Arnold Spirit Junior, a teenager living on a reservation with his family, fights the prejudice of his classmates and reacts to the injustices of a failing school system. Fear, poverty, and alcohol are a constant presence in his life in a system that isolates him because of his Native American identity. Lyman and his brother Henry Junior have a similar experience of fear, isolation, and loneliness. Isolation, loneliness, and feelings of desperation are also part of the everyday life and experiences of the women involved in a difficult fight of survival against abuse in their family, in their land, the reservation.
In this unit, the students read the novel
The Absolutely True diary of a Part Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeu d’Alene)
1
,
The Red Convertible
by Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain/Ojibwe)
2
, the play,
Sliver of a Full Moon
by Mary Kathryn Nagle (Cherokee)
3
, and poems written by Native American writers. The goal is to make students reflect on how a person reacts to hardships. They learn that injustices, prejudice, loneliness, and poverty can be defeated as characters in these fictional works reveal. They also learn that change and hope in a different future can be real and achievable. This unit also teaches students to appreciate and understand American Indian arts while practicing the new Common Core Standards.
