My thoughts on Diary

By -


My overall reaction to reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is quite complex. A part of me is inspired to try and reach my goals and dreams. Nothing should feel impossible to me after reading this. This novel serves as an inspiration because I did not grow up with nearly as many treacherous roadblocks and obstacles such as Junior. The other part of me is truly saddened that not only Junior but, real Native Americans go through these situations daily. It is heartbreaking to think that the government has thrown away an entire culture onto a reservation and left the people with ancient resources. The only one being renewable is alcohol.
I can only slightly relate to the topics Sherman Alexie discusses in the novel. Junior mentions over and over that he feels since transferring schools he feels half-white on the reservation and half-Indian while he is in class. Growing up around the years of elementary school, I attended school in a really small town filled with parents who didn’t look like mine. I had a few white friends at school and thought the same would go for my after school activities. At school, people thought I was mixed. I guess I was tolerable to them. After school, I went to a camp every day and the white kids did not like or want to be around me. I do not know why the dynamic changed but, suddenly I had to try and appear “blacker” in order to have black friends that would accept me. The flip flop was tiring for me as it was for Junior.
          In the same context, this text relates to Native Son by Richard Wright because had to transform into a completely different man to try and get a job at a white man’s home. While he was with his family getting dressed for it he talked how a typical black man would in New York. Yet, as soon as he stepped onto the man’s yard he was a completely different type of man from New York. What Junior, the character in Native Son, and myself have been through as regards to image is sadly not uncommon at all to many people in America.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Pains - The Symbolism of the Tree in Speak

By -
I have felt the paralyzing pain of internal disease. The kind of trauma that causes your mouth to curl in and swallow you whole. I, like so many other women, are walking the halls in Melinda’s shoes in “Speak.” I thought Laurie Anderson did a phenomenal job of twisting all of the tribulations a high school girl goes through, into the tree that Melinda is. Whether we’re as strong as an oak or weak as a bush, we have all gone through the disease that strikes Melinda from the inside out. Melinda is like a half-dead tree. Some parts of her strive to blossom and create beauty. Other parts are broken and diseased. Like a dead tree, Melinda needs to save herself and “cut off the damage, [so it] is possible for the tree to grow again” (187). The symbolism of a tree is significant in “Speak.” Trees reflect her growing process. In the beginning, Melinda is a sick and lifeless tree. Her view is negative and dark. She’s so far past repair, bursts of sunlight do her no good. Sunlight would be pe
Read more

How Starr Goes from Acting to Embracing in The Hate U Give

By -
In The Hate U Give, Starr Carter is caught between two worlds. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but her father sends her and her brothers to a private school where she is surrounded by white people. She talks about acting differently depending on what group she is around, which can create some identity problems. She says on page 11, "Funny how it works with white kids though. It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black." When at Williamson, she sees white kids that think it's cool to engage in black culture, but she knows they don't understand what she goes through in her Garden Heights community. She witnessed her friend Natasha's death when she was 10 years old, and she sees gang activity in her community all the time. When she is among her black friends, like at the party, they tease her for hanging out with the white kids. This reminds me of a Drake song where he says, "I used to get teased for being black, and now I'm
Read more

Postmodernism in Curious Incident

By -
Before I start writing, I first want to acknowledge that I just really loved this book! It seemed like a lot of the class had trouble enjoying or appreciating the novel because it's so different stylistically, which is understandable, but all of those unique elements helped make the novel more authentic. The main topic I want to focus on (also what I'm writing my paper on) is how a lot of postmodernist elements were used in the novel to make Christopher come to life. While obviously not every postmodern novel is about an autistic kid, I think Haddon really used a lot of these elements to his advantage and they ended up working out really well to characterize Christopher. One of the major postmodern elements which helps this book really craft an authentic portrayal of autism is the fact that it's metafictive. Basically, this means it's a "story within a story." Readers would be extremely limited just reading the parts of the novel which are meant to be C
Read more