Battle of Waterloo Research Paper

Arnold’s tribe judges him on his decision to go to a white school, and he reflects on their ridicule, his reflection was that he did not feel okay. After being asked how he felt, Arnold replied “No (Alexie,Pg.114),” Arnold was disappointed that so many people that he knew had turned against him, it felt like for him that he was alone in a fight against everyone. The white society judges Arnold as well, they ridicule him by calling him names such as Chief, Tonto, Squaw Boy, Sitting Bull, and Red-Skin, Arnold reflects on this ridicule, he was scared. Arnold meant that he actually feared for his life as he was not sure whether or not the bullies would beat him to death, bullying can go to any lengths, the bullying was becoming more serious, he was terrified. In conclusion, Arnold was judged by both, his tribe and the white society, and he reflected upon throughout many points in the

Physical impediments were not Arnold’s only concern growing up. The lack of money also leads Arnold to experience pain not only from hunger but from losing his best friend because his family could not afford the medication. Arnold describes his best friend as “a better person than any human he had ever known” and “the only living thing he could depend on.” Oscar was Arnold’s dog; the way Arnold describes their relationship highlights the isolation that Arnold endured growing up and the death of his dog served as a reminder of his limitations in the reservation. This tragedy leads Arnold to wonder about his parents and the dreams they had as children and why they were not able to achieve them. Arnold concludes that his parents could have gone to college, especially his mother who loves to read and is like a “human tape recorder” according to Arnold, but no one paid attention to their dreams. Through his thought process, we are able to see that Arnold viewed college as the solution to poverty. His unfortunate situation reminded him of his status as an Indian as he states, “we reservation Indians don’t get to realize our dreams. We don’t get those chances. Or choices. We’re just poor. That’s all we are.”

In the beginning of the book, Arnold started off feeling a bit hopeless in a way. Up to chapter 14 Arnold began to be more confident about his abilities. An example of Arnold feeling hopeless is on page 13 where Arnold says “It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor…” In that paragraph he was feeling hopeless about his life on the rez. An example that describes Arnold being more confident is on page 45 when he decides to transfer to Reardan “‘I want to go to Reardan,’ I said”. Even though he knew he was going to be discriminated, he took the chance to a better future. It’s important that he does this because he’s doing what he has to do to achieve his dreams. What helps Arnold make his decision is when his

To start, Arnold thinks very lowly about his outer appearance due to underlying factors such as poverty and his medical conditions. In the beginning of the book, he says that he was born with water on the brain. He feels as if he isn’t fully completed and isn’t satisfied with the way he was made because of this traumatic incident. He simply can’t do anything about his physical defects and displays that the only thing he could do is live with them. Arnold refers to how he looks as a “capital L walking down the road,” whereas he thought that his “skull was enormous” (3). This shows significance because from the very start Arnold isn’t pleased with himself and already is unhealthy for a human being. He began to believe these things even more after

In the beginning of the book Arnold tells us of his complicated birth and how he was born with too much cerebral fluid. This led to him having an abundance of physical issues as he got older, like poor eyesight, a rather large head, speech impediments, and seizures. Because of these issues he is frequently bullied and it is usually up to Arnold’s best friend Rowdy to protect him. Rowdy’s father abuses him and as a result he is very volatile and short-tempered. On Arnold’s first day he is

Arnold draws because it lets him lay all of his thoughts and ideas out onto a piece of paper. To illustrate my thoughts, it states in the text that,” I draw because words are too limited” (Alexie, 5). Therefore, I can infer that Arnold cartoons because he wants people to really understand what he’s trying to say without his lisp or any other external factors interfering with the meaning he’s trying to convey. Cartooning affects Arnold in a positive way because it gives him a whole other world when he has the pen in his hand and sometimes that can be very helpful when he has to deal with tough obstacles in life. In brief, drawing comforts and pleases him. On the other hand, the purpose his cartoons have on the reader is to allow them to interpret what Arnold is feeling and what is happening in the story. Furthermore, it affects the reader because it lets them understand what and how things are happening and it lets the readers feel as though they are living the same events as Arnold Spirit. In conclusion, Arnolds cartooning has a major impact on himself and the

It wasn't easy for Arnold but he pushed threw it. Arnold believed that "Wellpinit and Reardan" (50) were both his hometowns. Arnold felt as if he was too Indian for Reardan and too white for the reservation, he felt "like a stranger."(120) He quoted "it was like being Indian was my job," (100) he didn't think being indian was forever, he thought it was like a job that doesn't give enough money. When he was in Reardan the kids made fun of Arnold's fake name which is Junior. All the kids "started at him, the Indian boy."(60) Arnold got in many fights ever since he moved to Reardan. He said "I don't want to fight anybody,"(64) but he wanted to prove to all the white kids that he wasn't just a weird Indian kid, he's not just Junior, but he is foreign. Arnold likes this girl names Penelope, she is very beautiful to him, not only beautiful but a "work of art." (150) Arnold felt that he was "half Indian in one place and half white in the other." (116) Arnold feels that he doesn't belong in either Reardan and Wellpinit. Arnold felt like he didn't know himself anymore. Arnold always wondered "who has the most hope," (30) his parents tell him that white people have the most hope. Arnold whole generation went through poverty. Arnold doesn't "blame his parents for their poverty," (23) because he thinks you are just born into it. He thinks is difficult to get out of poverty "Where is hope"(200) he asked "Who has hope."

