Essay Sample on “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian”

The culture of the Native people has been taken and changed throughout the decades by white culture and not kindly either, but we never talk about it. The book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” goes over what happened to the Natives, whether it includes them being emotionally abused, physically abused, or taken advantage of. Sherman Alexie tells us what happened to his culture and his people by conveying the Natives history in this book.

One of the causes in the decline of Native American culture is poverty. They end up not having the motivation to even bother going back to their old ways. Junior tells us how some days he can’t eat, “There is nothing better than a chicken leg when you haven't eaten for (approximately) eighteen-and-a-half hours”(Alexie 8). Which tells us that even if they cared about their culture, at this point they wouldn't even be able to afford the time to re-learn it.

Roger then gives us an example of what white culture thinks of Native culture with a very vulgar joke. “‘Did you know that Indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo?’”(Alexie 64) Showing that white culture has very little respect for what culture the Natives have. Thinking that Native culture is something that should be made fun of. Which can give the native people this feeling of hopelessness and anger, that can make them feel separate and feel like they don’t belong.

Native culture has been so entangled with white culture that they even stop hoping, but once in a while they pick themselves up and are able to better themselves with the hopes that their family had. Junior gets this point across in the best way, “Yep, if I believed in ghosts, then I think maybe I was rising on the shoulders of my dead grandmother and Eugene, my dads’ best friend”(Alexie 192). Junior found hope with his family. Maybe not his entire tribe but still his family. He did his best and it paid off.

To finalize the culture of the Natives were affected in such a negative way that they then lost all hope. They usually can't afford basic necessities, like money which allows them to buy what they need. Not only that but most of white society attacks them thinking they either have it easy, or thinking they just shouldn't exist.