Read the following quotation from the book The
Absolutely True Diary of a Part –Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. In a complete and well supported paragraph
express what the excerpt means in the context of the independent reading you
have completed in class. Use specific
evidence from both the book and one independent reading article to support your
response.
Quote #4 - Due on Monday 10/28
Gordy
gave me this book by a Russian dude named Tolstoy, who wrote: "Happy
families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Well, I hate to argue with a Russian genius, but Tolstoy didn't know Indians.
And he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact
reason: the fricking booze.
Yep,
so let me pour a drink for Tolstoy and let him think hard about the true
definition of unhappy families. (p. 201)
In the Book "Part time Indian", the main character junior is started to react to white people talking. he automatically over thought the mans response, he started to think about his point of view on things like being a Indian. He starts to grief on how his family is going down & his family just feed off him when his sister died. Even though it is a normal emotion he had received to much of this which would lead up to mass depression. He gets defensive very fast when people asks him question being known for getting picked on in his all white school.
ReplyDeleteIn a community like the reservation everyone has their grievances but they are all related to one issue alcoholism. The three greatest tragedies in Juniors life have been the death of his sister, Grandmother, and Eugene. All three deaths are caused by alcohol. His Grandmother is struck by a drunk driver. Eugene is shot arguing over the last drink of wine. His sister dies after a night of heavy drinking when her trailer home catches on fire. These events all revolved around alcohol and its effects on the reservation, In Sherman Alexies ' How To Write The Great American Indian Novel' at one point he writes "There must be one murder, one suicide, one attempted rape. Alcohol should be consumed. Cars must be driven at high speeds.". All these problems on the reservation that hurt the people so much can be traced to as Junior said the booze.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The main character Junior read a quote by Tolstoy from a book Gordy gave him, Tolstoy wrote: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." and Junior took it on his own to start comparing the quote to his life and starts going on about how his family is going down the drain about how they all are drunk and unhappy knowing they lost two important people in his life Grandma Spirt ( Juniors Grandma) by a drunk driver running over her , & Eugene his dads drunk friend was shot over the last over the last drink of alcohol and all these problems on the reservation have to do with booze in some sort of way.
ReplyDeleteIn the reservation that Junior lives in, everyone's grievances was caused by alcohol. Three deaths/tragedies that Junior had suffer through in his life was the death of Grandmother Spirit, Eugene, and Mary. They all suffered different fates but with only one reason. Junior's grandmother was struck by a car, driven by a drunken person. Eugene was shot in the face for arguing with his friend about the last sip of wine. And his sister died after heavy drinking when her and her husband's trailer house caught on fire. The events was caused because of alcohol. All the problems on the reservation was caused by, as Junior himself said, alcohol.
ReplyDelete--Gloria Q.
in the novel absolutely true diary of a part time indian junior has very bad instances. his sister is killed by over drinking of booze in a hotel room. this is very sad and to make it worst he is blamed for her death. that acusation destroys him. their has been back to back deaths in his family all caused by drinking. its so ironic that drinking killed all those people in his life and when those people died to morne his family cried and met up and started drinking again. all happy people are the same but all sad people are different people have their own difficulties and deal with them in different ways. the means by which they do are not always good but i guess thats how they deal with it. after his grand mother being run over by a drunken driver,his sister drinking herself to death and her house being burnt down and his fathers friends death they still have the heart to start drinking again.
ReplyDeleteIn the Absolute diary of a part time indian written by Sherman Alexie, Junior , the main character of the novel is disagreeing with the Russian dude name Tolstoy who claims that every unhappy family is unhappy in they're own way and every happy family are all alike. In junior point of view on the rez, families are unhappy for the same reason; ALCOHOL. Junior lost his sister, grandmother and his uncle Eugene because of alcohol, which made him depressed and i think it made him stronger and more hopeful because his mum for the first time slapped the crap our of him in advance for not drinking and his dad told him he loves him. so that gave junior more hope for the future and made him hate alcohol.
