Essay On The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

📌Category: Books, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
📌Words: 749
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 18 June 2022

“The quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavour.” The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is full of many important themes. We're going to be focusing on the two that stood out the most: personal courage and spirit. This is shown throughout the whole book through many characters, but we're only going to be talking about three: Junior (the main character), Gordy and Mary.

"Never give up, even if times are tough.” This quote sums up Junior's attitude towards life and how even with all the things life keeps throwing at him, he just has to keep pushing through. Junior probably shows the most personal courage and spirit out of all the characters for many reasons. “Those white kids couldn't believe their eyes. They stared at me like I was Bigfoot or a UFO. What was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town?” (p.63) this quote is from Junior's first day at Reardan making him the first and only Indigenous kid at the school. His decision to start at a new school is pure bravery, especially because he was leaving behind everything he knows. On page 75, Junior stood up for himself against the big bully who was being rude on the first day of school. Though he does admit it wasn't his best choice on how he did it, it still takes a lot of personal courage to stand up to a bully. “On the first day of practice, I stepped onto the court and felt short, skinny, and slow.” (p.148) This quote is from when Junior stepped out of his comfort zone and joined the school's basketball team. On page 156, Junior had to play against his old school and his best friend. When he got to the gym on the reservation, he had people chatting and booing negative things at him. Even with that, Junior continued to go on and win the game, showing so much courage.

Following Junior, we have Grody, who becomes one of Junior's new friends." I don't want to be friends that way. I just meant regular friends. I mean, you and I, we have a lot in common." (p.105) They love to bond over their weird interest that people might not understand." I'm quite aware of my differences. I wouldn't classify them as weird." (p.105) They didn't care what people had to say about them because they knew what they liked, especially Gordy, which takes a lot of personal courage because it's not an easy thing to do. Within the book, Gordy displayed his emotions and personal opinions, which I feel helped Junior open up and be more expressive. On page 187, the teacher was giving Junoir a hard time and Gordy wasn't going to sit back and watch. Gordy stood up for his friend and displayed spirit. “He certainly helped me through school. He not only tutored me and challenged me,” this is how Junior talks about Gordy which is sincere.

“After high school, my sister just froze. Didn’t go to college, didn’t get a job. Didn’t do anything. Kind of sad, I guess. But she is also beautiful and strong and funny” (p.26 - 28). Last but not least, we have Mary." And then I realized that my sister was trying to LIVE a romance novel. Man, that takes courage and imagination” (p.101-102) although it might have taken her a little to find her courage and spirit, but as mentioned in the quote, Mary displays so much courage and spirit by truly going to live her dream.” I love my life! I love my husband! I love Montana!” (p.112). This quote is from the email she sends Junior, which shows how happy she is. Then, on page 146, Mary sends Junoir a different letter to let him know how things are going and shows him her new home, which shows spirit and courage and gives Junoir hope for getting out of the res.

Alexie filled the book up with a variety of important themes that opened our eyes to the obstacles Indigenous families face while keeping it light. Throughout the book, each character had memorable moments that displayed personal courage and spirit. Junior embodies personal courage and spirit by starting at a new school out of the reservation, standing up for himself and joining the basketball team. Also, Gordy shows it when he opens up to the new kid, became friends with Junior and helps his friend when the teacher was disrespecting him. Last but not least, Junior's sister Mary left the reserve, moved to Montana, got married, and followed her dream to write a book. These events all add up and show how much they display personal courage and spirit in the novel.

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