Mental Health and Resilience The book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, is full of characters struggling with mental health. The protagonist Arnold Spirit Jr., deals with poor mental health due to many factors in his environment; however, he slowly learns to become more resilient to negative situations because of these factors. Arnold's family has been heavily affected by alcohol. As a result of this, he devotes himself to never drinking like his grandma who has never touched a drop. On the other hand, Arnold's father is an alcoholic, which plays a big role in their financial problems. His father spends what little money they have on alcoholic beverages instead of the fuel they need for their car to help take Arnold to and from …show more content…
Arnold looked up to his grandma. Despite his grandmother not touching alcohol, she was killed by a drunk driver. This makes Arnold go through the harsh pains of losing a loved one and through the process of grieving, which leads him to a time of depression. Similar to his grandma, his sister Mary had also lost her life to an alcohol-related situation. Mary was in a house fire but was far too drunk to wake up and realize. After she died, Arnold was soon pulled out of his class to be told of the heartbreaking situation. He was in a state of shock when his dad picked him up and began hysterically laughing in the car. His brain could not begin to understand what happened to him or his sister. Verbal and physical harassment is something Arnold knows well. While reading the book, he states numerous times that people around his tribe and school call him names and beat him up. When moving to a mostly white school, Arnold faced many adversities with bullying and racism for being Indian. Even the teachers believed he was not as well educated as the rest of the kids because he grew up on the reservation. This caused him to separate himself from the outside world as much as
In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, other than attending Reardan, Arnold Spirit made his most important choice in trying out for the Reardan basketball team. This is evident when Arnold states this: “I almost didn't t try out for the Reardan basketball team. I just figured I wasn't good enough to make even the C squad. And I didn't want to get cut from the team. I didn't think I could live through that humiliation” (Alexie 135). This quote is important because Arnold proves to himself that he can and will be successful. When he made the team, he did not just prove to himself that he can be successful, but he showed the members on the reservation that it is possible to be successful no matter where someone is from.
The 14 year old kid named Arnold, had alcoholism influencing him for the duration his life. One
Arnold says that Roger “Was actually nice. He paid me some respect. He paid respect to Eugene and his bike” (Alexie 72). Roger’s respect to Arnold is one of the first signs that Arnold is being accepted into the Rearden society. Arnold learns how to gain respect and how to deal with the people of Rearden in this event. Arnold also says that after Penelope and he became a couple, “[he] suddenly became popular” (Alexie 110). Arnold is almost fully assimilated into Rearden at this point, becoming friends with much of the school. Arnold has learned to embrace his popularity a Rearden and, as a result, has become socially acceptable. These initiation events lead to changes in the way Arnold thinks, which has a direct effect on his future
The reader’s first impression of Arnold Friend is a regular-looking teenager with a bold attitude, lusting after Connie. He is of average height, wearing faded jeans and a white t-shirt, and is persuading Connie to get into his car with him. He is compelling
While Gordy didn't intend for Arnold to perceive his validation in any way other than validation, Arnold saw it as Gordy throwing him a line when he needed it most. In that moment, Arnold realizes he's not alone in this journey despite having the world against him, with ridicule from peers and educators, this simple act of friendship acts as a lifeline, giving Arnold hope and a realization that he could overcome the challenges he was facing with the power of friendship even when it came in the form of academic
Arnold has a “stutter and lisp” (4), so people think that he’s weird. This shows that it is a struggle to fit into the community because he is one of the only people there that talk with a stutter and a lisp. He gets beat up at the reservation because he is different. He thinks that he looks weird because other people tell him what is wrong with him.
Mr. P, Arnold's geometry teacher insisted that Arnold should leave the reservation for his own benefit. He says that Arnold has to be a little selfish at times or he'll never leave
Though at the beginning of this story, Connie seemed so free and happy finding herself and her independence, Arnold represents all of the things that make her want to be a child again. He represents the doubts and fears that often accompany a child’s search for independence. Unfortunately for Connie, it is unlikely that she will get to discover who she truly is. The story ends on a dark, tragic note. It is unlikely that Connie made it out of the situation with Arnold Friend alive, thus putting her search for independence to a devastating end.
And as he struggles to be the best of himself, he has some struggle to figure out who he is. In this book, Arnold must face a couple or losses within his friends and family. And he tries to figure out where he belongs. Arnold is trying to figure out where he belongs and where he fits in. Arnold is
Shippen, by whom he had four sons and one daughter. Arnold was not careful with
Throughout the book Arnold encounters many discouraging situations but remains positive. In the book, one of the most sad moments is when Christmas comes around for him and his family. Having been in poverty for many years, his family can never afford presents so his dad spends whatever money they have on alcohol. “Hey, Dad,” I said. “Hey, kid,” he said.
During this novel, Arnold faces many challenges due to excessive drinking, also known as alcoholism, he is capable of overcoming these challenges due to his perseverance. Many of Arnold's loved ones' deaths were caused due to alcohol. Alcohol took a huge toll on his family and everyone else around Arnold as well. Arnold could have just shut down and not cared at all about his future. But he used the deaths as motivation to keep going.
16). Arnold perceives himself within his relations with his family and the reservation, thus his self-esteem is directly tied to his place within the two groups. However near the end of the book, Arnold cries for his “fellow tribal members” future in the reservation (Alexie, 2009, p. 216) and acknowledges that he “was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez…. The only one with enough arrogance” (Alexie, 2009, p. 217). Although part of his self image is still tied to his tribe, Arnold sees himself as independent from them. He has a sense of who he is from his choice to leave the reservation and the qualities that allowed him to do so. The experiences Arnold encountered along the way such as exclusion, individuals with highly independent self-construals, and the deaths of his led to changes in his self-concept.
109), because he's an "absolute stranger" to Reardan, and also, Penelope's dad is racist. Still, they become close friends and start dating. He also makes friends with Roger (surprisingly), since Roger is a friend of Penelope. When Junior made the basketball team, they become closer. Roger even gave Junior a ride home after a basketball game. Arnold also becomes a friend of a geek, Gordy. They were both "outcasts", and they understood how it felt to not fit in. After making all these friends, he feels that he is starting to fit in with the white people.
His new school was Reardan, a white school off the reservation. Since Arnold was Native American, or “Indian”, his start at school was troublesome. Many of the boys bullied him, but not only them, even the teachers didn't pay much attention to him, as compared to other students. On the other hand, when I came to ASP, from the beginning I was well integrated within the school’s environment, both socially and academically, due to our counselor and different people helping me accomplish this task. I made friends rapidly, and enjoyed my teachers, as they enjoyed having me in class, unlike Arnold, which did make friends, but after a while, he did make friends..