcome many of the challenges he must face. For example, after his grandmother dies one of the ways he greves is through drawing cartoons. Through what he calls his “ceremony of grieving” he drew cartoons and made lists of what he liked. He slowly overcame his grandmother's death through this process, which drawing was a main part of. Furthermore, his family...
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...Racial Discrimination in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian In our world, many of us have either experienced or witnessed the harmful acts of racial discrimination. This includes the use of racial slurs, and slavery. Today, people are more accepting of all faiths and backgrounds. This is one theme that is explored in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The protagonist in this novel is a 14-year-old boy named Junior. He is a member of the Spokane Indian Tribe. Throughout the novel, Junior and the people around him, are being abused through racial slurs. Because of the false accusations that usually form racial discrimination, it has the ability to pose a changing impact, directly or indirectly to our society. In this novel, Junior decides to attend a school featuring students from a dominant white culture. The following quote is an example of how racial discrimination can have a direct impact on our society. “(W)hat was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town” (56). This describes Junior’s reaction towards seeing...
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...Great decisions come with great thought and time. In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Junior had a dilemma that would ultimately affect his life. Although, the pressure was building up Junior made the right decision to leave the Rez and attend Reardan because of the environment and the opportunity to grow and prosper. There was a greater opportunity for growth in Reardan mostly because of their white middle-class population.According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, nearly 9.2% of Native Americans ages 12 and older were current heavy alcohol users, the highest rate of any ethnic group (Hanes 1) while at Reardan a typical middle-class neighborhood almost “more than half of the graduating class...
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...While reading the book, The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian, the main character Junior is living in an undersized Indian Reservation. Within the society, many Indian adults do not get treated equally and don't have as many job opportunities. Which creates a low-income for all the children they might have. Many Indians within the culture grow up poor and have to live every day hoping for food and praying that they don't get sick, Like Junior. Since Junior is poor he has some different characteristics as other “white kids”, “if I turned sideways I would disappear”(3). Junior has to suffer from limited food because his family can afford much, also the fact that he has more than “a few” siblings does not help because they'll have to...
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...Indians have been stereotyped and discriminated by many for abusing alcohol, so people don’t believe they can achieve anything. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, is a young adult book about a boy named Junior who decides to leave the reservation to attend an all white school to better his education. This book has been challenged quite frequently, but it has not been banned as often. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should not be banned because Junior shows humor, determination, and criticism from others. The main character Junior likes to use a great deal of humor because he likes to make life enjoyable. On the first day of high school Junior was in Geometry class and he starts to talk about...
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...In “The Absolutely True Dairy of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, Junior, an Indian struggles on and off the rez .In the beginning, it tells the reader about the main character Junior. Junior is an Indian both of his parents are alcohols. Junior also gets picked on a lot because he is not like the other Indians he does not fight and his head is disfromed. In addition, to all of that he has a sister that lives in the basement. Later, on in the story you learn about Juniors best friend Rowdy. They have been friends since day one. Rowdy is the type of guy that will do anything for Junior. Rowdy also has a very hard life his dad beats on him all the time. One day Rowdy comes over to Junior’s and Rowdy has a bandage around his ear because his dad tries making Rowdy ear bigger all because his dad said that Rowdy wasn’t listening to him. So of course when Junior saw the bandage he asked what happened, but Rowdy just ignored the question....
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...Arnold’s Determination Arnold is a boy born with many brain problems, despite his brain problems he turns out to be one of the most determined people in his community. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is a book by Serman Alexie about a boy named Arnold and his life. Arnold grows up with two undependable parents, and his dad was an alcoholic while his mother was an alcoholic. He grows up having a hard life because of his brain damage, so if he gets hit in the head he will suffer severe consequences. Also his parents do not have much money that would help get treatment for his condition. Arnold lives on a reservation with his best friend Rowdy, one day Arnold decides he wants a better life and decides to switch to an mostly all white school called Rearden, with this decision he lost many friends and community members but stays devoted to stay at Rearden. Arnold with his brain damage stays insistent to go to Rearden, make the basketball team at Rearden, and eventually beats his...
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