Roxanne Nivicela
Mr. Rodriguez
Academic Literacy 21 April 2023 Analytical essay Does your social class define you? People will judge, but not all people are the same. In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the setting takes place on the Spokane Indian reservation near Wellpinit. The genre is young adult fiction. In the novel young adults come together and share their social classes. In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the author Alexie portrays the damaging effects of poverty in the novel in a negative way. Since Junior recently moved to his new school Reardan he was suffering a ton of bullying due to the fact that he was a poor Indian
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Roger finds Junior in the bathroom and says he supposes Junior is sick with love. “Junior says yes, but he also forgot his wallet. Roger tells him not to worry and lends him forty dollars on the spot,” (126). This explains how Roger has a soft spot for Junior since he would easily lend him money with no commentary. Later in the parking lot, Penelope asks Junior if he is poor. Willingly Junior confesses. Penelope had said that Roger was able to guess that Junior was poor but reassured Junior that they wouldn't discuss this with anyone. Later on, Junior had to walk home since his father was not able to pick him up. Junior waited for everyone to leave so he could start walking home. But a few seconds later Penople appears and asks Junior “Junior is your will really coming to pick you up? Junior says no, and Penelope cries at the thought of Junior walking home twenty miles at three a.m. in the cold. Penelope tells Roger that Junior has no ride, and Roger takes Junior home,” (Alexie, 129). Penelope and Roger are kind-hearted and no matter what they are always willing to help a friend in need no matter what their situation …show more content…
Both in a positive and negative way. Penelope in this case dresses up as a homeless person for a protest of homeless people in this country. “I'm going to ask for a spare change tonight, instead of can't, and I'm going to give it all to the homeless,” (Alexie, 78). Meaning that Penelope isn’t just a rich white girl who doesn't care about the poor. She's someone who decided not to have fun on Halloween but instead to help out the poor people who are in need. All those “pretty, pretty, pretty white girls ignored me.”(Alexie, 63) The white girls felt so entitled, not to acknowledge someone of Junior’s social class. This shows the difference between the people you surround yourself with because, in this all-white school, he is not respected as a person, and is not even looked at. At his old school where there was more of his social class, he never experienced this personally, the lower class, isn't as entitled as the upper
This is proven to be true during Junior’s high school dance, when he wears his dad’s suit and is complimented by Penelope since it leads him to think that “every girl was immediately breathless at the sight of [his] bell-bottom slacks.” Thus, by claiming that girls fell in love with him because what his outfit, it indicates that he is more self-assured about his looks as he no longer describes himself in a belittling manner such as saying that he has too many teeth. Instead, he now perceives himself in a more confident way since he believes he is good looking enough to pull off an outfit that make girls “immediately breathless.” Furthermore, after Junior and Roger compete in a one-on-one game at basketball tryouts, Junior declares that “[he knows he’s] going to make the team.” When he finds out that this is true, he announces that “[he is] going to be [the coach’s]
In this book, Social class is a significant issue that is illustrated through unfair treatment, friendships, and education.
In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Native American author Sherman Alexie covers the struggles of Indians living in poverty on the Spokane Indian Reservation. This story tells about Junior’s upbringing on the reservation and informs people about his family's struggles with poverty and the hardships they had to face because of it. Alexie uses conflict, irony, and symbolism. To help people understand the idea of poverty on the rez, and how it affected him, his freinds, and family. Alexie uses symbolism to represent poverty on the Spokane reservation.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should be taught at DHS. It teaches a person about reality and about the struggles of the world, yes it uses profanity and sexual, but it shows what can happen to a teenager and showing them what could happen to them. The absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a wonderful and fantastic book. Reardan, the all white school Junior transfers to, is about 23 miles off the reservation. This means he either has to hitchhike or walk because his family can’t afford the money for gas, that could be someone in a teen in Douglas community.
He still sees them as his parents and tries to support them in there depressed situation. Junior begins to accept what he cannot change, but that doesn't mean he gives up on what he loves or
A Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit, Washington is the setting of Alexie’s book. The Indian reservation gives us a firsthand look of a poverty stricken community. The main character in the book Arnold and his family and mostly all other families living on this reservation are poor. Their community is isolated from society; the main character feels that “the reservation is meant to be a prison” in the sense that they are isolated from the real world (Alexie 216).
Lyric Sinan Sinanian Mr. Rodriguez Academic Literacy 21 April 2023 The Issue of Poverty The damaging consequences of poverty are a big issue in America, and have raised in severity over the years. In the realistic fiction novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the life of a poor Native American exhibits the terrors of poverty and how it can affect families within the poor communities in the country. The economically unfortunate have seen the worse come over them and their family.
The Part- Time Indian The book, The Part- Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, is a book that school should keep encouraging students to read this because students should learn about American-Indians, the student can relate to it, and it shows how to help people to work together. Sometimes students are not aware of what American-Indians have gone through in American history. Indians were exposed to horrible fighting and were kicked out of their reservations because new settlers wanted to take over. Many were killed and taken from their settlements. An example from the book is when Junior punched Roger in the face.
Social classes, a term used to describe the division of society, usually based on social or economical richness, has existed for a long time. One is usually born into a social class and is in that class for the rest of their lives. African American’s in the 70s, suffered a lot with gaps of different social classes as they were on the bottom of the social ladder. This can be illustrated in the short story, “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, with a group of kids that live in extreme poverty and depression. Toni Cade Bambara conveys the lesson of breaking free from social classes through symbolism of both the paperweight and the sailboat.
This shows that Junior’s friends like Roger accept him even though he’s poor and doesn’t share that secret. It also shows that Penelope accepts him as well as she’s saying this with a sincere tone towards Junior. The story also states “‘I thought you hated me,’ I said. ‘I do,’ he said. ‘But I’m bored.’
In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes.
Junior initially shows this quality when he averts his lack of money at the breakfast after the dance. Sick with worry, Junior confesses his lack of money to Roger, who responds with care by lending him money. Though Junior lies about the location of his wallet out of shame, he bravely asks for help from Roger. Thus, he approaches his dilemma with courage which indicates his capability to acclimate. Also, Junior reacts to the heartbreak of his grandmother’s death by finding an outlet to his struggles.
In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Arnold Spirit makes the tough decision to stop attending Wellpinit High School. Arnold was raised around reservation kids all his life and isn’t familiar with the norms of any other group of people. This move brings struggles to both him and his parents. In the novel, Arnold realizes Reardan values the education of their students more than Wellpinit and decides he is better off attending Reardan.
Maybe.” The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie Sherman is a YA novel that is in Spokane, Washington. The main character, Junior struggles with numerous problems, and finding hope outside his reservation is his escape. One of Junior’s biggest problems he often encounters is poverty. Too far deep in hardship that he possibly can’t afford one plate of pancakes.
The Round House by Louise Erdrich and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie both examine the relationship between Indians on a reservation and their non-Indian neighbors. Throughout these novels, Indian and non-Indian relationships are punctuated with systems of white supremacy, which manifest both in non-Indians’ ideological belief in their supremacy, and in the material disparity between Indian and non-Indian communities. In The Round House, white superiority is primarily expressed in ideological measure, while The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian focuses largely on the material sphere, but the themes are not mutually exclusive. The Round House focuses primarily on the convoluted relationship between Indians and non-Indian neighbors.