The Rez

In "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian", Junior lives on a reservation, where everyone knows each other and where alcoholism is wide-spread. On Junior's rez poverty is a big problem as well as bullying while abuse runs-wild. He states, "But my grandmother had never drunk alcohol in her life. Not one drop. That's the rarest kind of Indian in the world." In this book Junior's grandmother is killed by a drunk driver, however she herself had never drank a drop in her lifetime. Another theme that is prevalent throughout this story is loss. That is what life on the rez is mostly about. Junior himself sees many people, very close to him, die because of reasons such as alcoholism, poverty and recklessness. At the beginning of the book, Junior losses his dog. Oscar [the dog] is very sick and instead of getting him to the doctor, Junior's dad shoots the animal to put it out of its misery. The lack of money in Junior's family to take the dog to the veterinarian forces his father to simply shoot the poor thing. "A bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that, " Junior's disappointment about the situation is expressed in this sentence. Later Junior losses his grandmother, and then his dad's best friend [and his friend as well], Eugene, and lastly his sister, Mary. Unfortunately these three deaths were due to the nature of alcoholism.

Rez life is unlike my life. I live in Dunning, a neighborhood on the Northwest side of Chicago. As stated before everyone on the rez knows each other; the community is very close-knit. In Dunning however, that is not the case. I only know a few families within the neighborhood. There aren't any organized events in my community that would enable others to meet up and become friends. I don't even know everyone on my block.

On the other hand I can relate to Junior when he starts going to Reardan [a school outside of the reservation where he is the outside]. Although I wasn't an outsider when I first started going to Beaubien [my elementary school], it sure was different. This school is in the Jefferson Park neighborhood, a couple of miles from my home. There everyone knew each other since they lived in the same community, they went to the same pre-school and kindergarden and played on the same sports teams. However as time went on, and as I started to meet new people, things got a lot better. They became family.

Native Sons

"Native Son", a book written by Richard Wright, is both complex, fast-paced and addresses many social and racial issues, such a racism. Bigger Thomas the main character of this story, as a black African American living in the 1930's, starts working for a well-known, rich white family, the Dalton's. Within the first day, Bigger Thomas kills Mary and than burns her remains. He acts innocent and even hints that her Communist affiliated boyfriend did it. Eventually Bigger is caught redhanded and runs away. He tells his girlfriend, Bessie, what he has done and in the end rapes and than kills her, to keep her from telling the authorities about his plans and whereabouts. Bigger is than caught by police forces and sentenced to death.

From the beginning of the book, Bigger Thomas's life is shrouded with fear, shame and anger with added. His violence tantrums uncalled for, he even turns on his friends at one point. Although I understand his situation and don't wish any of this upon anyone ever, I still believe that he should be sentenced to death. His first murder, was accidental, I get it. He could've left her body there and told the family what had happened. Although he still would've been sentenced to time in jail, his actions would be clearly illustrated. Bigger would then tell the truth to the court and there would be evidence to support his claims. He would tell officials that he smothered Mary, there would be evidence; he would tell the court that he didn't rape Mary, there would be evidence. However, I don't think they would believe his motive, that he acted on fear of Mrs. Dalton sensing them there in her room together. I don't understand his actions afterwards though. Burning her and than cutting her head off, only worsens his cause. Totally unnecessary.

Bessie's rape and murder was unnecessary as well. At the start he should've never involved her. Her murder only adds to his troubles. His actions were definitely justifiable [to him at least], in that he wanted to keep her quiet, however not morally correct at all. Bigger got what he deserved. If a white person did the same thing, they would get the same answer to their pleas, just like Bigger, the death penalty. The jury was indeed swayed favorably towards death because of the color of his skin because of the racist stereotypes and labels that whites put on blacks at that time, but Bigger, in my opinion, was sentenced correctly.

A Principle To Keep

In my eyes, an important principle to keep, no matter the situation is to do your best. This principle can have many different interpretations, whether it be to do you best in keeping your family safe, or even in everyday tasks. The situation you experience dictates what doing your best means. For example if I were living on Earth when "The Road" takes place, my principle would apply to doing my best in keeping alive as well as keeping those close to me alive. Doing your best doesn't necessarily mean being perfect; no ones perfect. It means putting 100 percent into anything you do. No matter the magnitude or importance give it your all. In everyday situations giving 90 versus 100 percent might not matter much, however in life threatening situation, like the ones that the father and his son face in "The Road" giving 99 versus 100 percent of your effort may mean the difference between life and death. Doing your best means not giving up, even when times get tough. It means not losing hope; because when you lose hope, you loose your will to live. The father in McCarthy's novel sees hope for a better future in the form of his son, that is why he gives his all when it comes to staying alive. He still has hope which drives him to stay alive. Hope is an important idea to hold on to. Even when things get hard.