Junior's Poverty Problem in The True Diary

Poverty is a worldwide issue that many people are going through because of our national economy’s unfairness. Junior is going through these third-world conditions and is just unable to balance it out with schoolwork and friends. He tries to hide his true identity because he’s too shameful to tell people, Instead of degrading him as a peer of Junior they should’ve just helped to build him up. In the book, Junior has transitioned to a new school and has a hard time fitting in because he knows that he is way below the white kids, even the poor ones.

He lets his household problems, such as poverty, get in the way of being or doing his best. This young adult novel demonstrates how someone doesn’t have to feel ashamed of poverty even when you’re transitioning between rich and poor people, a person doesn’t have to have a lot of money to strive for the best, like when Junior distances himself from thinking about money and just continues to do well in school.

Poverty is a social issue that Junior goes through because of the inconsistencies of governmental policies. To begin with, Arnold‘s family is poor, which determines a lot about him, He tries to see himself in a positive light but comes to a conclusion that he‘s just a “poor ass kid”. On page 7, Junior says, “But no matter how good I am, my cartoons will never take the place of food or money.

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I wish I could draw a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or a fist full of twenty dollar bills, and perform some magic trick and make it real. But I can’t do that, Nobody can do that, not even the hungriest magician in the world.” First of all, it views how poverty is something incredibly difficult to overcome, a condition that simply reinforces itself. Moreover, Junior feels ashamed of his situation and it’s pushing him away from thinking on the bright side of things. On page 13, Junior states, “It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor.

You start believing that you’re poor because you’re stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you’re stupid and ugly because you’re Indian And because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor. It’s an ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about it.” In addition, these harsh thoughts Arnold makes causes him to lose hope, His economic situation is making him to distance himself from friends and from helping to make better changes to his impoverished reservation. Lastly, he does nothing to justify poverty, or how poor he is because he finally realizes it’s gonna continue forever. On page 11, Junior states, “And it’s not like my mother and father were born into wealth. It‘s not like they gambled away their family fortunes. My parents came from poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people.” As a final point, poverty for Arnold is like generational and an inherited condition that he’s unable to get out of. It’s not a choice, he was born into it, Unable to break out of it he still has hope.

Overall, Sherman Alexie’s novel “The Absolutely True Diary ofa Part-Time Indian” shows how a person doesn’t have to have a lot of money to strive for the best It teaches readers that going through poverty may suck but you should always try and see the positive side of things. This young adult novel demonstrates that someone doesn’t have to feel ashamed of poveny even when you’re transitioning between rich and poor people, like when Junior distance himself from thinking about money and just continues to do well in school. Poverty is a worldwide issue that many people are going through. Junior is living in these third-world conditions and is being degraded in his society, when really his friends and family should be there for him. Alexie is trying to convey the importance of knowing that when we are careless, we leave those going through this depressed because they don’t have as much that we do andjust wished they didn’t have to go through this.