"I draw because words are too limited." (Alexie 5)
This is such a great line, there are times when there is not enough you can say or do to describe something. So he draws the situation, thus why we have picture books. But there is a moral, story, meaning, and emotion that comes with writing that drawings and paintings will never capture. That is why I think that in this world we have both arts to capture all aspects of the many faces of life.
"My Sister is running away to to get lost, but I am running away because I want to find something." (Alexie 46)
This is a terrific look at perspective. I have a firm passion in perspective, you walk around the school everyday and see every individual and they are all living life from a different perspective then yourself. Some are living with the view of finance, some of future, some of family, some of popularity, everyone holds something that is important to them. These items of importance are then formed into contacts or glasses and those are the eyes they see the world through. A stereotypical sorority girl may have a different perspective then a full fledge honor student, they may look down on each other, but both can justify their behavior or attire, because they are living to meet separate goals.
The boys talk on how in primitive cultures, those that did not live up to the status of the rest of the tribe were banished and when it is pointed out we are not in primitive times anymore Gordy points out, "Oh, yes, we are. Weird people still get banished." (Alexie 132)
Wow this is really an eye opener. Life is one large revolution of generation after generation of repetition. I recently had a friend (very strong in religion) approach me and tell me that soon is the end of the world because we have illnesses like AIDS, we have conflict across nations, the world just seems more corrupt, and as according to Revelations, this about the part where the anti-christ is supposed to step in. But we know history, and if we really sit down, we have new technology but the storyline is the exact same. Hate, love, war, religion, murder, violence, happiness, it is all the same. I can go deeper into this, but I despise controversy and I'm not big on offending people. We all follow the foot steps of our ancestors.
The evidences of realism:
On his disability:
I actually have a friend with the same ailment that Junior has in this book, she looks very similar and acts very similar. Her step is stiff, her back is hunched, she is so skinny her cheek bones shoot out like blades, she is pale, she wears thick glasses, and at the age of 30 she is working towards her driver's license. I felt for junior in such a strong sense, and I believe Alexie focused too much on the fact that the children at the all white school only looked at him funny because he was Native American, considering his appearance otherwise. My good friend Shelley who I just spoke of, she has had difficulty with her self-consciousness about her weight and stance. She is sometimes difficult to understand vocally. Alexie could have delved so much deeper into these inner strifes beyond the one chapter I noticed it mentioned.
On his dual lifestyle:
I can only imagine just how hard it must be to live two different identities. Although we all have our personal identity and our public identity, this is something far more advanced, because both of these were made public.
On Losing Friends:
Losing a friend because of a choice you made to help yourself can be very tiring. Rowdy made sure Junior understood just how much he hated him for finding a way for himself, but without wording it just that way. The same thing happened to me when I went to college. I had a best friend, and I tried to move her up here with me, and I helped her find an apartment, scholarships so that she could go to nursing school, etc. At the last minute she decided she did not know how she could move away from her mother, and so stayed behind. That was her prerogative, but for years I have heard how I deserted her, how I just up and bailed, leaving her alone and helpless. It's sad, it's tiring, and the guilt hurts for feeling as if you let down a friend. I really really felt for Junior. You try to reach out, make those attempts to kindle the friendship, but they would rather complain how it could never be.
On Older Siblings:
Since we were real young my brother and I have been peas in a pod as one might say. We are never apart, and always on the same wavelength. Although I do things that upset him, and he may do things that upset me, we will always be connected at the heart. He has always looked up to me, he writes, he reads, he is active in theatre and German in high school currently. He is my little clone, but yet different. I don't know what it feels like to be Junior but I do know how it feels to be Mary.
On the mentor:
Just this morning we were talking about Charlotte's Web in children's literature, and E.B. White makes Charlotte a kind, wise, selfless, humble individual. This is also found here in Alexie's book with the Grandmother, who helps to save Juniors life just as Charlotte saved Wilbur's. They fed them with confidence, insight, and strength. They had all the answers. They also both pass away in the stories, and this passing is a very strong turning point for both protagonist's. In Joseph Campbell's Hero of a Thousand Faces he describes the concept of The Monomyth, which is the outline of every story ever written and told, no matter the genre. Losing the mentor is one of the final steps of this circle, and is where the hero has to stand up for himself, without a helping hand, and this is where they prove their full potential. It is sometimes their underlying drive, in honor of a loved one's memory.
Bibliography:
<Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary
of a Part-Time Indian. New York
Brown and Company, 2006. pp. 1-66. >White, E.B. (1952). Charlotte’s Web.
Harper Collins Publishing.
4 comments:
Hey just FYI I am responding to your comment on my blog. When I say "weird" I mean it in a sense that it would be weird for a book to be based on a gay 14 year old. That may be close minded as hell, but there would no way a book like that would ever make it into the schools. Just to clear it up, I would be more than OK with it, if a kid wanted to read a book with a gay character. I even mentioned in my post that he may come off that way to readers because of his loneliness. And I'm not the only one who has thought he was gay.
It wasn't my intention to sound narrow-minded so I am going to edit that post. I consider myself a pretty sensitive guy sometimes, and I've had my stints with loneliness. I know what its like and I know I never acted so lonely people considered me gay. Gosh, I still sound narrow-minded. It shouldn't matter if he's gay or not; the bottom line is the book worked with him as the main character and it had a good moral lesson. Apparently, I missed it by still wanting to judge the character. I'm done lol.
Grrr, ok I should probably let go of the connection to gayness and sensitiveness. It makes me a jackass by relating the too and its insulting.
Wow Jessica, your post is awesome and very in depth. I really enjoyed reading it! I saw what you wrote on Daniel's blog about how you're starting to work on a list for young readers. I would love for you to share that with me sometime! Good post! See you tomorrow!
Jessica: I must agree with Ashley concerning this post: very in-depth, very much something we need to show our students in terms of how to look at a work of literature. It is like Gordy tells Junior about reading a book three times to really get to know it (I don't know about having to read a book three times so much as reading it even once as though we're reading it for the third time: take in the plot, history, etc.). You've shown real knowledge and understanding of the book, and you've shown the reading know-how. Cool.
Plus, I appreciate yours and Thomas's conversation about character.
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