Breaking And Entering Sherman Alexie Summary

In Sherman Alexie’s novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” the narrator portrays both internal and external conflicts throughout his journey to success. Arnold Junior Spirit is a fourteen-year-old boy who believes that in order to pursue his dream he will have to choose between staying in his Spokane Indian reservation or moving out to an all-white school in the neighboring farm town. But things aren’t as easy as they seem when Junior tries moving schools because he know has to be part of two communities. Many conflicts form within the Spokane Indian reservation and the Spokane Indian reservation as well comes into conflict with the white community.

4. I think he ends with the Class Reunion section to display how the drastic change in his life during seventh grade affected his outcome. The effect this image shows is that the author had to alienate himself from his

Sherman Alexie, in “Indian Education” tells his experiences in school on the reservation. Some of his teachers did not treat him very good and did not try to understand him. In his ninth grade year he collapsed. A teacher assumed that he had been drinking just because he was Native American. The teacher said, “What’s that boy been drinking? I know all about these Indian kids. They start drinking real young.” Sherman Alexie didn’t listen to the negatives in school. He persevered and became valedictorian of his school.

6. The quote, “People change” (Pleasantville) brings up the nature of knowledge. Once the civilians know something or have an understanding of something, they are unable to forget that

8. Why does Angelou choose to use dialogue in paragraphs 3741 instead of just describing the scene?

3. He arranges his examples through chronological order and through out a whole direction where the reader wont fall off a cliff.

"It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of my being; all the events of that period appear confused and indistinct. A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses. By degrees, I remember, a stronger light pressed upon my nerves, so that I was obliged to shut my eyes. Darkness then came over me and troubled me, but hardly had I felt this when, by opening my eyes, as I now suppose, the light

"We've got to talk about this fear and decide there's nothing in it.  I'm frightened myself, sometimes; only that's nonsense!  Like bogies.  Then, when we've decided, we can start again and be careful about things like the fire" (82).

6. My favorite quote from the book is “Do you ever get the feeling that the whole thing is changing? Like

“He looked around him as if seeing the world for the first time. The world was beautiful, strange, and mysterious.” (page 39)

1) “Study the map that begins chapter 4 and refers to it as you follow McCandless’s journey.”

a. Is there some section that clearly lets the reader know what subject the composition is about and what the writer’s purpose is? If so, where does this section begin and end? In this section, can you find an answer to the central question that the text has been written in response to, or can you find an indication of the text’s central argument?

4.    Who was the intended audience?  What evidence does the document provide of who the audience is?  What is the main point (or the “take away”) that the author wants to convey to his/her audience?

3. Explain in your own words why ignorance is NOT bliss, having read what the author has to say about this. Give specific examples from the reading and relate them to your own life. (You are here getting an education, so I have to imagine this should be important to you as a student!)

1. Page 355 in the text: Questions for Thought and Discussion: Questions 5, 9, and 11