ReplyDeleteIn the article pti. what juniors says about this Russian genius is a total blow off to him, but that qoute does have truth to it. What that qoute is really trying to say is that all families up's can be the same but that all the down's are different which is true but not in all cases. But what's really surprising is juniors stand point as he states what seems to be that all indian families have the same problem. And its hard to believe that if he gave examples he could prove how booze has really meesed up and takeing lives little by little, it seem's as if junior only display's this cold side of himself lately. To think about it this qoute was really made to show how junior is falling deeper and deeper into his heavy depression cause of the things going on and the lost of some family member's. That are juss constanly stacking up breaking junior's and breaking through the surface of his mind making him just go crazy inside, but it makes it hard not to see all this like when you hear junior talk about "it was the first time Rowdy spoke to me since i left the rez." and "any nightmare would be better than my reality". This is what makes the big difference in junior from the first half of the book and the second half of the book.
ReplyDeleteIn the Absolute diary of a part time indian written by Sherman Alexie, Gordy a friend of junior the main character gave him a book by a German guy named Tolstoy wrote "all happy family are alike ;every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way". What he means is that every happy family is happy because of the same reason, But every unhappy family is unhappy for many different reasons. Gordy disagreed with that statement, he replied by saying 'well I hate to argue with a Russian genius but Tolstoy didn't know Indians. And he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the exact same reason :the fricking booze. This was indeed a fact , every Indian on the rez was addicted to alcohol and that resulted in a lot of deaths including in juniors family. His grandmother died in an drunk driving accident , his dad's bestfriend Eugene got shot in the face because of alocohol , and his sister died because of alcohol. The use of alocohol is like a tradition on the rez, even junior's father is an addict. Due to many deaths in junior's family junior's mother cried on his shoulders and begged him not to drink and junior listened to his mother and never drank a sip of liquor.
ReplyDeleteSometimes in life families are compared to each other because of the problems that they go through. In the book "The Absolutely true diary of a Part-Time Indian", Junior receives a book from Gordy his friend from Reardan. The book that Junior receives is written by a Russian dude named Tolstoy, and he wrote a quote that says " all happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way". Junior disagrees with Tolstoy because Junior believes that Tolstoy knows nothing about the reasons to why Native American families are unhappy. Junior says that Tolstoy knows nothing about Native Americans because they are all unhappy for the exact same reason and that is because of the Alcohol. In the book three people very close to Junior (his grandmother, Eugene, and his older sister) pass away due to Alcohol related situations. According to the IRJ article " Why are Indian Reservations so poor? A look at the bottom 1%" Alcohol is one of the main reasons to why Native American families are unhappy. This article relates to the quote said by Tolstoy because it shows that the unhappy families of the reservation are actually unhappy for the same reasons, other than for different reasons according to Tolstoy. In life sometimes unhappy families seem to be unhappy because of different reasons but sometimes they might be grieving over the same things.
ReplyDeleteIn The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, written by Sherman Alexie, Juniors friend Gordy give him a book by someone named Tolstoy... The book says "happy families are all alike; every unhapppy family is unhappy in its own way". The Juniors response is this "And he didnt know that all indian families are unhappy for the same exact reason: the fricking booze". So her he contradicts what is being said based on Indian life. Also in an article in which I read .....Drinking is a huge problem for Indians living on Reservations and basically is the reason for their downfall and non progression.
ReplyDeleteAlcohol makes families unhappy because people drink it to numb themselves. For example, on Indian reservations, alcohol plays a very big part because they don't have the stuff they need. In the quote from PTI, Tolstoy states how every family is unhappy in its own way. According to Junior, Tolstoy is wrong and that is alcohol is what makes families unhappy. For example, in PTI Eugene (Junior's fathers best friend) was shot and killed by one of his good friends who was too drunk to remember what happened. After he was sent to jail and reality set in, he hung himself due to the overwhelming guilt. Alcohol destroys families and causes permanent damage. In the poem Reservation Blues by Jim Boyd and Sherman Alexie, the authors talk about life on the reservation. The text states, "I ain't got nuthin, I heard no good news, I filled my pockets with these reservation blues." This shows how life on the reservation, and how most people will eventually turn to alcohol.
