Oscar Mendoza 802
My essay on my banned book
In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is about an Native American boy named Junior the age of 14 and how he struggles to find himself in his old of white people and Indians. He is a special Native American filled with hope that has not been diminished by others around him and goes to school at a white town where he’s told that is where hope is. He ask his parents which people have the most hope and they both respond at the same time saying white people.This book is about how a young man is struggling to find who he wants to be and how wants to represent himself.
One way Junior struggles to find himself is that he does not know if he is going to represent himself as a white person or Native American. For example according to the book it states that “Can an Indian have a legacy in a white town? Should an Indian even worry about his legacy?”(pg. 182). Junior is a starter on the varsity basketball team and his other great teammates are compared to great white players in the past, but no one compares Junior to any player because he’s Indian. Junior still worries about his legacy and if he will be remembered which is something very strange for an Indian that Junior even knows that it’s weird. Junior struggles to know which “type” of person is he going to be or remembered as.
Another way Junior struggles to find himself is when he wonders if he should even be at the “white kids” school. For example, according to the book it states “I felt like someone had shoved me into a rocket ship and blasted me into a new planet. I was a freaky alien and there was no way I could get home.” Junior makes it seem as if he was a completely different species and he wasn’t human. He does not know “the ways” of the new people and he is a stranger, He knows that there is turning back because his Indian community disowned him and if he goes back to the Indian school he will be destroyed. Junior knows this is the right place to be if he wants a brighter future and he still does not know if he should stay Indian or not because of how confused he is about turning back or staying where hope is.
The last way Junior struggles to find his true identity is when he compares Native americans and white people. For example, according to the story it states" And when i looked over I saw the sad face of all of those Native Americans, whose parents are probably drunks, deal with weed or other drugs, those boys whose dads will probably beat them for losing the game and probably didn't have any food to eat all day. (pg.195). junior sees what his race is how they are in some serious issues that are life threatening and these Native American kids lives are just going to get worse and worse as they grow up. He later looks on the white kids his school and sees this “Yes these kids had some issues in their lives but none of them were life threatening, All of them were going to college, had their own cars ipods and mothers and fathers with good jobs that supported them and didn't have to worry about surviving or not.”(pg.195).Junior feels his struggle here the most if he wants to seek a better life a harder life that requires more work or lose all his hope in himself and his life and be in a near death situation all the time.
In conclusion, this is why Junior is very confused if he should represent himself as a Native American or should try to find a brighter future with the white people as he is told that they have the most hope. He is confused all thought out the novel until he finds that the “white kids” school is the right place for him to be, but deep down inside he does know that he is a Native American and he can not change his appearance of his skin or anything of the outside, but he can change who he wants to be in the future
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