The Absolutey True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Essay-Risks leads to Success

Mushfiq Islam

English 102

3/7/14

Risks Leads to Success

            Do you feel like you have a really difficult life and you just can’t seem to find any success or happiness in your life? Well if you feel like that don’t be discouraged and don’t give up on your life because you’re not the only one feeling like that. Many people in this world are faced with obstacles and challenges in their lives that are very hard to overcome. Some people are able to overcome those challenges but unfortunately others are not and end up giving up on their lives. When you’re an adult it is easier to overcome challenges since you’ve lived an longer life and you have a better understanding of how things work; but if you’re an child that has to deal with a lot of obstacles it tends to be much harder. One question many people have is that; when a child is faced with many obstacles and challenges in their lives and have no one to help them guide them in the right direction, how does that child find success in his or her life? In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie; a fourteen year old Native American Indian boy named Arnold Spirit also known as Junior pretty much answers that question. Even though Arnold Spirit knew he was setup for failure, he was willing to take risks that led him to overcome his fears; eventually leading him to the right path and finding success in his life.  

                Junior grew up in a household just like most of the kids in the rez grew up in, a born to setup for failure type of household. Just like most of these other Indian families, Junior and his family had to struggle to; most of the times they didn’t, have food in the house, didn’t have enough money to pay the bills or pay for gas, and didn’t have a lot of everyday things to buy either. For example for Christmas Junior said that, “we didn’t have enough for presents, so Dad did what he always does when we don’t have enough money. He took what little money we did have and ran away to get drunk” (Alexie 150). This shows that even on Christmas, Junior and his family weren’t able to spend it in a good way because they didn’t have enough money. With the money they did have Junior’s dad decides to get drunk with it and that is not something a kid wants to see his dad do on Christmas. Junior knew that if he stays at the rez he would also become like his father and would have to struggle in the future with his life and family. His biggest fear was to tell his dad that everything was not ok, “Hey, Dad, I said. Hey kid, he said. I’m sorry about Christmas. It’s okay, I said. But it wasn’t okay. It was about as far from okay as you can get” (Alexie 151). It goes to show that Junior was probably going to be headed in the same direction as his dad. Even though he was setup for failure he knew that his life can’t be like that and he had to follow his grandmother’s footsteps.

                Then came a day when Junior had a very influential talk with one of his teachers, it was Mr. P his geometry teacher who came to talk with him at his house and that talk changed his whole life. Mr. P told Junior how, “Mary was a bright and shining star. And then she faded away year by year until you could barely see her anymore” (Alexie 40). The reason Mary his sister faded away was because she decided to stay at the rez and there was no opportunity’s for her to purse her dreams at the rez. That’s when Mr. P told Junior that he needs to leave the rez in order for him to achieve his dreams and goals because if Junior stays at the rez his dreams would have also been crushed like Mary his sister. There is a cartoon that Junior draws that shows how the rez is on one side and the hope is on the other side of the rez (Alexie 43). Finally Junior realized that even though he loved the rez ho couldn’t afford to stay at the rez and he needed to go somewhere where he can accomplish his goals.

                One of the good qualities Junior has in him that leads him to have success is that he was able to overcome his fears. There was a point where Junior and Rowdy came across one of the biggest trees in the rez and Rowdy wants him and Junior to climb it. At first they both were scared to climb it but they still did it, “Rowdy and I climbed and climbed and climbed. We made it to the top” (Alexie 226). This shows that Junior was willing to take risks to overcome his fears. He also knew that in order to overcome his big fears he had to take big risks and another big risk he took was going to school at Reardan. He knew that Reardan was a school for white rich kids with no Indians but he still decided to go there, so he can get out of the rez and be successful. He was of the very few Indians if not the only one who decided to see the world in a different perspective and not just in one way. He knew there would be a lot of people at the rez angry with him for leaving the rez like his moms said, “You’ll be the first one t ever leave the rez this way. The Indians around here are going to be angry with you” (Alexie 47).  Junior knew that his mom was right but at that point he didn’t care what others thought. He trusted himself and knew that he could do something with his life if he was given the opportunity even if that meant leaving the rez. Not only did he overcome his fears but he looked at things in different perspectives that let him to leave the rez to pursue his dreams.

                Throughout this whole process for Junior one value that he gained he didn’t have before was that he had trust in himself that led to his success in life.  In the end it really shows that he had trust in him when Rowdy challenges him to a basketball game, “You want to go one-on-one. You’ve never beaten me one-on-one. You pussy. Yeah that’s going to change” (228). This just shows that even though Rowdy used to always beat him in one-on-one challenges he was still confident that he would be able to beat him this time. One of the reasons is because his move to Reardan changed the way he looks at things now and he trusts himself a lot more than what he used to. If Junior was still  going to school in the rez his confidence level still would be a lot down then it is now. This scene shows that not only has Junior impacted himself but he has also impacted his best friend Rowdy. Before Rowdy used to be a kid who wouldn’t open his mind to things at all but now he actually reads books and decides to learn more about things as well. So even though a lot of people didn’t agree with Junior’s decision at first it gave others more hope now that, no matter whom you are or where you live any can overcome their obstacles if they believe in themselves and have trust in them.

                The most important part of this novel is that if a kid like Junior who faces so many challenges and obstacles in his life is able to overcome those challenges and be successful, anyone can do it no matter who you are. Even though at one point of life there was no hope for Junior, he still decided to pursue his dreams and goals and pushed all his problems to the side and aimed for what he knew he had to do to become successful. The main thing is that Junior opened the door for a lot of other Indian kids his age or younger to still pursue their goals even if you are an Indian and to never give up on your life. Towards the end as you can see Junior is headed for big time success and he will be happy because he knows he made the right decision even with all the odds against him. Just remember never shy away from any challenges and you will have a successful life.