Part Time Indian Poverty

1058 Words5 Pages
One of the most compelling aspects of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is that we see firsthand how devastating and totally awful poverty is not only for an human, but for an entire community. We see how poverty has killed hope on the reservation: how alcoholism is everywhere, a condition that leads to tons and tons of senseless death.Arnold loses his grandmother and his sister to alcoholism Though poverty may not teach us anything about surviving on the rez Arnold's fight for a better life and home for the reason when he looked in the book he seen his moms name he freaked and knew that he was suffering from poverty because the books from years and years ago are still used in modern life. arnold said poverty only teaches you…show more content…
9), is sick and, as the family cannot afford any treatment, Junior’s father shoots the dog to put him out of his misery. The poverty faced by his family is a never-ending cycle. Junior knows that his family is unable to break the pattern for him and that he needs to break the cycle on his own. Whilst he initially tries to hide his poverty from his new friends at Reardan, once he tells them they are sympathetic. The effect of poverty within the Indian reservation continues to dictate. The Spokane reservation is described as being a prison, and “… Indians were supposed to move onto the reservations and die. [Indians] were supposed to disappear… Reservations were meant to be death camps.” (217, Alexie) Towards the beginning of the story, Junior sets the stage for the reader, and allows there to be an understanding of what the Indians feel like everyday by stating, “It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor… 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.” (13, Alexie) Sherman Alexie enables the reader to go into the dark and villainous world of the reservation, and opens the locked door for many to see how Indians go through each day without food, clean water, healthy facilities, and quality education. All those living in the Spokane reservation know there is nothing they can do to save themselves. While Junior still attended Willpinit, the school within the reservation, one of his teachers, Mr. P starts to get mad at the growing poverty in the reservation, and becomes furious towards the Indians for giving up. “Every white person on this rez should get smashed in the face… All Indians should get smashed in the face, too. The only thing you [Indian] kids are being taught is how to give
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