book

Part-Time Indian - Racism and Guardians

21 Pages 1056 Words 1557 Views

Throughout the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, there are many circumstances that mention race. Not only do they just mention race, but they go into many discriminatory facts based on race. For example, when Junior, a poor Indian boy who was born with disabilities, wanted to go to the all-white school, he talked about being hated because he was Indian, but he was also worried about being hated on the reservation because he left to join this all-white school. He thought that because he was the minority at his new school he would get treated poorly, but in reality, they were much nicer to him. I believe this was trying to show that even though racism still exists in some forms, which it does, doesn’t mean that there are not people who know how to look past the skin color of one person, or maybe the language or dialect that one speaks. The writer, Sherman Alexie, is trying to prove that even though he is writing about a specific race, that things such as in the book happen on a daily basis. Let’s be honest, we all judge people in one way, shape or form; regardless of whether it is good or bad judgment, it is judgment nonetheless. In this story though, there is an emphasis put on Arnold because he is special and a minority. The author wants to make it obvious who the target is, but he also wants us to know that whether or not Arnold was special, he still would have been bullied. Rowdy is kind of like Arnold’s guardian throughout the book, and he is played as a standout character because he was a bully, but never truly bullied Arnold. He was Arnold’s only real friend until he got to the all-white school, but Rowdy would stand up to bullies who were picking on Junior even though he was a bully himself (Pg. 16). In my opinion, it makes me think that Rowdy used to be bullied himself and sees some of himself in Arnold. Throughout the reading, Arnold always speaks about Rowdy and how Rowdy would get angry with

Read Full Essay