American Indian Speech

One of the main obstacles Junior overcomes is stereotypes. Junior is an Indian who lives on a reservation. Indians have many stereotypes that are towards them. For instance one stereotype is that they have no hope. Junior had a conversation with one of his teachers about his future, which involved him switching schools. Junior knew that if he stayed at the reservation high school he won’t be able to make a future for himself. So when his parents got home he asked them who has the most hope, “’White people, (Alexie45)’” his parents told him at the same time. Even

This draws a connection to the erasure of Native American culture in history, they are seen as rare and different from the ordinary, and for some people their existence is completely forgotten or denied. His own comments of not belonging at a white school, because of his nationality and family history further show the division of race that he can see at Reardan. Junior’s cursing accentuates how frustrated and pathetic he feels, viewed as less than everyone at his school, and constantly rejected and isolated by his white peers. The negative, demeaning mindset of those white kids is that Native Americans do not deserve anything from white people, not their time, attention, care, or even a proficient education. According to Jens Manuel Krogstad at Pew Research Center, Native Americans have the second highest high school dropout rate- eleven percent. This is very high, especially when compared to the white or Asian dropout rates- five and three percent, respectively. Additionally, it says Native Americans have the second lowest percentage of bachelor’s degrees, only seventeen percent, compared to the two highest, white and Asian, at thirty three and fifty percent (Krogstad). Many Native Americans today are not allowed a chance at education because of poverty at reservations, and lousy, penniless schools. These issues are not thought about or spoken of often, because they are simply not

To begin, Junior uses his courage to do what is seen as precarious by his community, but he knows that it is for his own benefit. During the call to action, his Caucasian mathematics teacher, Mr. P, tells him to leave the reservation that he lives in, so he can prevent

When most people hear of Native Americans, they cannot help but think of elaborate headdresses, red skinned warriors, and lively dancing. Although these aspects of Native American culture are fascinating, more important is where they fare in our society 's past and present. Restrictive laws and acts such as the Indian Removal Act, the Indian Reorganization Act, Fort Laramie treaties, and the Trail of Tears forced Native Americans from their lands. When settlers and the American government saw the resistance of Native Americans to forced assimilation, they resorted to racial discrimination and relocation to reservations. This history of discrimination has fueled calls for the United States government to pay reparations and the return of Native Americans to their indigenous lands.

A rough childhood would be an understatement when talking about a minority child’s. Sherman Alexie’s “Indian Education” illustrates the life of a young Native American boy from early 1st grade, to the final moments he walked down to get his diploma. Along the way we are confronted by challenging suspects who test his patience and character. Being bullied in first grade, Victor tries to gain respect by having a physical confrontation with his teasers. Little does this do, because for the next two years, it continues. When in fourth grade, one of his teachers places the thought into his head of him becoming a doctor. The following year his cousin start to abuse rubber cement, and is being a negative role model on young Victor. Once in middle school, Victor then attends a school in a nearby town where many of the people are completely different compared to his last educational institution. Being that many of the “white girls” are bulimic, Victor feels a great culture shock and even confronts one girl and then states to her, “Give me your lunch if you’re just going to throw it up.” Once he is in his late high school years, Victor, the basketball champ, passes out at a school dance and is rushed to the hospital where he is diagnosed with diabetes. His teacher was quick to think the worst when he questioned if he had been drinking, since he “[knew] all about these Indian kids…start

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a book about a young boy just entering high school who leaves his best friend and family to go to school mostly occupied by white people. This whole book follows him through his first year in this school where he tries to get a better education than he can get on the Rez, in the hopes that he will one day get off that reservation and out of his soul crushing poverty. “The Absolutely True diary of a Part-Time Indian” ATD, Sherman Alexie uses unfortunate events, social class and conversations to show that not everyone gets the support they need to follow their dreams.

Growing up on a reservation where almost everyone has lost hope, Junior feels like an outcast for having a passion to chase after his dreams. When he moves to Reardan to find hope, he is gawked at and teased because he is the only Indian there. Junior faces internal conflicts within himself figuring out how to balance his two selves. According to Junior, “traveling between Reardan and Wellpinit, between the little white town and the reservation, [he] always felt like a stranger. [Junior] was half Indian in one place and half white in the other. It was like being Indian was [Junior’s] job, but it was only a part-time job. And it didn’t pay well at all” (Alexie 118). Junior is determined to discover his identity as it is evident in his choice of words. Feeling like a stranger wherever he goes, he believes that he is too white for the reservation while being too Indian for Reardan. The people on the reservation live in an atmosphere where they trust only each other and stick up for one another. However, when Junior goes to the reservation after being exposed to a community filled with white people, the Spokane’s do not see him as a true Indian anymore, hence the reason why Junior