ReplyDeleteThe excerpt from the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part –Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is saying that other families from other races are unhappy from different things but indians are unhappy from one specific thing, booze also known as alchohol. In the book three tragedies occured which affected Junior's family, these tragedies were caused by the consuming of alchohol. Junior's grandmother died because a drunk driver ran her over, Junior's father best friend died because the man he was drinking with shot him, Junior's sister died becuase she burned alive in a trailer house and she didn't feel anything because she was heavily drunk from the night before that. In the article What the Hell, They're only Indians Tim Giago talks about how alchohol has to be banned from Indian communities. He says this becuase there is so many bars in the Indian reservation that they consider it a disease.
ReplyDeleteFamily families are all happy for the same reasons, but unhappy families are unhappy because of different reasons. As this is written in the excerpt above, I do agree with this quote but in the book "Part Time Indian" written by Sherman Alexie, Arnold Spirit does not agree with this quote. Arnold is a young Indian teenager and says that for Indians, the reason beginh the unhappy families is alcohol. Arnold replies to the quote; " And he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reason: the fricking booze." In the poor reservations, most of the families are unhappy and suffer from death and angry fathers that tend to drink plenty of alchol. Alcohol is very important in the reservation and because of this many families are split up and destroyed. While I do agree with the quote that all unhappy families are unhappy in their own ways, I would have to agree with Arnold that this does not imply for Indians. Indian families are unhappy because of alcohol.
ReplyDeleteHappy*
DeleteAccording through the excerpt, all Indian families are unhappy for the exact same reason, booze. One example showing this would be from the document "What the Hell, They're Only Indians” describing that “the easy availability of alcohol in the nearby, just across the border” gives Indians with hardships easy access to alcohol a “stress revealer”. Also from “The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part – Time Indian” Junior`s sister died for being to drunk in Montana, while also Eugene, who got shot in the face, regarding being drunk. But also, Junior has been in 42 different funerals, and most of them are caused by booze itself. To junior, Tolstoy`s theory is not correct at all when it comes to Indians. They are all unhappy for the same reason.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the excerpt from the "Part-Time Indian" book by Sherman Alexie, the quote states that all happy families are happy in a same way, while unhappy ones have their own different reasons for being unhappy. But, that Indian families were unhappy because of the same reason; alcohol. From that this book shows, and from what Arnold's perspective shows, that idea seems to be true. Many Indians, according to Arnold, are killed by alcohol, just that. Being taking alcohol are killed by others just like them. One example from the book is Rowdy and his father. His father is a alcoholic who beats his son constantly. A quote that shows alcohol is a problem, is, "The police say your sister never even woke up," my father said. "She was way too drunk." My dad was trying to comfort me. But it's not too comforting to learn that your sister was TOO FREAKING DRUNK to feel any pain when she BURNED TO DEATH!" Here it shows that obviously, the alcohol was a problem for the people at the Reservation, and Native Americans in general. In the article, "Drinking Behavior and Sources of Alcohol" a quote states, "Heavy drinking has especially been a public health concern for Native Americans." So, alcohol is a frequent thing for Native Americans.
