Absolutely True Diary Themes

Words: 723
Pages: 3

In many stories, authors use made up characters to present real life themes and experiences. This is the case in stories such as in the novel Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, or in the movie Finding Forrester. The book Absolutely True Diary is about a 14 year-old Native American who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation who decides to change schools and go to Reardan High School to find people like him, people with hope. The movie Finding Forrester is about a young man named Jamal who lives in The Bronx, New York. Jamal also chooses to switch schools and go to Mailor to find out what he wants to do with his life after school. In these stories, both Jamal and Arnold experience many similar themes of life throughout their journeys at the new schools. …show more content…
For Arnold, when he switches to the primarily white school of Reardan, he is forced to endure racist slurs and jokes from the other students. Kids like Roger called him names until he stood up for himself and punched Roger in the face. It’s a little different for Jamal. When he switches to Mailor, he has to endure being stereotyped as a poor basketball player from the bronx by not only students, but teachers as well. Mr. Crawford, Jamal’s english teacher, assumes that he cheated on his english paper because it was very well written. Crawford believed that a poor basketball player from the bronx couldn’t possibly be that