In the novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, when man has a positive role model, he is better able to move forward in life.
I believe that Junior will be somebody and not just someone who is sitting at the rez waiting for a blessing to come without doing anything about it because Mr. P tells Junior that he has to leave the reservation if he wants to be somebody in life. This is leading in to how he is giving Junior hope. When Mr. P told him, “If [he stays] on this rez, they’re going to kill you. I’m going to kill you. We’re all going to kill you. You can’t fight us forever” (Alexie 43). going back to the question of how Junior has been shaped by Mr.P… Mr. P had an incident with Junior first throwing a book at his teacher on accident and Mr.P suspends him. They then have a talk about apologizing to each other. This is when Mr. P brings up that Junior needs to leave the rez because he sees a lot in Junior. Mr. P encourages to move on with his life and do something with it. furthermore into how Junior has been shaped into who he is now and how he thinks more about his decisions. Junior questions his self and says, “Where is hope?… Who has hope?” “Son,” Mr. P said. “You’re going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation”” (Alexie 43).
There’s an assumption that people can make if Mr. P can feel some type of guilt talking to Junior. He is probably thinking about how he should’ve left when he was little if he just had a little bit of hope that he is telling Junior to have. This is why he is leading Junior to go towards a better route. He sees Junior is going through a struggle and now we see that all Mr. P is trying to do is uplift him and look out for him. This proves Mr. P was the start of him moving forward. Without Mr. P Junior would have never had a little or any hope.
Going into Mr. P already, another character I believe shaped Junior was his basketball coach because he uplifts Junior and shows him that he can do something even if the struggle is at its worst point at the moment. When his coach is being positive saying, “good job,” he offered his fist.””(Alexie141). Further into what happened here was showing that he cares and he wants Junior to be successful by his words. Coach shapes Junior in a way that no one would ever believe. He also gives Junior some kind of hope. When Junior was trying out for the basketball season he 1v1 John for a full court which is tough. Junior steps out his comfort zone and puts his head in the game to show the coach he wants to make the team. Giving Junior a fist bump and telling him good job shows Junior a lot because he doesn’t have a lot of people like that to support him in a positive manner.
Leading into how Junior and Coach create a bond he goes to the hospital to visit Junior and into his room he says, “Hey, kid,” Coach said, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t wake my family. “Hey, Coach,” I said”(Alexie147). Ever since Mr. P told him to find his hope, Junior has been dreaming quite big, also trying to join the basketball team. This is where it leads Junior, to the hospital! We see in this quote that Junior and Coach are happy to talk to each other. This makes Junior feel like he finally has built a bond with someone finally. I just proved that Coach has a big impact on Junior and his goals. His growth in this chapter is very important because of how he thinks now.