ReplyDeleteWhen living on communities such as the rez, the unhappiness that most family face are due to Alcohol. A Russian writer named Tolstoy claims that; "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." It's quite the opposite for families on the reservation. The life of Junior in "Diary of a Part time Indian by Sherman Alexie, proves otherwise. When Indians bond together, just the way they did at Grandmother Spirits funeral, they share their happiness similarly to the way they share thier sorrow. Most of the losses and tragedies Junior is faced with are all due to the same problem; too much drinking. For example; Junior's older sister Mary had burned to death due to heavy drinking. His grandmother was ran over by a drunk driver, and his father's best friend Eugene was shot in the face for the last sip of wine. His most close friend Rowdy even has a father who beats him when he's drunk. Indians on the reservation drink to ease off their sorrow, and create more sorrow doing so, therefore sharing the same source of unhappiness.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the excerpt, the book a Part Time Indian shows how Junior disagree with the famous Russian author on how all unhappy family are. Since Junior believes that all Indians are all the same when they become unhappy. Everytime something bad happens its all because of booze. He losted his older sister because of booze. She was way to drunk to even tell she was getting burn alive. They way their family evven remember his sister was by drinking booze. Juniors father's friend also died by getting shot in the face over the last bit of booze. They way people then t get over all the deaths that went through them is to drink booze and a whole lot of it. Junior believs that all Indian familes have the reason that they all become unhappy. As he said it "all Indian families are unhappy for the exact same reason, the fricking booze."
ReplyDeleteThe excerpt from the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part –Time Indian by Sherman Alexie can mean many things. Tolstoy says "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.". Junior believed that Tolstoy didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reason. And that reason is alcohol. In an article explaining alcohol abuse amongst American Indian reservations the author,Tim Giago, talks about how Indians all die from the same cause, alcohol. Alcohol causes deaths within Indian families and deaths brings sadness. All Indians stick together so if one person dies of alcohol, it affects all Indians in the way of them getting a bad Reputation. As a result not all Indians have happy families that are alike..
ReplyDeleteThe excerpt from the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, written by Sherman Alexie talks about Gordy giving Junior a book by some guy Tolstoy. In that book there's a quote, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Junior is disagreeing with this quote saying Tolstoy has never met Indians, and all Indians are unhappy for the same reason; booze. On the Rez alcohol is the main reason for deaths. First, it was juniors grandmother from a drunk driver. Then, his fathers best friend Eugene, getting shot in the face cause of booze. His sister also died because she was too drunk to wake up when the trailer went on fire. When people die cause of alcohol, the families and everyone on the rez drink alcohol...ironic. So all Indian families don't have different reasons to be unhappy, their all alike.
ReplyDeleteMany times families from a certain community are considered alike because there from the same area so they deal with the same issues.In the "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part –Time Indian" the expert says how Junior was given a book by Gordy. In that book theirs a quote "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." (p. 201) Written by Tolstoy. Junior disagrees with him because not all Indians emotion is the same. They might grieve for the same reason but some of the Indians on the Rez might have different reasons to be sad. Junior grieved for his sister and grandmother,Eugene they all died of alcohol. They all have the same reason of death meaning there all similar when it comes to death. A high percentage of Indian death is alcohol. Also on the IRJ independent reading What the hell there only Indians in class. It states "thousands of these children,now adults,turned to alcohol to forget and probably because it numbed them of those memories" this statement means that the only similarities Indian have to ease pain or forget things is alcohol but they don't have the same reason to get addicted to it. Tolstoy is wrong because because all Indians do have similar reasons for depression or to be unhappy. Indians all grieve with each other and they all die and live in happiness with the support and help of each other in there community.
