The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

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WHY HE WEPT—A MISCONCEPTION By Laurel Higdon How would it be if people actually wept because of something wonderful that you did? Can you imagine how it would be to be carried on the shoulders of your teammates after a particularly wonderful game? I imagine that it would be awesome. I think that it would be like a dream. In the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior gets to experience this, after a basketball game against his former best friend and people that he lives around every day. In this piece, we learn that things are not always as they seem. I think this is shown through the character’s actions, the internal and external dialogue, and through what we know historically about the Native Americans and through Junior. To begin with, I will show that the character of Junior changes to show that things are not always as they seem. At first, Junior is determined to “demoralize” the “evil Wellpinit Redskins.” He continually describes them as the enemy, and in some respects thinks of with as little consideration as others. I think that the author’s craft in this story really helps to show this. At first, there are a lot of things in all caps. Often, these even end in exclamation points. This shows excitement. Even the word choice that Alexie uses, indicates the type of person that Junior is at first. I think that he feels ashamed to be called an Indian like these other players, and considers himself far above them. At the end, he realizes that these are the people that he knows, that these Indians are just struggling to make it every day. When he sees that they are the underdogs, and not the enemy as he thought before, something in him changes, and he even runs to the bathroom to throw up and cry. I believe that he feels that his treatment of them before is not justified. He realizes that these are

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