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 #5 Due 11/4
Reservations were meant to
be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die.
We were supposed to disappear.
But somehow or another,
Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps.
I wept because I was the
only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one
with enough arrogance. (pp. 216-217)
well that statement ' reservations were meant to be prisons,you know? indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die.we were supposed to disappear.' means that the reservation was more so of a jail cell that held the indians back from exploring and building life to exceed and make something out of life. and thats where PTI comes in at. where in the book junior seen a way out of the reservations. he seen that the reservations held him back from life itself. he noticed that life itselfhad begun to propel against his engine of success and that why junior had concluded to leave the reservation and make a life for himself and start to change life on his own. that why he went too the white school off the reservations which aloud him to grow in his own little way but back home on the reservation his family and Indians. he felt like they would not except him for who he building his life to be.
ReplyDelete'' Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto the reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear. But somehow or another , Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps. I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez . I was the only one with enough arrogance". What that quote means is that Native Americans were placed on reservations to die along with all their traditions and cultures. But the Indians on the reservation have forgotten that no hope was on the reservation. Junior was the only one who realized this destiny and sought to rewrite that destiny and give Native Americans hope. He was deeply saddened because he was the only who realized the reservations destiny . On page 216 junior made a statement ; '' I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance". Junior sought hope for everyone on the rez , which means he had to leave the rez. The people on the rez saw junior as a traitor but they were ignorant to the reason as to why he left , He left so that people outside the rez didn't see it as a prison or a place of death but as a place of hope.
ReplyDeleteThis means that people didn't care about Native Americans, nobody even liked them. Its was said that they should not be mixed with ordinary people due to their ignorance. so when they were move far away from people on to the reservation, it was not taken into consideration as to how they would live and how hard would become for them. people just wanted then to suffer. but Junior as a young boy just feel like he had to prove people wrong by becoming something important in life but junior is sad as he feels as though he is the only one that wants to leave the rez to make a better life.
ReplyDeleteThe reservations are the indians prison, it was meant to keep them locked away to what other people thought were normal, it was meant to outcast them from the world. In both irj's that i have done and in the book "PTI" i have read how people are looked at diffrently on the rez. just for wanting to leave, pretty much the cause for why they don't leave and end up like most do with an alcoholic problem until they die or get put into there graves earlier than expected. It is what is said or done that really explains how out casted and locked in they really are by only living on the reservation, such as in "PTI" page 212 junior the protagonist says "i was important to them" it shows how junior has this outcast kind of mind like if its a privilage to be cared for by other people off the reservation, and it is because of his prison based home the reservation it is like he is an alien from mars just now stepping onto the earth. As the same when he builds up the courage to leave such as every prison with it's few escapes, on page 198 he says "it was the first time that Rowdy had spoke to me since i left the rez." which shows how now when he goes back to his cell he is treated diffrent from straying off so far. The reservation is the complete replica of a max security prison.
ReplyDeletein this picture it says reservation were meant to be prisions you know? the means that the indians were put there just to die. In the book junior was smart enough to leave the reservation and go into a better school and live life to the fullest. In my opinion when i see this picture and think about the reservation this also tells me that the reservation was just a place the government threw them in.
ReplyDeletethe exerpt means that back in the day indians were brought on reservations with the hope that their indian population would die and become extinct. but now indians have accepted living on reservations and really don't want to leave the reservation is their home they have no desire to move on or out of the reservation.the few that do move away from the reservation are frowned upon and are judged harshly. the reservation was made to exclude the indians from the white people no contact at all because the white people that were in rule wanted the land for their own use.
ReplyDeleteReservation were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to to disappear.But somehow or another, Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps. I wept because i was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance. What junior meant was indians weren't supposed to follow they're dreams, they weren't allowed to have hopes and dreams, they were supposed to live where they were put to live, on the rez, and drink because they're sad and be sad because they drink. and become alcoholics and die, since the majority of indians die because of alcohol.But junior was sad because he wasn't going to become a sad lonely indian on the rez, he was going to follow his hopes and dreams.But what made him sad though was that the other indians were doing what was expected from them, while he was being brave to LEAVE the rez.