ReplyDeleteAlcohol just makes unhappy families, unhappier. In The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the main character, Junior (formally known as Arnold), knows that all unhappy Indian families are unhappy because of Alcohol. He believes that alcohol tears families apart, whilst bringing them together.Sometimes to reminisce, and other times just because they are Indian and that's what Indians do. They drink. Junior began to think this way after three very important people in his life passed away, his grandmother, his sister, and Eugene, with all three deaths having a connection to alcohol. His grandmother was struck by a drunk driver, his sister died after heavy drinking and her trailer home went up in flames. And Eugene got shot in the head after arguing over the last drink of wine. In "Drinking Behavior and Sources of Alcohol: Differences between Native American and White Youths" the authors set up and investigation in which they noticed drinking behaviors and the sources of alcohol may be related to environmental factors. Environmental factors include poverty, single-parent households and the people they are surrounded by. These factors mostly effect Native Americans, which can make them more susceptible to a lifetime related to alcohol. Just like the Indians that live on the same reservation as Junior.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the quotation from the book "The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie a family's reason to be unhappy can connect to other families. Junior talks about the affects alcohol has had on Indian families living in reservations. He explains how alcoholism has been a massive problem in the reservation. "And you know what the worst part is? the unhappy part? About 90 percent of the deaths have been because of alcohol."(pg 202). This shows that a majority of Native Americans have dies because of alcoholism. The article "Indian Country Diaries (Substance Abuse) from PBS stated that the majority of Native Americans are dying because of diseases associated with alcoholism. It affects their family in a way of the heartache of loosing a family member. "Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis-disease associated with alcoholism-are the sixth leading cause of death among Native Americans. They are not even among the top 10 in whites." This shows the major diseases a plethora of Native Americans have dies of. Alcoholism is the major reason for unhappiness in a Native American family.
ReplyDeleteEvery family struggles with their own problems and no family is perfect without imperfections. Sometimes different families have the same struggle, which makes them similar and therefore are not that different. In Junior's case living on the reservation means that the reason why every family is unhappy is because of: alcohol. Most of the problems he had to face were because of the alcohol or related to the alcohol. Junior is very aware of his community struggles with alcohol and how it affects the youth. Junior explains his awareness when he says, “I knew that seven or eight of those Indians lived with drunken mothers and fathers ”(195). Junior is very aware of this because he is one of the Indians with drunken parents at home. Many Indians have lost a lot of people in their life because of alcohol, and many more to come will as well, with the cycle that they have. According to the article, “Drinking Behavior and Sources of Alcohol Differences Between Native American and White Youths” the Indians are at a younger age looking for a way to escape their problems. The article indicates that, “Native American youths are typically found to start using alcohol at younger ages than other youths and drinking more frequently.” What the quote is Presenting is the idea that because of all the problems that the Native American children have to face, they look for an escape:alcohol just like their parents. Therefor the Native Americans are exposed to certain things sooner, and find the same way to deal with the problem: alcohol. In doing so all the families share the same source of unhappiness.
ReplyDeleteThe following quotation from the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part –Time Indian by Sherman Alexie talking about Native American family's and how alcohol causes them problems and make them unhappy. For example in the text Junior says "And he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reason: the fricking booze." This quote is saying it plainly that Native American family's can be happy at times but when they are unhappy it mostly has to do with alcohol. Another fine example would be in a reading I did called What the Hell, They're Only Indians. In the read it talks about all the alcoholism in the reservations. It says "Again, thousands of these children, now adults, turned to alcohol to forget and probably because it numbed them of these memories." This quote is saying Native Americas drink because of bad or unhappy things that had happened to them. The drinking helps them forget it all for the moment. Then it causes other problems like drunk driving or alcohol positioning. Then back to being unhappy.
ReplyDeleteWhen Junior says that, "And he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reason: the fricking booze," he means that the cause of Indian families unhappiness is alcohol. In the article I have read, "Drinking Behavior and Sources of Alcohol - Differences Between Native American and White Youth" and "Rez Life" both articles talk about how addicting it is for Teenage Native Americans to turn to alcohol during times of poverty or other struggles. In the "Rez Life" article, Tim talked about how his life time friend, Melvin "Dickie" Brewer, a former drinker, viewed the use of alcohol. "He firmly believed that as long as the sale of alcohol was forbidden on the reservation those prone to consumption would just go across the border to buy it." This means that no matter what, these Indian drinkers, whether adolescence or adult, would stop at nothing to retrieve alcohol. They consume the alcohol thinking that it would seize the pain but it makes things worse. Some drinkers become abusive toward their child or partner while others neglect their child or partner causing a drift in the family. Causing tension or animosity. The consumption of alcohol causes things like suicide or alcohol related accidents.
