The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

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Junior’s Poverty One’s achievements are based on how hard one works. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, We are introduced to Junior a young Native American boy who wants to better himself and not follow in the same footsteps as his family or others in the reservations. He brings it upon himself to change schools and become someone, other than just another poor drunk Native American in the Rez. He is faced with many obstacles for leaving his school in the reservation and going to Reardan, an all-white school in the white part of town. During his experience he finds the true meaning of friendship, love, hope, as well as poverty and loss. Although Junior is faced with many obstacles and not many people believe in him, Alexie reminds the reader that in spite of struggle within poverty and loss through Junior’s experience, one can achieve greatness and find the true meaning of hope within their souls. From the beginning of the novel Alexie has used Juniors poverty to show the effects it has caused, in both a good and bad way. We are introduced to Juniors poverty when he states, “And sure, sometimes, my family misses a meal, and sleep is the only thing we have for dinner, but I know that, sooner or later, my parents will come bursting through the door with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken”(8). Many Native American are known for being poor, Junior is one of them. The thought of missing a meal, not because you want to but because you have to shows the poverty that Junior and his family faced. Many reasons why Indians are poor is because they never had someone push them into achieving more. Junior goes on and says that his parents had dream and they didn’t achieve anything because, “Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty teaches you how to be poor” (13). Alexie indicates
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