ReplyDeleteIndians feel “caged” due to the circumstances they live in and Junior had enough courage to do what many Indians wanted to, but couldn’t. Circumstances that go with living on the reservation include poverty, alcoholism and depression. Hope is something that quickly fades on the reservation because the Indian culture is slowly fading away. Junior states, “Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you about perserverance.” This shows how the hope that he once had in his culture is gone. Junior also agrees with the idea that reservations are like prisons. He says, “But we reservation Indians don’t get to realize our dreams.” Junior realizes that the environment they live in influences how they will prosper and due the fact that they live in a poverty-strickened area most Indians do not get to fulfill their potential. In Reservation Blues by Jim Boyd and Sherman Alexie they talk about how life is on the reservation. The text states, “I ain’t got nuthin, I heard no good news, I filled my pockets with those reservation blues.” At the time, the President thought it was a good idea to move the Indians to these reservations but in reality it only benefitted Americans.
ReplyDeleteWhen people hear that they are not as good as everyone else they start believe it but some people try and pull other people out of that thought. (to be continued )
ReplyDeleteThis excerpt is basically Arnold saying that his Native people do not know any better because they were sent to die on the Rez and they stayed there instead of trying to find ways to get out. In life on the Rez by David Trecer, he writes about a man named Melvin aka (dickie) who had a problem drinking . Melvin unlike a lot of other Natives saw he had a problem and decided to change it. Once he saw it could happen and that he made a better life for himself he wanted to help others but he quickly realized he says " There are some people who want to get out of drinking but feel there is no purpose to" . He was completely surprised that no one cared about this problem, Like Arnold he saw things needed to change for himself so he changed them .And it is so sad to see the people you live with in your community do not see how much more they are worth .
DeleteI think Indians shouldn't be put in the reservations well some of them because there are alot of good Indians out there who do great things and alot of Indians make alot of scarfices for family or friends and people always has a reason for doing stuff sometimes they bad sometimes they are good but if u are Indian and u do something bad for no reason u deserve to be in the reservation and die because your just doing it for no reason and Indians should know that if u do something bad u already know your punishment which is going to the reservation and die
ReplyDeleteThe excerpt above explains that no matter how strong you are, challenges will try to overcome and take over a person at a certain point and this is a fact anyone and everyone can relate too. When a small community have equal strengths and greater challenges they all tend to give up and lose hope at some point. An example of this kind of community is the Indian reservation where Junior lives, no one has hope and they all face similar circumstances. What is very much unknown is the fact that when the entire world fails to have faith, to speak up, to thrive and fight for hope, what they believe in, there is always someone who refuses to back down and be quiet, there is always someone who isn’t afraid to take risks and let their light shine, there is always someone who will speak up and let his/her self be heard. In THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN BY SHERMAN ALEXIE when junior expresses how he feel about his reservation he said;” I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez.” (pp. 216-217) The people in the reservation all lost hope, they gave up to their circumstances, but Junior didn’t, he was from the reservation too and he grew up with the same belief but when they all lost faith he stayed strong and left the reservation. His weeping doesn’t meant he regrets speaking up and leaving the reservation, it symbolizes the pain he feels knowing that no other person on his reservation was able to get up and leave the reservation in search of hope. The article WHAT THE HELL THEY RE ONLY INDIANS BY TIM GIAGO further explains how one person always strives in search of what they strongly believe in. The article states; Melvin "Dickie" Brewer, a classmate of mine and a lifelong friend, like so many Indian boys and girls faced with the hardships of growing up in poverty, developed a drinking problem... He used to quip... This wasn't something he was proud of and that motivated him to do something about it. He went on with his education and eventually became a substance abuse counselor at Pine Ridge.” Alcoholism is a disorder very difficult to break from especially in the reservation and while many let it consume and ruin their life, Dickie didn’t he motivated himself to break from it and did what many Native Americans could not do. He refused to let his circumstances take control of him.