The Reservation

            In looking for ways that my community is similar to the Reservation in "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I had some trouble. The main reason why I struggled to find correlation between the two is because I have grown up a lot more sheltered than Junior. He is a truly admirable character because he has dealt with so much in his childhood that I can't even imagine.
            One way that I suppose my community could be compared to the Reservation would most likely have to be the closeness of people. Although my community isn't completely as familiar with each other as the people in the Reservation, there is a certain closeness about many of the older people in my neighborhood. My parents have lived in my neighborhood, Bridgeport since forever, and my siblings always joke that they are Local Celebrities. We literally cannot drive down my street without stopping at least twice to say hello to neighbors. And since my parents know all the oldies in the neighborhood, all of those people think they know my siblings and I as well. So, in this way I think my neighborhood is sort of like the Reservation.
            However, one major difference between my community and the Reservation is the fact that to me, my neighborhood does not signify lost hope. I find it awful that Junior's community could hold him back in any sort of way because that's not what any kid's community should represent. I would hope that no matter where a child grows up, they can feel able to accomplish anything. Yet, unfortunately, it is clear that this is not the case especially for Junior. And for leaving the Reservation to pursue his dreams, I find Junior to be an extremely courageous boy.

Native Sons

             After reading Max's speech, it is apparent that there is a huge problem in our society then and still today. Max is a communist and is very understanding of Bigger's feelings and struggles. Max seems understand that it is rough as an African American living in a society in which oppresses them from succeeding. Bigger says at times throughout the novel that he feels like he can't breathe and I think this feeling comes from the constant mistreatment of African Americans in our nation. I have never really felt ashamed of my race, and I probably could never understand just how awful Bigger has felt from  all the hatred he feels because of his race. But I still do not find his feelings to be a good excuse for his actions. I believe that although you may grow up in troublesome conditions, it is completely possible to still make something of yourself and not act the ways society expects you to. I think that the only reason why Bigger killed twice was because he always thought in the back of his mind that the world expected him to do bad things. He was African Ameican, so he must be a criminal, and as long as he was in that mind set, he would automatically b set up for failure. I believ that Max tried his best to represent Bigger and save him. But ultimately his speech was ment to just expose the truth about discrimination in our society and that was more substantial than anything he could've said to win the trial for Bigger.