In “The Stone Boy”, Arnold learned to hide his feelings and thoughts in order to protect himself from the situation of being isolated. Furthermore, Arnold is a strong character in this story. Even though he is being misinterpreted many times by many people around him, he still keeps himself strong and staunch. It can be said that he is not beaten by the isolation. In addition, there is very few describing of Arnold’s inner world so that readers can not tell what he actually feels and thinks. We can only tell that he is strong through his reactions. For instance, he pretends to have no emotions on anything, and he tries not to be conspicuous after that accident. He is desperate for being the son that his family still knows about. Thus, there is a lack of description of Arnold’s inner heart when he is being isolated by his

At the reservation school that he attends, he is a small, nerdy kid who aspires to leave the reservation, unlike many of the Indians. At Reardan, he is one of the very few Indians, and he is very poor. At the beginning, Arnold is constantly picked on for being Indian by the jocks, until he punches the leader of the group in the nose. Arnold had no idea that this was going to gain him respect, he thought he was going to be pummeled for behaving this way, but having grown up on the reservation, he grew up with a different set of “rules”. Throughout the story, Arnold develops a friendship with the jock (Roger) and Roger helps him out bunches. Arnold begins to find his identity through basketball, becoming one of the star players on the team, but he does not leave sight of the original goal, getting off of the reservation. Consequently, Arnold works hard at his academics, and makes a friend, Gordy. Grody and Arnold are two nerdy, awkward friends who rely on one another to be there for them during school. Arnold begins to find his identity through this by not losing his values and staying Arnold. He doesn’t waver, he still works on academics as much, if not more than

Arnold overcomes the loss of his grandmother, his sister, and Eugene. His grandmother was hit by a car being driven by a drunk driver, his sister was burnt to death in a house fire, and Eugene was shot and killed. “If you care about something enough, it’s going to make you cry. But you have to use it. Use your tears. Use your pain. Use your fear.” (Alexie ). Arnold also overcomes going to an all white school named Reardan. Everyone in his tribe were calling him an apple, Red on the outside and white on the inside. That hurt Arnold in a deep way, he wanted to stop going to Reardan, so people would stop calling him and apple. He decides to play for the basketball for the team anyway and has a hard time at first, but eventually makes it onto the varsity team with a starting position. Arnold also likes a girl named Penelope, who isn’t very interested in him at first, but eventually they end up dating. To help him overcome these obstacles he draws cartoons, sometimes of the situation or it’s just

Starting from the beginning of the novel, Arnold talks about his talents in drawing cartoons, however what Arnold doesn’t realize is that these talents are actually giving Arnold the bit of hope and positivity he needed in his life. For instance in the novel, Arnold talks about the reason he draws cartoons, “So I draw because I feel like it might be my only real chance to escape the reservation. I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.” ( Alexie, pg.6). From reading this quote there is a lot of significant meaning behind it. Starting from the first sentence of the quote, Arnold is saying that

Arnold’s biggest struggle at school is bullying. Arnold says, “ Yep those bastards were making fun of my brain disorder. I fell down. One of the brothers picked me up, dusted me off, and kneed me in the balls. The Andruss brothers laughed and walked away”(Alexie 21). Arnold had been pushed around and bullied for his medical problems his whole life, and one of the main reasons of bullying is because of his appearance.While writing in his diary, Arnold explains, “Everybody on the

To begin with, fourteen year’s old Arnold describes his life while growing up in Wellpinit, he was going through malnutrition. Arnold as a cartoonist, wishes to draw food and money, and as a magician performs some magic trick and make it real. However, he realizes the reality of just being a poor reservation kid living with his family on the poor Spokane Indian Reservation. In the chapter “Why

In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian the main character Arnold sees himself differently compared to other characters in the novel. Throughout the diary Arnold draws pictures of himself and other characters as well to give you a better understanding of the novel through pictures. In the first few pages you already get a feel of what the character looks like through the images he draws and how he represents himself. Arthur feels very different than the other people around him because of many different reasons expressed in the novel but one importantly because he has brain damage. In the novel throughout the images he draws himself as a skinny boy, with messy thick hair, crooked glasses, and crazy teeth.

    In the book Arnold describes his home life to be quite a struggle especially with his family being poor and having to save and scrape as much as possible. This makes life a handicap for Arnold because food is not often found in the house which means that some days and nights he has to go hungry.He refers to his family as having some sort of generational curse as if the line of poverty is a never lasting thing which is hard to escape. Arnold specifies that his family is not poor just because of bad choices , but that they were born into it. “My parents came from poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people.”(11)Arnold also has to compromise at school whenever money is brought by making it seem as if he is