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the excerpt, Junior believes that he is the only on the reservation that was brave, crazy, and arrogant enough to leave. On page (p.216) it is expressed that “Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear” meaning that Indians are supposed to disappear into their reservation, and only remain a memory in America. Yet, junior, is the only Indian to be brave, crazy and have hope or “arrogance” to leave the reservation. Another example of this would be “if yah ain’t got choices ain’t got much to lose…” describing that if you have nothing in the reservation, then there’s nothing much to lose when it comes to leaving the reservation. Showing some braveness, craziness, and possibly some arrogance, just to leave the boundaries of the reservation.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the excerpt, Junior thinks that he is the only one able to understand what the main reason behind the rez is. Junior realizes that because he was brave an arrogant enough to leave the rez, he may be able to survive." I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance." He had the bravery and arrogance to leave the rez and follow his dream to become someone successful. Meanwhile, his thoughts of the rez being a death hole is absolutely true." Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear. But somehow or another, Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps." Indians were moved to reservations because of the Americans who needed more land to expand on. They were supposed to be treated greatly for being the founders of the land but ended p being left without any civilized conditions. "You're going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation." (pg 43) "If you stay on this rez," Mr. P said, "they're going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. We're all going to kill you. You can't fight us forever." (pg 43) Th reservations were meant to indeed kill the Indians.
ReplyDeleteLiving in poverty and within a community full of people that go through many struggles and just tned to give up can be challenging, but you can be that one person to get up, take action, and do something valuable for yourself/yourfuture. In the book The Absolutley True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior said "I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance." (pp. 216-217). Junior was that one person who had the guts to move out the poor reservation and do something for himself, he was crazy enough to be who he really is, escape poverty and follow his dreams. The Irj article What The Hell They're Only Indians by Tim Giago also shows how at least one person within a community can be motivated to change and do something for themselves. Melvin "Dickie" Brewer, a classmate of mine at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, like so many Indian boys and girls faced with the hardships of growing up in poverty, developed a drinking problem.The irony of the situation that settled in his mind motivated him to do something about it." You can do something about your problems you just have to have the guts/arrogance.
ReplyDeleteThe expert is saying on how the Indians have forgotten how the Reservation is a death camp. Junior is the only who knows why the Rez is there and why they were put in the Rez and how he is the only one who isn't going to stay their. He wants to leave and be better for himself and have a better future for himself. He wants to know that by leaving the Rez, he isn't going to disappear or die like he was supposed to. What made it even harder for him is that he was the only one who was crazy enough and brave enough to leave. He was the only who wanted to do something of himself and not become like everyone else on the Rez. He wanted something of himself and be proud of it. Even if he is seen as someone else. As Junior calls himself he is only one with enough arrogance to leave and change himself.
ReplyDeletePeople that live in a community with poverty, alcohol, and lack of opportunities can lose persevere. If a person has a strong desire and is ambitious, then no matter how bad the community is they will do well. In the book, The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior had enough courage and ambition to do what many Indians wanted to, but were too afraid to do. Ambition is something that either quickly fades away or was never part of the reservation because the Indian culture is fading away. When Junior says, "I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance (pp. 216-217)." What Junior is saying is that he is sad because he has realized that the environment the Indians live in influences how they will prosper. So most Indians do not get to fulfill their potential, he feels guilty because he was the only one that looked for something greater than poverty and alcohol. The Rez is a depressing place that was meant to take away the Indians culture. In document, The Absense of Native American Power by Sherman Alexie and Bill Moyers, further explains how the Indians have no more culture left. The document states, "Indians have no cultural power. We're still placed in the past." Alexie is implying that because the Indians are placed in the past and lost their culture and it's power, they have lost themselves. A community can't work if they don't have any culture, and that is what happens with the Rez.
