Who Is Patricia Hersch's A Tribe Apart?

An emphasis on family is one of the central facets of Native American culture. There is a sense of community between Native American. Louise Erdrich, a Chippewa Indian herself, writes a gripping bildungsroman about a thirteen year old boy named Joe who experiences all forms of family on the Native American Reserve where he lives. He learns to deal with the challenges of a blood family, witnesses toxic family relationships, and experiences a family-like love from the members of the community. In her book, The Round House, Louise Erdrich depicts three definitions of the word family and shows how these relationships affect Joe’s development into an adult.

Racism is a driving force in David’s town specifically towards Native Americans. Uncle Frank is accused of raping young Indian girls who he is supposed treat medically, Wesley the town sheriff interviews Ollie Young

At Hazelwood High School, they do things differently than at my school. At Hazelwood, most of the people worry about themselves and nobody else. Most of the school doesn’t get good grades and the school does not do anything about it. One day in English class Andy walked out when they were reading Macbeth because it was too emotional for Andy to handle. His friends were concerned and told the school counselor. They said, “But… but… it seems like… like… he needs help or somethin’.” Then the counselor said, “Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you boys this, but he is getting some outside counseling… So you boys can relax and be assured that he is getting whatever help he needs”(100). At Harrisburg High School, if someone had an issue like that, the counselors and teachers would be concerned, even if the person was getting outside help. Another thing about education that is different than mine is the school. In Ronda’s English homework, she wrote, “Our school building must have been built about a million years ago, because it was brown and tall and raggedy-looking, but it fit right in with the rest of the day”(16). At my high school, we are very fortunate to have a very new building to learn inside of. At Hazelwood High, they were not fortunate enough to have a new high school be built. Culture and education are very important pieces of people’s

Lives for Native Americans on reservations have never quite been easy. There are many struggles that most outsiders are completely oblivious about. In her book The Roundhouse, Louise Erdrich brings those problems to light. She gives her readers a feel of what it is like to be Native American by illustrating the struggles through the life of Joe, a 13-year-old Native American boy living on a North Dakota reservation. This book explores an avenue of advocacy against social injustices. The most observable plight Joe suffers is figuring out how to deal with the injustice acted against his mother, which has caused strife within his entire family and within

Martin is an average teen that lives with his parents and his younger sister Cheryl when his life is interrupted when his Lakota Grandpa comes to visit. Grandpa tells the story of his culture and life as an Indian, but Martin was afraid that his grandfather might not live up to the expectations he implemented into the minds of his friends. Sadly his grandfather was sick and tired, so he gave Martin the medicine bag as a passing gift to remember his family’s culture. In the end, Martin visited the Iowa sanctuary as a way to commemorate his grandfather and the medicine bag. The hardships of judging your family, culture and those around you are difficult to do unless experience, the description, and events experience by Martin explain these events and the meaning of the discovery changed him for the better. In the story, “The Medicine Bag”, the remarkable events during Grandpa’s visit enlightened Martin of the importance of family culture and the acceptance of others.

The Spoken tribe, like many other Native American tribes, suffered considerably due to alcoholism, poverty, and racism. In order to combat the dire state that he is in, Spoken Indian Arnold “Junior” Spirit decides to leave the reservation and go to Reardan, a school full of whites. Sherman Alexie’s novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian paints a picture of life where racism, poverty, and alcoholism affects Arnold Spirit as he journeys through a completely different society. His decision endangers him not only in his reservation but also at Reardan where he is ostracized for being the only Indian boy in a school full of white people. Despite these dangers, Arnold is still willing to reject his family tradition and go to Reardan because he has hopes of finding a fulfilling and hopeful life. Due to his willingness to go through with his action of going to Reardan despite the hardships, Arnold is able to march inexorably towards finding a fulfilling and hopeful life. Through his perseverance of physical and emotional hardships, and his willingness to leave his family legacy behind and go to Reardan, it is revealed the extent that man is willing to go to in order to achieve his goals.

It is said that “Most families want to know what is going on in the school and would do a better job of parenting and educating if they knew how.” (MORRISON, 2009, p. 491)

Before reading this book, I honestly knew little about Native American. I knew that many lived on reservations, but I knew nothing about those reservations. By being brutally honest, Sherman Alexie provided incite to how the everyday life of a teenage Native American is like. This book opened my eyes to the problems that Native American’s face, that I was in the dark about before.

The experiences she’s had have had their effect on her attitude regarding school. She rejects the standards of the school system, believing it to be too limiting for children who may learn differently, and can disenfranchise youth that may not conform to the mold. She also shuns the practicality of what she has been learning, and its proposed “applicability” in the real world.

Olson’s premises for the book are that engagement in learning is the key to a happy life and that school separates many individuals from that possibility. School practices that wound and make students hesitant learners have to be investigated so they can be changed. If we understand what school wounds are, why they occur and what can be done about it, we don’t need to harbor these wounds forever.

To civilians that didn’t have the chance to learn about Native Americans, it may seem strange to them that the Native Americans send in teenagers alone into the woods to become a man. Regarding this process, the book Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen comes into play. Cole Matthews is a young man that gets clandestine in criminal actions. In his most recent crime, beating Peter Driscal’s skull into a sidewalk, Cole finds himself alone on an island, instead of in a jail cell wanting to change. The first 215 pages I have read in Touching Spirit Bear has brought me to question, visualize, and predict what has happened and what will be happening in the pages of Ben Mikaelsen’s book.

Not only is Junior unpopular and alienated, but the victim of taunts and bullying as well. Furthermore, he’s considered a traitor after he transfers to Reardon. At Reardon, he’s called names and endures racial jokes until he finally finds acceptance through basketball and surprisingly finds friends with similar interests. Ultimately, Junior comes to the “huge realization” that not only does he belong to the Spokane Indian tribe, but to no less than 13 additional groups (Basketball players, cartoonists, bookworms, and sons to name a few). It is the first time he knows that he will be “OK”, sending a positive message to readers that identify with his struggles. By reading about characters similar to themselves, young adults can see that their challenges are not unique and are shared by other adolescents (Bucher & Hinton, 2009)

In Louise Erdrich’s Famous work of poetry, “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways”, shows how the context of the work and the author play major roles in understanding the poem from different aspects and angles to see between the lines of what we really call life. The Author Louise Erdrich is known for being one of the most significant writers of the second wave of the Native American Renaissance. She is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and her writing on Native American literature is seen throughout the world. Through word decision, repetition, and symbolism bringing out her incredibly fierce tones, the author recalls the hurt and enduring impacts of Native American children being forced to attend Indian boarding schools. These schools emerged of a post-Civil War America in an effort to educate and also “civilize” the American Indian people.

Parental involvement in education is a vital essential for creating a cooperative environment for the student to thrive and succeed in. When a student knows that he or she is receiving support both inside and outside the school, the chances of that child becoming responsible for and active in their education are more likely. I know that there can be difficulties including parents for many reasons. Such parents may be too busy, uninterested or just feel helpless. However, as an educator, I will still have an obligation to reach out to these parents and assist them.

nineteenth century (Wallace). “Parent Involvement” and “parent participation” are nebulous terms because there is an array of parenting behaviors that this could include (Hickman). Either way you define it, parents must get involved. What many parents consider ‘being involved’ varies from family to family. No one is better placed or more qualified than parents to make a difference in their child’s academic and lifelong education (Bourquin). Parents are the vast resource that must be tapped to increase student learning (Hickman).