Reading

This year I feel that I have improved as a reader by paying more attention to detail and being able to analyze at a faster pace.  I felt that I have grown as a reader and I can read at a much higher level than I could entering high school.

List of Read Books 2018
The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Coming Back Stronger
Purple Hibiscus
The Exorcist
Brotherhood
Waterdog
Lord of the Flies
American Sniper


2 examples

In the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, parent issues play huge role in the novel. The way his parents are causes an understanding to his struggle. He understands why is parents are alcoholics assail in this quote in Chapter 3, "My mother and father are drunks, too, but they aren't mean like that. Not at all. They sometimes ignore me. Sometimes they yell at me. But they never, ever, never, ever hit me. I've never even been spanked. Really. I think my mother wants to haul off and give me a slap, but my father won't let it happen. It shows what he becomes is not necessarily influenced by his parents.(32)". Both his parents are alcoholics. His mother trying to wear away the pain by his sisters' death often tries to push Junior away from the bad decisions such as drinking away from him.

               Juniors often gets frustrated with his father because he is not always reliable but does his best. As previously stated his father cannot do much other than drive him because of his alcoholism. Junior understands his mother's pain and the reason she drinks. He is often forgiving of her. 

Poverty in this novel influences the way characters act, the setting, and the plot. While on the reservation Junior realizes he wants more and wants to be different. He transfers schools to a rich, predominantly white school called Reardan. Junior has to adjust to his new school because he is used going to school with people like himself. Being poor, Junior always aspire to be rich or a famous cartoonist. His parents cannot always provide the best they should so Junior often dreams of things as he said, "Okay, so now you know that I'm a cartoonist. And I think I'm pretty good at it, too. But no matter how good I am, my cartoons will never take the place of food or money. 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.

I wish I were magical, but I am really just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation.(19-20)"  This gives a perspective of how he feels about everyday normal things that we take for granted. 

This affects the way Junior aspires to be. Junior wants better for himself and his family. He often talks about being rich and famous. I believe that he talks about this a lot because of the fact he is not used to always having a meal and everyday items. Poverty in this book changes the perspectives of Junior and his decision making.