The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian And Smoke Signals

1003 Words5 Pages

The book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian and the movie Smoke Signals are similar stories, but very different. Both of the main characters Junior and Victor are Indians that leave the reservation. Death is a huge part of both stories. In Junior’s story Eugene, his grandmother, and his sister all die. In victor’s story his father dies. The themes of the stories are different. In Junior’s story the theme is to never give up. Junior goes to Reardan in the White town to have a chance at a better life. Victor leaves the reservation to retrieve his father’s ashes. The story is more about forgiveness with Victor forgiving his father.

There are a few similarities between the character Junior, the main character in The Absolutely True …show more content…

It all comes down to discovering how we can win, even when the odds are against us. A major theme in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is never giving up. Junior starts life with serious brain damage and physical abnormalities. His family is poor. He is Indian, he doesn’t have access to the same level of schools, and health care as the white kids. Junior overcomes all his trials though. He goes to Reardan and gets a good education. The theme in Smoke Signals is forgiveness. Victor’s father, drinks and hits both him and his mother. When Victor is a kid, his father leaves. In the beginning of Smoke Signals, the family receives a phone call that Victor’s father is dead. When Victor talks to his father’s neighbour he finds out how much his father missed him; how he was always talking about him, saying how good Victor was at basketball. Throughout the movie Victor is angry at his father and refuses to forgive him for leaving them, but at the end of the story he realizes how much his father missed them and forgives …show more content…

Both main characters, Victor and Junior, are Indians who leave the reservation. In Junior’s story he leaves the reservation to go to Reardan and get a better education. Victor leaves the reservation to get his father’s ashes. The major themes of the stories are different; the theme of Junior’s story is to never give up. Even though he has brain damage and is struggling with family death he continues going to Reardan and trying to improve himself. The theme of Victor’s story is forgiveness: Victor’s father left him when he was a kid and throughout the movie Victor learns the reasons why his father left and finally forgives him. Death and overcoming hardship is a major part of both stories. In Smoke Signals Victor’s father dies, which is what begins the story and gives Victor a reason to leave the Reservation. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian Junior loses family friend Eugene, his grandmother, and his sister, yet manages to survive and even thrive. Both Junior and Victor are victorious in the

Open Document