ReplyDelete" Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear. But somehow or another, Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps. I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance." This quote means that when people live on a reservation they stay there and never leave. Reservations are hopeless, poverty-stricken areas that prevent people from achieving their dreams. Junior was trying to say that many Native Americans have forgotten that if you live on the rez, you're risking your chances to succeed in life which is why he doesn't understand why some Native Americans choose to live there. Junior, on the other hand, was the only Native American with enough courage to leave the rez and attempt to do something with his life. In the article, " What the Hell, They're Only Indians" by Tim Giago he states " Melvin 'Dickie Brewer', a classmate of mine at the Holy Rosary Indian Mission on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and a lifelong friend, like so many Indian boys and girls faced with the hardships of growing up in poverty, developed a drinking problem." Also in the article " Drinking Behavior and Sources of Alcohol" it states " In contrast, however, other studies have found that identification with Native American culture, living on reservations, and participation in Native American traditions may increase substance and alcohol use in some cases" and " The Native population experiences greater negative health consequences because of alcohol use and misuse, including chronic liver disease, alcohol-related automobile crashes, suicide, homicide, and fetal alcohol syndrome." Many Native Americans on the rez develop a drinking problem causing many deaths, which is why Junior refers to a reservation as a "death camp"
ReplyDeleteAccording to the quotation from the book "The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie some people that live in a bad treated community intend to leave that community in order to have a better life, while the rest stays living there. Junior wants to show people it's possible to get out of the community, also he wants to stop the cycle of alcoholism in families. " I have to prove that I am stronger than everybody else" (pg 186), this shows that Junior is willing to move on and have a better life than other people living in the reservation. In the IRG article "Reservation Blues" by Jim Boyd and Sherman Alexie it states "I ain't got nuthin, I, heard no good news, I filled my pockets with these reservation blues...", this shows how people living in the reservation are living a miserable life. Some people realize the bad conditions they are living in while others loose hope of having a better life.
ReplyDeleteWhen people are put into circumstances like the reservations and they are expected to live with no hope and guidance they rely on one thing alcohol.They don't know how else they can live life because they have so much responsibilities and its to much to handle for them because theirs no change.In the book The Absolutely true Diary of a part time Indian when Junior says "I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance" (pp. 216-217). This means that apart from all that lack of hope and guidance from his elders he made a difference to leave the rez and change for the best.He wants to leave the rez which provides him with nothing but pain,old memories from his ancestors, and go to a place were he can create his own personality and have a better life.Also in the IRJ article "What the hell there only Indians" it states "three generations of Indian children were pushed out of these schools and onto the reservations or streets totally confused about who they were and what life expected of them. thousands of these children,now adults,turned to alcohol to forget and probably because it numbed them of these memories."This shows that many of these Indians on the reservation had a lot to go through and all this pain from the past hunts them till this date.They don't know how to avoid those emotional feelings from the past and move on with there future or try to improve it.There so confused that they cant even stop reliving the past and they turn to alcohol for support which makes them feel better because then they don't focus on reality.These two quotes show what the people on the rez went through and how they feel being on theses reservations but no matter what they don't have the energy to get up and show fiat that they can have a better and successful future.There afraid of pain but Junior did what the others on the rez couldn't do. He wanted a better life so he left the rez lets hope that the other kids on the rez follow his path.Also try to make a better future for themselves instead of staying on the rez were theirs no hope left for them anymore.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the excerpt, "Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear.
ReplyDeleteBut somehow or another, Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps.I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance." (pp. 216-217), Junior believes that the Reservations were meant to be prisons and Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. He believed he was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the Reservation. Indians use alcohol to hide behind their shame and they become cowards. In the IRJ "What the Hell, They’re Only Indians” by Tim Giago it explains alcohol abuse amongst American Indian reservations. Indians seem to forget their living in a prison just because they are tired of trying and set themselves up for failure. They dont expect anything and have no hope so thats why Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps.
