Essay on Sherman Alexie's book

Rainalene Tolentino

English 102

deWit

Great heights of an Indian

               Have you ever taken any risks in order to succeed in life? Almost everyone had gotten to think about this question before every choice they make in life. Nothing easy comes worthy. People take risks through success because good things don’t just show up on their doorstep without pain and struggles beforehand. Success comes from every risk we take in hope for a better lifestyle where our tolerance has to be proven.

              In the book The Absolutely true diary of a Part-time Indian, Sherman Alexie exposed the struggles that American Indians have to endure on their daily lives.  For example, he used grief as one of the important scenario throughout the book in order to deliver a dramatic impact towards his readers. “We’d lost my grandmother and Eugene. How much loss were we supposed to endure?” This quote signifies the troubles Junior had to go through. Losing people that are part of his life is one thing, and yet he has to face bullies and find himself. Such as, concluding all the traumatic events, Junior knows he had to stand tall and kept on moving and so he did, “I mean, I can’t even tell you how I found the strength to get up every morning. And yet, every morning, I did get up and go to school”. By using grief, he achieved sorrow and pain that would soon lead to optimism, hope. For instance, Junior help himself stays afloat within his own manners, “It all gave me hope – And I kept trying to find the little pieces of joy in my life. That’s the only way I managed to make it through all of that death and change”.

                In addition, he help himself stays in the surface by illustrating some sarcastically detailed drawings to ensure his point. His drawings do the work because with it, he can speak his mind the way he see things and nobody can stop him from doing so. One of the important sketches he done was when he drew himself as half white and half Indian. In which, he illustrated the huge difference, obviously in a sarcastic manner where the white have all the expensive and latest accessories and the Indian had nothing but a simple clothes and a garbage bag on its hand. For example, the white has a bright future while the Indian has a vanishing past. This shows how he has hope for the whites and learning in the same school with them would help him be like them. Whereas, studying with the Indians would leave him with nothing but a bone-crushing reality and a hopeless dream. He wanted to be different and so he took his chance into finally being the first to join the whites and left for Reardan.

               Junior has hope that things will soon get better if he persist and continue pursuing his dreams. He hopes that one day, he can prove that standing up and being different for once will only make it better. Hoping that his tribe will also stand up for their dreams and hold on to it until they find the path that would lead them to success. For example, Junior woke up when his teacher Mr. P made him realize that he is not just an ordinary Indian like the rest, “You’re the smartest kid in the school. And I don’t want you to fail. I don’t want you to fade away. You deserve better”. Mr. P made his point by emphasizing Junior’s importance and his existence is not the type that should give up on following his dreams but rather follow this future. To follow his given faith that he deserve, in any means necessary. He also kept himself focus and self-reliable by keeping hope within himself. Moreover, Junior showed us the kind of dreams that is playing on his head when he was talking to Penelope, “we were supposed to be happy with our limitations. But there was no way Penelope and I were going to sit still. Nope, we both wanted to fly”.

                  Meanwhile, people tend to distinguish risk taking as negative effect in life , though people who take such actions outlook this in a different manner; whereas if you do not know how to take chances you may regret it later on. After all, you have one life to live. For instance, when Rowdy decided to climb the monster tree that is almost 100 feet high with no doubt Junior accept the challenge, “I was scared, sure,  terrified … but it was also fun”. This shows how he doesn’t mind taking chances and dealing with life as he goes. It also demonstrates how strong minded he can be, and trust his intuition as he reached branches to the next. He also gets the inspiration from his sister who left the Rez before him in order to follow her dreams and experience life in different ways she possibly can. “It was courageous of her to leave the basement -- searching for her dreams, and she didn’t find them, but she made the attempt”. He knew that his sister did not die because she followed her dream but because she have the audacity to step out and see things in a different perspective and experience life the way she have pictured it . Still, due to this he had learned to understand that life has no safety guarantee and no one gets out of it alive, but rather live it to the fullest and learn as you go along.  Because being someone successful is a huge deal for his being, he took a risk and left the Rez even though everyone opposes.

                Moreover, tolerance is one of the biggest reasons Junior had kept on moving with his life. After all, he encountered few trials where he tested his tolerance towards other people. For example, his father went out drinking on Christmas day and instead of buying essential things like, presents and or dinner.  Junior, instead of getting infuriated, he forgave his father accepting his wrongdoing. He did not judge his father because of his offense: instead he put himself in his father’s position. Because he knew his father deals with his struggles through drinking his life away. For instance, coming home from the night of drinking his father gave him five dollars in exchange of his forgiveness, “I got you something” – “I picked up the other boot and dug inside. Man that thing smelled like booze and fear and failure—I found a wrinkled and damp five dollar bill”. He did not want to be like him but rather be known for something big not for being a drunken master. This kept him motivated to keep moving forward or else end like his father and everyone else in the Rez.

               Furthermore, after his grandma’s tragic death everything went downhill to which he almost wanted to give up from all the things he had been fighting for. Concluding the fact that everyone make mistakes and that nobody is perfect rather different in their own special ways Junior kept faith within him, striving for every little moments he could cherish for as long as he can lived. For example, he knew that throughout the struggles we face in our daily lives we have to cling to the small beautiful things, “In the middle of a crazy and drunk life, you have to hang on to the good and sober moments tightly”. Such as, forgiving people that had done us wrong and letting go of the hatred that holds us.

             In conclusion, Junior had all the support and happiness he could admire including all the struggles he had to face. His trials made him a better person, and it helped him understand himself despite of all the other people who insisted to be part of his life. After all, towards the end of the book his best friend Rowdy came back to him and they played basketball. And Rowdy’s confession that he is happy for Junior, and what he had become, “I always knew you were going to leave. I always knew you were going to leave us behind and travel the world.” – You looked happy. And I was happy for you”. This explains how Rowdy still cares for him even after he left the reservation. He knew that no matter who we choose to be in life, there would always be someone who would accept you and respect your choice. Since Junior followed his dreams, Rowdy didn’t give up on him. And Arnold did not give up on himself.