ReplyDeleteAs it stated in the article called "what the hell" a student named melvin dickie explained how the drinking was bad and messed up everything,nothig was the same when the boozes were involved.families had gotten corrupted and nothing was the same the kids suffered because of the parents that had drinking problems.basiclly what melvin was doing was tryig to help these people stop because he was one of those parents.for example in the story in quoted about melvin him self "you know when i was drinker nobody put a gun to my head and said drink that beer i did it all by my self ". Many people struggled just like a boy named junior from a story called part time indian. Tge boy named junior from part time indian went threw the same struggles that melvin went threw and prove to other families that its not all about that happy this and happy that becausr families do suffer from this particular problems junior was a kid from the rez and had parents who cared but his bestfriend didnt, his bestfriends parents used to beat him and do alot of things to him for no reason just because they were drunk and had the whole family messed up.nobody knew what he been threw only junio.tostly gave him a book about happy families he didnt believe in just because everything around him was because of the boozes.the quote he stated in one part of the story i agreed on it becausr any one could have that problem and wouldnt know until they go threw it
ReplyDeleteThe following quotation from the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part –Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is saying that Arnold feels that the book Gordy his best friend gave him about family/families is inaccurate. Arnold feels that no one can understand or relate to the families on the reservation who were all unhappy because of alcohol abuse that effected them all. Alcohol is something the Indians in his reservation all have in common its a way for them to escape there lives but it is also what ruins their families and the main cause of most Indian deaths. Arnold was using sarcasm when he said "Yep, so let me pour a drink for Tolstoy and let him think hard about the true definition of unhappy families" because Arnold felt that the author who wrote the book "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." knew nothing about Indian families. Indian families lived and survived off of alcohol and that was just how Indians were and that is the reason Arnold promised himself he would never drink. Arnold is ashamed of the drinking the Indians on his reservation do because they are very close to one another and they all have experienced horrible things occurring because of alcohol abuse. Arnold's sister and her fiance died in a horrible fire in there trailer home and couldn't even react because they were so intoxicated. Arnold also lost his grandmother because of a drunk driver and his fathers best friend was shot in the face over alcohol which just shows that they have a desperate need and addiction to alcohol. They use the alcohol to fill in the emptiness they have, even though they wouldn't have lost so much or suffered so much if they would all just quit drinking. There may be unhappy families who have different reasons for being unhappy but none like Indian families who create there own destruction and don't look for ways out of there torn lives but only make life worst for themselves and have no faith in a better life worth living.
ReplyDeleteIn life, there are unhappy families. At times their situations are similar in a way, especially if they live in a community like the reservations. In the book, "The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, Gordy (Junior's friend from Reardan) hands him a book written by a Russian guy named Tolstoy. Junior reads a quote from the book that says: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Junior immediately disagrees with this statement because everybody in the reservations are all unhappy. All of them for the same reason! Booze! Junior has suffered the consequences of alcohol. Death. His grandmother was struck by a drunk driver. His sister died after having a few drinks and not realizing that her trailer was burning down. His father's best friend, Eugene, is shot for arguing over the last drink of booze. These are some of the many tragedies as a result of alcohol abuse. The article, "Why Are the Indian Reservations So Poor? A Look At The Bottom 1%" talks about the main problem in the Reservations. Alcohol. As well as the article, "Indian Country Diaries (Substance Abuse)" which talks about how bad alcohol is for ones health. The problem that booze has caused in families in the reservations is very unfortunate.