Sometimes in life, people have to see things differently than what they really seem to be. In the book, The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior faces many issues with living in the Reservation, and losing many of his loved ones to alcohol related situations. According to the excerpt from above, Junior is showing that many Native Americans believe that the reservation isn't the best place to live on because they are believed to be Prisons or Death Camps. In the book, no one besides Junior and his sister had the courage to leave the Reservation, that shows that even though many Indians believe that the Rez is a bad place to live in, they don't have enough pride to leave. In the IRJ article, Transcript of President Andrew Jackson's message to Congress on Indian Removal (1830), President Jackson mentions " The Tribes which occupied the countries now constituting the Eastern States were annihilated or have melted away to make room for the whites", this shows that President Andrew Jackson wanted to remove Indians from their homes, in order to make space for the White people. This article relates to the quote from the book because, the Reservation is thought of as being a prison in the past, and that is demonstrated as false with Jackson's quote, it also relates because the Reservation is not a prison unless you make it one. The reservations is only a prison to the people who want to stay there, but to Junior it is not because he made the right decision to leave the rez.
ReplyDeleteThis excerpt from The Absolute Diary of a Part-Time Indian is trying to ssay that when the reservations were created, the indians were suppose to die so then then land can be owned by the U.S. government again. This excerpt also shows that people didn't actually care about Native Americans because the weren't like everyone else but the Idians forgot all about that and made their own community and lived. Then junior says that he cried because he was the only indian that was brave enough to leave the reservation because all the other indians lost hope. In PTI (part-time Indian) Junior talks to Mr P. Mr P tells him that he has to leave the reservation and go to a place where ther is hope so he can have a better life. The book shows that indians have lost hope and when they lose hope they die like they were in a death camp.
ReplyDeletei think what they mean by that text is inse the rez is poor theres nothing but drunk people,poor people and is apart from other people thats how jail is.people on the rez feel like they were put there to stay there until they die and thats how jail is nobody even like thinks of them
ReplyDeleteThe quote above form the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part –Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is talking about how Native Americans were forced to move off there land and were left in an area far off from others to die. It shows it in the text. "Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear." The quote plainly says how they were moved into these death camps to disappear. Another example that shows they were pushed into disappearing was in an article I read. It was called "What the Hell, They're Only Indians". In the article it said "Indians were the guinea pigs of social experiments for more than 200 years. Esteemed attorney Felix S. Cohen called Indians 'miner's canaries' because every social experiment intended to improve life in America was tested on them first to see if it would fly. As can be expected, many of the social experiments did more harm than good, but as one anonymous government official said back then, 'What the hell, they're only Indians.' " This quote tells the reader that the Natives were not cared for and they were used because they were not important. They didn't care because they were less then them.
ReplyDeleteThis quote is saying Indians are still being treated unfairly. Based on a book called Part Time Indian by sherman alexie is saying that the indians know what the government was doing to them, trying to make them die out through no money & No benefits from the government like real citizen get. The quote "Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear."is saying that they were being taken advantage of and there was no way to resolve this expect by leaving the rez which was a pretty hard thing. Going out there being a indian could be hard, racial bullying, unfair treatment, automatically looked down on ... These things could drive a person to drink which many indians did and resulted into more drinking turning many into alcoholics & destined to die as drunk drivers or deaths dealing with alchol.
ReplyDeleteThis excerpt is saying that the Reservation camps were meant to keep Indians away from everyone else, and meant to wipe them out for good. Junior describes them as some kind of concentration camps, or prisons for Native Americans to be kept in and suffer. Maybe Junior was crying because he felt alone, or that no one was supporting him in his leave from the Reservation. Perhaps the Indians didn't want to move on because of what the Reservation has turned them into? A quote that shows this is, "It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you're poor because you're stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you're stupid and ugly because you're Indian. And because you're Indian you start believing you're destined to be poor. It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it." Its basically saying that the Reservation changes the Native American, and destroys their old self, causing them to think differently. They couldn't leave the Reservation because of this, they were tied to it. In, "What The Hell, They're Only Indians", it spoke a lot about the cycle that Native Americans had. Children were abused by parents, and then a huge cycle was starting to begin. This eventually led them to alcohol. Maybe this is what the quote means, that the Reservation is just a camp that's meant for Indians to disappear within them.
