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Jessica Corona

Professor Fernandez

English 1S/1T

November 30, 2015

The Road Well Traveled

The word community is often described as a group of people living in the same place,

having a particular characteristic in common, or simply as the feeling of fellowship with others,

as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. Depending on where a student was

born and raised they can be a part of various communities through language or geographically. In

Sherman Alexies memoir entitled The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian he describes

Arnold Spirit, a young Native American who lives in the Rez and makes the decision to attend an

all white school at Reardan to pursue a better education. After making such a major decision,

Arnold struggles fitting in within both communities. Throughout his journey, Arnold feels alone

and craves acceptance from the white students, teachers and fellow tribal members. Arnold feels

alienated in both communities because within the Rez he became known as the white lover a

traitor, and in Reardan he was simply an Indian, the only Indian in Reardan besides the school

mascot. Minority students who travel within two different communities suffer a major identity

impact due to self worth and lack of support, yet I believe they can overcome these obstacles

through hope and strength just like Arnold Spirit did.

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Self-worth is based on personal experiences. A student who lives a good life and has

minimum struggles has a higher self-esteem than a student who struggles in life and gets

physically or emotionally abused. When a student continues to get abused s/he will slowly start

believing what theyre told, and through this process someone elses perception of them starts

becoming their own reality. In Alexies memoir he describes how Arnold is physically and

emotionally abused by his best friend Rowdy (from the Rez). Rowdy is the type of kid that seeks

abuse as a source of expressing his feelings towards Reardan, the Rez, and white people.

Therefore when Arnold moves to Reardan he believes that abuse is the only answer, and is

surprised when he realizes that physical abuse is not. I realized how much of my self-worth, my

sense of safety was based on Rowdys fist. (Alexie, Pg 68) As a result Arnold grew up

believing that the fist was the only way of showing both love and pain. Arnold slowly notices

how Rowdys fist shaped his identity via pain when he attempted to use his fist as a way of

showing both weakness and strength, yet received no reaction from the white kid (Roger) at

Reardan. At this point in the passage Arnold has realized how Rowdy is wrong, and how the

fist is unnecessary. He realised that people don't solve problems with the fist, but instead with

words. Arnold is a perfect example of how minority students dont realize how their identity is

being shaped, and how their own self-worth is based of others perception.

Educators and Administrators dont realize how minority students self-esteem can be

affected when there is a lack of support from fellow students, teachers, friends, and family.

During students first few years in school they need the most support to help their development,

and to help shape a better future for themselves because students with the most problems in

school are the ones that have the least support at home. I believe that teachers and staff members
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should extend their hand to them the most. In Sherman Alexies memoir he describes how much

Arnold suffered being alone in a brand new community in which, not only was he a minority, but

also looked physically different, which caused him to become a target. Arnold struggled in

school because he wasnt accepted due to his differences. Although it was Arnolds personal

choice to leave the Rez for further education, when he arrived at Reardan he felt alone which

made him depressed because he was ignored not only at home but in school as well. Arnold

started feeling less and less human and felt invisible because nobody interacted with him, when

all he wanted was to share his knowledge with his classmates and to make friends. And once I

arrived at Reardan, I became something less than less than less than Indian. (Alexie, Pg 83). As

a result he was denied love and support from teachers, faculty, and his fellow classmates. I

believe that when a student travels between different communities s/he gets lost in them. Arnold

was a part of two communities at the Rez he was an Indian viewed as white, and at Reardan he

was an Indian who struggled to become white which caused him to be lost within both

communities not being accepted in neither one of them. Im a Mexican-American who, like

Arnold, traveled within two communities at home where the spoken language was Spanish and

in school where the spoken language was English. I struggled being accepted as well because I

didnt know the language, yet instead of helping me, teachers would put me down and punish me

for not understanding when all I needed was support. I wanted to be accepted, and not feel like I

was invisible by being ignored. I needed support to feel like I belonged just like Arnold I wanted

to be a part of my communities, yet I wasnt accepted in neither because I wasnt proficient in

Spanish nor English.

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In the world there are two types of people, the pessimist and the optimist. Those who dare

to dream and have hope and those who dont. Now the tough question is how does someone

develop hope when there isnt any hope around them? In Sherman Alexies memoir he describes

how Arnold is a student with hopes and dreams, who in order to accomplish them, has to make

life changing decisions. Arnold was not like any other Indian at the reservation; he was different

because he believed and hoped. It didnt matter how little hope he had, he believed in change and

wanted to pursue a better education regardless of what it took. ... I had to add my hope to

someone elses hope. I had to multiply hope by hope. (Alexie, Pg 43) Some people are fortunate

enough to grow up in a community surrounded by hope, and others just have to learn to develop

it. Although some people, in particular the pessimist, think that hope is used to avoid reality, I

think that hope is the desire to grow and the ambition of wanting to become better. Hope is the

strength that helps people aspire confidence to become better. Its the bright light at the end of

the tunnel. In his poem the ice worker sings Andres Montoya writes about an individual who

finds hope with music at work. Montoya explains how the narrator forgets about his poverty

problems describing, the hot Fresno [Ca.] weather without AC and his empty refrigerator at

home. He finds hope working in the ice plant and gets lost in his own world where nobody

bothers him. In their own ways both Alexie and Montoya describe hope and escape from all of

the chaos in their lives through another community. Alexie shows hope through Arnold and his

decision of moving to Rearden making him the only Indian in an all white school. Montoya

shows hope in his poem when the narrator expresses that being at work is the closest thing to

heaven because his problems get lost in the moment, and he feels a sense of safety thru music as

he sings songs he never knew he loved. Alexies text and Montoyas poem display a perfect
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example of how some struggles in life can open up doors to great opportunities as long as we

have hope because where theres a will there's a way.

Making a life changing decision is hard, but its specially harder for a minority student

because making such decisions can potentially change his/her life forever. When making a

decision like this a student needs strength. In Sherman Alexies memoir he describes how Arnold

had to find the strength within him to put his foot down and show both communities that he

belongs in them. Arnold is a part-time Indian at the Rez and a part-time white at Reardan. By

attending an all whites school Arnold became a member of two different communities. In the

process of joining a different community he lost friends and family, yet he needed to find the

strength to overcome the pain and sorrow to admit to everyone and himself that he was now a

part of two different communities. Similar to Alexies memoir Gloria Anzaldua in her text How

to Tame a Wild Tongue writes how she had to find the strength to no longer allow people to

discriminate her for being a Mexican-American who speaks various languages in particular

Spanglish. I will no longer be ashamed for existing. I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish,

white. (Anzaldua, Pg 112) I can relate to both Alexie and Anzaldua because I also travel

different communities, and like both, was made fun of and belittled. My first language is Spanish

and I didnt learn English until I was in the third grade. While learning English teachers would

disrespect me and punish me for not understanding, until one day I gained the strength to stand

up for myself and honor my real character, as a Mexican-American. I believe that at some point

we all have to gain the strength to stand up for ourselves and for what we believe in. These

experiences are the same ones that shape us, the members of multiple communities, to who we

are now strong and independent leaders.

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All and all, I believe that minority students who move between two communities and

have economical obstacles need to know that it doesnt matter how difficult things may get they

need to never give up and continue to pursue their dreams. For students like Arnold, Anzaldua,

and myself school was extremely difficult because teachers, our fellow students, and our home

communities failed to support us and instead put us down. This type of negativity is what shapes

minority students like us, affecting our self-worth due to the lack of support. Whats important to

know is that all the negative can be overcome through hope and strength. Life was not meant to

be easy we all face struggles, but whats important and makes a difference is allowing the

struggles to help shape us and our identity in a positive way.