ReplyDelete-Wendy Miguel
In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part –Time Indian according to the quote by a Russian dude named Tolstoy, who wrote: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Junior disagrees because he believes that every family on the reservation is suffering because of all the drinking. In the book junior lost many family people that were close to him within a year and he lost them all because of drinking. Junior believes that drinking is the problem with all Native American families in the article what the hell they're only Indians a guy talks about how he knew another guy from high school and he started to drink. He threw his life away by drinking . He passed drinking down in his family. In the book and in this article they both show how drinking can be bad and make many people suffer
ReplyDeleteThe quote mirrors how alcohol has been a huge family problem on the reservation. Junior has experienced this first hand, as his father and every one he knows is an alcoholic. Junior's father came home after a week of binge drinking and missing the holidays. Junior was making sure that he was ok but was furious that he wasn't there for Chrismas. He described him as smelling like " whiskey and shame." Junior just wanted his father to be home, but instead his father made his choice to stay in the bar and divide the family. Sherman Alexie, the author also experienced a family divided by alcohol. His father was described as an "..Alcoholic nomad" whom he often lost sleep for. He described it as part of the reason he turned to alcohol himself. Alcohol had separated him and his father, a problem many Indians experience.
ReplyDeleteIn absolutely True Diary of a part Time Indian according To the quote written by a Russian man named Tolstoy. He quoted " Happy families are All alike every unhappy familiy is unhappy in its own way." Junior would disagree because at first he thought all white people were happy because they have money. Until he met Penelope his opinion changed because, even though Penelope has money, popular and is Smart she is unhappy. She feels pressured and feels like her whole life is planned out and she is expected to accomplish many things. Another example why Junior would disagree is because he believes every family. Is suffering due to alcohol , Junior lost two important people in his life his grandma and Eugene. If alcohol was banned on the Reservation then families would get better And the Rez could become a better place to live at.
ReplyDeleteComments posted after this time are late!
ReplyDeletein the book PTI junior loses his grandmother and Eugine who was and important person in his life through alcohol abuse . every family is different in there own special way so i disagree with the quote stated. every family is different and has there differences and thats what make them special in there own little ways .Until he met Penelope his opinion changed because, even though Penelope has money, popular and is Smart she is unhappy. She feels pressured and feels like her whole life is planned out and she is expected to accomplish many things. Another example why Junior would disagree is because he believes every family. Is suffering due to alcohol , Junior lost two important people in his life his grandma and Eugene. so everything maybe different in life ..
ReplyDeleteWhen challenges seem stronger than a persons strength or capability they tend to find a means of escape without considering the faults or gain, they become desperate for a way out of all the struggles. Alcoholism is an escape route for many Native Americans on the reservation. when the struggle to eat, sleep, work, school and have hope becomes more difficult they abuse alcohol in order to be entirely unconscious. Let it be well know that the process of alcoholism doesn't ensure their happiness. In the quote above from THE ABSOLUTE TRUE STORY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN junior argues with a russian genius definition of what a Happy and unhappy family is. Junior said "And he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reason: the fricking booze.Yep, so let me pour a drink for Tolstoy and let him think hard about the true definition of unhappy families. (p. 201)"This quote is very interesting because it explains that although alcohol makes most Native Americans unaware of their surroundings it doesn't promote or produce any form of joy and happiness. The only result from escaping struggles with steps that has nothing but faults like alcoholism is death and wreck. In the article WHAT THE HELL... THEY ONLY INDIANS the reasons for alcoholism in the lives of many Indians is stated, The article says "like so many Indian boys and girls faced with the hardships of growing up in poverty, developed a drinking problem." this quote explains that most Indians turn to alcohol when life circumstances overpowers them doesn't mean it makes circumstances any better. The article DRINKING BEHAVIOR AND SOURCES OF ALCOHOL- DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NATIVE AMERICAN AND WHITE YOUTH elaborates on the fact that relying on alcohol as a means of escape from life and its challenges only makes matter worse, the article states "onset of drinking is also associated with an increased likelihood of a broad range of negative consequences later in life, such as dependence and abuse, drinking and driving, unwanted or unplanned sex, unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, violence, and unintentional injury." This quote explains specifically that there is nothing but faults and more struggles to gain by relying on alcohol. Its justifiable to say that the process of escaping struggles trough alcohol is like "jumping from a frying pan to fire". Alcoholism is a source of unhappiness in many of the Native Americans life.