ReplyDeleteeservations were made to lock up Indians so that they never see the light again. Most Indians seem to have forgotten the reason that reservations were created. The protagonist of "PTI" did not forget. In fact, he says "I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance," (pp. 216-217) to make it clear to his audience that unlike the rest of his culture he is not going to stay on the reservation and die like the government intended for them. According to junior, "Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die." In the letter that Andrew Jackson wrote to junior congress he states a completely different reason for reservations. He says that Indians did not know how to act around civilized people so he separated them to make them more comfortable.
ReplyDeleteA place of sorrow, a place of sufferings, a place of death. These are descriptions of the Indian Reservations. People give up on dreams because they know that in the Reservations nothing is possible. Everything is the Reservations is dead. Dreams die. Hope dies. Opportunities die. People die. The Reservations are full of negativity. In the book, "The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, Junior says: "Reservations were made to be prisions, you know? Indians were suppose to move onto reservations and die. We were suppose to disappear. But somehow or another, Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps. I wept because I was the only one who was brave and cray enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance." (Pg 216-217). In this quotation Junior expresses anger and disappointment. He feels he was the only one that was brave enough to leave the reservation. He faced the cruel words of others and their judgement, but truth is that they couldn't accept that finally one of them (meaning Junior) had the guts to change the course of their destiny. Junior made himself the only exception. He's a fighter. He's a warrior. When Junior says: "Indians have forgotten that the reservations were meant to be death camps." he's saying that the people living on the rez are going no where in life. They're just waiting till they die. The IRJ Article "Why Are The Indian Reservations So Poor? A Look At The Bottom 1%" by John Koppisch talks about the poverty in the reservations. "To explain tbe poverty in the reservations people usually point to alcoholism, corruption or school-dropout rates, not to mention the long distances to jobs and dusty undeveloped land that doesnt seem good for growing much." This shows that because of poverty, the people living on the rez aren't able to be successful because the more the poverty, the less opportunities.
ReplyDelete-Wendy Miguel
Reservations were made to make the Indians feel "caged" , these Indian are being treated unfairly because they. Were basically pushed of their land and sent to these reservations from from other people to die out. In The book Absolutely True Diary Of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior quotes Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear. This is how he feels after witnessing so many people on. The Rez give up and die due to alcohol, this is why he refers to the reservation as a death camp. The people on the reservation lack opportunities, poverty and hope and instead of laying around and throwing his life away. Junior decided to leave the Rez and better his life with amazing opportunities he did not recieve on his Reservation. Therefore even though people were jealous of him he still made A change and he proved to others your able to recieve opportunities if you seek them.
ReplyDeleteReservations were supposed to be a tool to hold Native Americans back and kill their dreams. Native American's reservations suffer from poverty, alcoholism and lack of support to get out. Junior's school, for example "..Had to study out the same textbooks my parents had." The Reservation was so poor and set on making sure success wasn't possible that they used the tool of education to criple their growth as people. When you are poor, it is harder to get educated and when you can not educate yourself you fall into ugly cycles. Schools or these communities are also a huge problem, but not only because of the way they are teaching. In the article 'What The Hell, They're Only Indians' the author describes Native children being taken away to boarding schools were they would attempt to "de-Indianize" them. The reservation's schools are a tool to not only dumb down the children, but turn them against their culture. When someone doesn't identify with their cultre, reject their culture or does not know about their culture, it becomes easier for that culture to die off. Junior metaphorically means that reservations are death camps because on the reservation, hope to become something great and culture dies while the people on it live there.
ReplyDeleteReservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto the reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear. This quote means that they were pushed off their land and moved to the reservation to die out. However they were treated unfairly because they felt caged in and alot of them died because of the substance of alcohol because they were struggling and very poor
ReplyDeletei feel like jr was the one that felt that he can make a change in the reservation that no matter if he was the only he was going to prove everyone wrong and that the reservation is not a prison cell to stay and make nothing with their lives. Jr made a great success with leaving the res cause now other kids might want to do the same and make it in life other than stay there ad become drunkies and die.some people want to stay there and keep there tradition going instead of breaking the chain and making it to a better way of life.
ReplyDeleteby shakira sanchez
The reservation was suppose to keep Indians from chasing their dreams. The reservation is considered death camps because of the amount of alcohol abuse among Indians. Not many dreams can be accomplished on the reservation so there's a lot of disappointment. In the book "The Absolute True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian" By Sherman Alexie, Junior says "Reservations were made to be prisions, you know? Indians were suppose to move onto reservations and die. We were suppose to disappear. But somehow or another, Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps. I wept because I was the only one who was brave and cray enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance." (Pg 216-217).This quote shows that Junior is aware of the amount of people that abuse the use of alcohol and he promises his mother that he would never drink. Junior has lost his sister, his grandmother and Eugene due to alcohol abuse. This disappointment and grief he feels makes him leave the reservation and go to school in Reardan. Many people have low expectations for Indians so they believe they will all become alcoholics and die on the reservation. Junior feels as if he's the only one who had enough sense and pride to leave and not be doubted by society.
ReplyDeleteIn this excerpt from the book The Absolutely True Diary Of a Part Time Indian it is saying how ARnold was the only one with enough courage and arrogance to leave the reservation. Arnold also known as Junior from the Reservation was the only person who was daring enough to leave the reservation. He was bullied and taunted about leaving and called a trader. They saw him as a trader because he wanted to actually be successful in life and become something unlike the other indians. The only thing is that the school Arnold attended was outside of tow with white people. Mostly Indians just drink there lives away and suffer and then complain about the horrible things that has occurred in there lives because of alcohol but yet they continue to drink. Reservations were created to be prisons before and even though they have freedom technically they are still trapped and chained down by alcohol. The Indians on the reservation allow alcohol to take control of there lives. They are so naive that when one indian actually attempts to have a better life and succeed they look down on him. The reservations were also meant to be death camps and they are still living like if it was a death camp because of all the drinking many people die from drunk driving to getting shot in the face over the last sip of wine. Its critical and yet they continue to allow the same cycle of heavy drinking to occur. Its sad that a young boy who has many different problems and has suffered so much pain was the one who was courageous enough to leave and try to make a difference in his life then to be another indian stereo type.
ReplyDeleteThe Reservations that were built for the Indians were all death traps and were designed to eliminate the Indian people. When the Indians got their land taken away from them, they were given small land to live in freely, but slowly the Indians began to die and their culture had begun to fade away. In the excerpt above, a line says "I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance." (pp. 216-217) This is a young Indian boy named Arnold Spirit who has experienced harsh living conditions in his reservation. Realizing that everyone including his family that are living there are only getting poorer, he has decided to leave and go somewhere else. In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part –Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Arnold Spirit is trying to get out of the reservation but is facing some problems as he is realizes that he and his whole Indian family are poor and weak. On page 55 of the book, a line says "He was the looser Indian father of a looser Indian son living in a world built for winners." This line is expressing that the Indians including himself and his father are all born to lose. The world full of winners does not apply to him and Arnold Spirit lives a life where he has no opportunity.
ReplyDeletehe wept because he soon notice what the reservations were meant for and this made him arrogant. reservations were death camps and it was really a place full of deception and they were mislead thinking it was to help them become something. reservations was meant to erase them from human race so they tradition and etc...wont live on. so junior was the only one with enough courage and motivation to leave and become something and not stay there and die with no meaning like the others.
ReplyDeleteFam idk who u are but you saved my lives wit dem page numbers. I gotta midterm tmrw and you citing them damn page numbers done saved my life. Thank you bro
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