Finding Forrester

553 Words3 Pages
“Don’t change for anyone but yourself.” - Jeydon Wale. In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, an Indian boy named Arnold Spirit transfers from Wellpinit, his reservation high school, to Reardan, a high school full of rich white kids. There he finally learns to stick up for himself, and makes new friends but also goes through a few struggles. In the movie Finding Forrester, an African-American boy named Jamal Wallace transfers to a private school and meets William Forrester. At the new school, he faces racism and harsh judgement from his teacher, Mr. Crawford, and William Forrester helps him with his writing. Arnold and Jamal both experience peer pressure, find the importance of friendship, and find motivation…show more content…
Jamal’s friends dared him to break into an old man’s house, which whom was William Forrester’s house. Arnold is pressured into going to Denny’s, there he buys a ton of food for him and Penelope even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to pay for it. On page 125, Arnold wrote “... I knew i wouldn’t be able to pay for any of it. I figured it was my last meal before my execution, and i was going to have a feast.” Jamal and Arnold both find the importance of friendship. William Forrester finally leaves his house on his own to help Jamal when his teacher accuses him of plagiarism on his essay. Rowdy always protected Arnold before he decided to switch schools. On page 17, Arnold wrote “He knew that i was afraid of getting beat up. And he also knew that he’d probably have to protect me. Rowdy has protected me since we were born.” Jamal and Arnold both find motivation to change. After Jamal transfers schools, he decides to focus more on his writing rather than basketball. Arnold decides he’s never going to drink. On page 217, Arnold wrote “I wept and wept and wept because i knew that i was never going to drink and because i was never going to kill myself and because i was going to have a better life out in the white
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