ReplyDeleteIn" Absolute diary of a part time indian written by Sherman Alexie, Gordy a friend of junior the main character gave him a book by a German guy named Tolstoy wrote "all happy family are alike ;every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way". What he means is that every happy family is happy because of the same reason, But every unhappy family is unhappy for many different reasons. Gordy disagreed with that statement, he replied by saying 'well I hate to argue with a Russian genius but Tolstoy didn't know Indians. And he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the exact same reason:alcohol. In The Book Junior believes that drinking tears families apart because he lost many family members by drinking. For example in One Of The IRJ's It talks about alcoholism when its says in the reading What the Hell, They're Only Indians"Again, thousands of these children, now adults, turned to alcohol to forget and probably because it numbed them of these memories." This Qoute means that kids now adults. Drink probably because they watched their parents drink all their lives growing up or maybe they are struggling with things in life or something bad must of happened to them when they were younger.
ReplyDeleteMany families go through situations in life which leave them feeling unhappy. In the book " The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian" Gordy give s Junior a book written by some russian dude named Tolstoy, and in the he writes " all happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy for the exact same reason and thats's alcohol.“I knew that seven or eight of those Indians lived with drunken mothers and fathers ”(195).Junior is aware of the struggles with alcohol within his community and he knows hes not the only one on the rez that's suffered some huge losses because of alcohol. The Irj article "“Drinking Behavior and Sources of Alcohol Differences Between Native American and White Youths." States that "We investigated drinking behavior and sources of alcohol among Native American and White youths, as how underage drinking behavior and sources of alcohol may be related to environmental factors."This also shows how Indian families are affected by alcohol.
ReplyDeletesometimes indian do have hard lifes there are a whole bunch of indian that struggle and indians that have riches by having a powerful company or doing something thats valuable but there are alot of indians who go through alot of struggling in life they have money problems and some indians are not even allowed in some places but indians are very strong people who know how to hold it down, indians are very good people who know alot and go through alot and deserves respect
ReplyDeleteMany families go through hard times depending on the type of household they live in. In the book "The Absolute True Diary of a Part-time Indian" Junior gets a book from his friend Gordy and in that book its say "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Well, I hate to argue with a Russian genius, but Tolstoy didn't know Indians. And he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reason: the fricking booze. On the reservation its easy for anyone to get alcohol. Junior has family members that have died because of alcohol and it makes him want to move off then reservation and never drink. Junior's grandmother and sister have passed away because of alcohol abuse so Juniors mom made him promise that he will never drink. Junior's family has broken apart and gotten smaller due to alcohol abuse. Junior feels like every Indian family on the reservation are unhappy because of alcohol. The quote kind of mirrors what alcohol does to people and it makes Junior want to move sway from it all.
ReplyDeleteIndians households are different from the average household. This is true because in the book part time indian junior has to deal with a family that drinks alcohol. According the text alcohol is the main reason why most people die in the reservation. In my opinion indians have a hard life because if you try to avoid there homes because of there surroundings they will have a high chance of not surviving because of all the bad influences they go through
ReplyDeleteWhen you're on outside looking in its easy to judge/ and or assume things about a situation. In this excerpt from Sherman Alexie's :"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian", Arnold disagrees with the Tolstoy guy's opinion-statement. The Tolstoy guy doesn't know anything about Indian families and the cause behind the sadness in Indian families. Tolstoy doesn't know that all Indians' sadness is caused by alcohol. Arnold states "And he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reason: the fricking booze.
ReplyDeletejunior disagreed with Tolstoy because he is judging from the looks and does not anything about Indians. So junior takes offense to his quote because Indian families are not happy and is upset and has the same exact problem which is alcohol. They drink alcohol to hide their depression and try an cover up their past by drinking booze. So junior thinks that he should not go about saying things without any type of knowledge of their problems.
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