The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Literary Analysis “The Absolutely True Diary Of a Part Time Indian” is a native based novel written by Sherman Alexie about a small Indian boy named Arnold, but called Junior by everyone on his reservation. Arnold struggles with his identity, torn between a part of his Native culture and another in his white cultured school. Along with this, his best friend, Rowdy, starts holding a grudge against Arnold, precisely because he changed schools, as if Arnold only changed schools to hurt him. Arnold went to the white school because of their improved academics, instead of the school on the reservation, where the teachers try to “Kill the Indian to save the child” but end up damaging them instead. Showing Natives as stoic people with no emotions or feelings, the novel also disrupts the stereotype of the stoic Indian by revealing humour in difficult situations, a supportive community, and through the characters of Rowdy and Mary (Arnold’s sister).
Katlynn Shemwell Shemwell 1 October 16, 2012 American lit. Choices In the beginning of this story Tom was a little boy and only really knew of the Ute ways that his mother and fathering were holding on to. Although his parents held on tightly to the way of the “Indian life” Tom began to learn English. In my opinion he should have never learned our language whether or not he went to live in town with Blue Elk. If he had never learned English or if he had refused to learn it he could have ignored everyone and what they were trying to teach him.
It started with Victor’s encounter with other Indian boys bullying him because of his too short hair and horn-rimmed, ugly glasses. Victor was constantly bullied until one day he fought back. Bullying wasn’t contained to his fellow classmates; one teacher, Betty Towle, was impartial to him because he was Indian. He was given a test designed for junior high students and was punished for answering everything right. In the fourth grade, Victor’s father started drinking.
In a section of the book called “The Truth about the First Thanksgiving,” Loewen examines and unravels the actual facts of this event versus the fabricated tale being taught to children for decades, concluding that authors of American history books have been ignoring certain significant occurrences in order to sanctify this country’s past, leaving people unknowledgeable. In order to support his thesis, there are many historical events that Loewen expanded on, one of them being the role of the Indians during the “discovery” of America. After realizing that many of his students could not recollect learning anything about a plague, Loewen started investigating there. He states, “Only three of the twelve textbooks even mention Indian disease as a factor of Plymouth or anywhere in New England.” When the first settlers arrived on Indian land, they brought over vast amounts of disease that the Indians had no immune system to defend, therefore killing 90% of their population. By admitting there was a catastrophic plague, allowing villages and cleared land to be abandoned, authors would be openly telling students that our founders did not work as hard as we thought they did.
Mohandas Gandhi’s ways of life and beliefs had to begin with his own life. Gandhi was born October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India (Paston, 7-8). Gandhi wasn’t very social and did average in his schooling, but he was obedient. Although he wasn’t always a perfect child, Gandhi did try eating meat, smoking, and stealing, but afterwards regret fell over him. Gandhi’s father died while he was still in school and was married at the age of 13 making so Gandhi learned great responsibility early (Rosenburg, internet).
John Rogers found it interesting that the story of John Rogers relates a segment from his childhood, yet does not mention his father until the last two pages. Then, the recollection is brief, alluding to the fact that the father had left the family. "As Mother talked, we children fogot all about what we were so eager to hear about the trouble that had made Mother and Father forget the love that had once brought them together. " This statement raises more questions that it answers. Was this so common amongst the Native Americans that no explanation was necessary?
Whitman made every attempt possible to stay away from his family’s farm and to not become a farmer, which his father strongly pushed for (Folsom and Price 2). After the fires in New York, he moved back home, but did not go near farming instead turning to teaching (Folsom and Price 2). Walt Whitman’s basic teaching methods were simple and somewhat new to the era. He knew basic reading and writing, but he was a very profound writer and did not discipline children the
School was hard for César because the teachers only spoke English and César did not understand English. César thought some teachers were mean because they would punish him when he spoke Spanish. César learned to read English in school and he learned to read Spanish from his uncles. César’s parents were very strict and taught him and his sisters
He started having trouble since he was entering the class. Victor was a guy who was nervous because he was weak in English and other student and teacher assumed that Mexicans were bad, dirty people. His school was strict and all the students had to go according to rule of the school. He also did pee in the class when the teacher did not let him go to the restroom. When he speaks in Spanish language with his friends in class his teacher used to yell at him by saying only English!
In his essay, “An Indian Father’s Plea”, Medicine Grizzlybear Lake describes a father’s concern about his son’s education and is writing a letter to his son’s teacher asking her to be considerate of their culture. Lake starts his letter by introducing his son, Wind-Wolf. He says Wind-Wolf is a shy and quiet kid. He has dark brown eyes, black hair and was born and raised on the reservation. Wind-Wolf is only five years old and in kindergarten.