Absolute Diary Of a Part Ime Indian

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Christina Mckinzie February 29, 2012 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger show how two characters dealt with their stress. Both are the main characters in their novels. Junior has water in the brain and is picked on because of it. Holden experienced a tragic death and lost his ambition in life. These two characters deal with problems in their lives. Junior deals with his problem in a more sanguine way than holden does. One thing Arnold does not do is complain. Even though he was "born with water on the brain", gigantic feet, ten more teeth then normal, stutter and a lisp, Arnold still doesn't complain though. Just because he does not complain does not mean he loves the life he was given. Junior still thinks life would have been much easier if he was white. He tends to put himself down quit often. Alexie Sherman illustrates what differences there are between the Indians and the white people. "Indians covered their private parts with their tiny hands" (Alexie 11). Saying that Indians have tiny hands indicates that the whites had bigger hands therefore meaning that they were more powerful and superior over the whites. Another thing Alexie Sherman shows the readers is that Arnold has very low self-esteem because he's used to people calling him retarded so often that he starts to believe he really is. "And then you'd be wondering why you're reading a story written by such a retard" (Alexie 4). It shows that Arnold doesn't have that much confidence in himself and he believes Indians are treated the way they are because they deserve to be. Holden thinks most people are phonies. He went through most of the book pointing out the flaws in everyone he met. He had no ambition to do anything.
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