Over the course of history, Native Americans have faced many hardships.  They were treated immorally and robbed of the land they once settled in 12,000 years ago. These events caused a huge uproar in the Native American community and ignited a passion of altruism in many brave individuals. The absence of written works about the lives of Native Americans puzzled many historians and biographies like “Crazy Horse: A Life” have helped uncover true facts about Native Americans. Another source that displays their lives in a positive way is an autobiography called “I Believe It Is Because I Am a Poor Indian” that was written by a Native American minister and is based on the unfair treatment of Native Americans especially in the workforce. This paper focuses on the discrimination and determination of Native

By 1940, Native Americans had experienced many changes and counter-changes in their legal status in the United States. Over the course of the nineteenth century, most tribes lost part or all of their ancestral lands and were forced to live on reservations. Following the American Civil War, the federal government abrogated most of the tribes’ remaining sovereignty and required communal lands to be allotted to individuals. The twentieth century also saw great changes for Native Americans, such as the Citizenship Act and the Indian New Deal. Alison R. Bernstein examines how the Second World War affected the status and lives of Native Americans in American Indians and World War II: Toward a New Era in Indian Affairs. Bernstein argues

Decades of discrimination against the Native American people including the Indian Removal Act, the Trail of Tears, and the Massacre at Wounded Knee has led to a so called “compromise” and the much needed formation of the American Indian Movement to try and keep Native American culture and customs alive. This unfair treatment and discrimination has been fueled by many different people and reasons, but ultimately boils down to the greed and intolerance of the white man. Numerous indian tribes were already living in the United States when the european people settled here. The act of living and existing in nearly complete peace for a great deal of years started its swift decline in the years leading up to 1830, again fueled by greed for land and materials along with intolerance of the indians obliterated any chance of fair treatment, or the two groups living in complete peace again.

This book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, is about a boy called Arnold Spirit aka Junior. He is a Native American that lives in an Indian Reservation. He isn't really satisfied with his life, since he's pretty poor, but he gets along. He doesn't really accept himself, since he has multiple medical problems, and he has been beaten up since he was little. When he starts to gain more friends in this new (American) school, he starts to like and accept himself more than before. In this book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" (by Sherman Alexie), the main theme is about Arnold trying to accept himself.

Native Americans have existed in the different regions-the plains, mountains, marshes- of the North American continent- long before the United States existed. Yet, most were not treated with the respect and dignity that the white American settlers were given. Viewed as outlandish and savage by white settlers, series of negotiations to “correct” the Indian way of life were implemented- through forced relocation, war, and assimilation into white culture. Those who stood up against the American government were viewed as beacons of hope by their fellow Native Americans. Many Native American traditions still exist today, but unfortunately most of them have been lost along with their people.

A history of struggle and isolation from the rest of society has led to the deterioration of Native American cultures and customs and to their rising levels of unemployment, poverty, and crime on reservations. The United States government has had a major role in the coming about of the struggles that persist for Native Americans to this day. As crime and poverty grip the Sioux tribe, they will continue to lose their traditional culture and move farther from who they once were as a people. I will first review how European explorers introduced alcohol to Native American tribes and how this lead to a strong prevalence of alcoholism in the Sioux tribe. Next I will discuss the U.S. government’s use of forced assimilation and boarding schools led to the loss of Native American culture and customs. This led to more anger of the Sioux tribe towards the U.S. government and to outer society as a whole. Third I will analyze the living conditions and complacency felt by the Sioux tribe as seen through the photographs and interviews conducted by journalist Aaron Huey. Lastly, I will assess the efforts taken by the elders and leaders of the Sioux tribe to combat the prevalence of crime on their reservation. The people of the United States and their government have caused many struggles for the Sioux tribe since their existence in America. For these problems to be resolved, the United States needs to take an active role in acknknwoldeging the problem and allocating the necessary resources

In Sherman Alexie’s novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” the narrator portrays both internal and external conflicts throughout his journey to success. Arnold Junior Spirit is a fourteen-year-old boy who believes that in order to pursue his dream he will have to choose between staying in his Spokane Indian reservation or moving out to an all-white school in the neighboring farm town. But things aren’t as easy as they seem when Junior tries moving schools because he know has to be part of two communities. Many conflicts form within the Spokane Indian reservation and the Spokane Indian reservation as well comes into conflict with the white community.

Many kids at his new school believe that he does not have dreams. But he also joins the basketball team even though he thought he wasn’t going to make it. Another stereotype that he over came is that all Native Americans are violent. "None of those guys punched me or got violent. After all, I was a reservation Indian, and no matter how geeky and weak I appeared to be, I was still a potential killer.