Post 2:

In the second half of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the plot becomes much darker and more depressing. Between the deaths of Arnold's Grandmother, Eugene (his father's best friend), and his sister, death has crept its way deep into the story's plot. The deaths take a ginormous psychological toll on the members of Arnold's family. The death of Mary has the largest affect on Arnold and his parents. Arnold has a lot of trouble accepting his sisters death and blames himself for it. He believes that by leaving the reservation first, he forced his sister to rush  off the reservation too. And by doing this, sent her to her death. Another thought provoking section from this half of the book occurs after the end of the basketball game. Arnold goes from seeing his team as David in a David vs. Goliath situation to seeing it as Goliath itself. He realizes that he has betrayed his best friend and turned against his own people. He sees himself as a villain for taking away something as big as a perfect season from a group of people who have so little. This guilt bring Arnold to physical sickness. This section of the novel highlights the inequality between cultures that still exists in US.

Post 1: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

So far a major theme in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has been breaking free of stereotypical roles. For Junior, it was breaking free of the dumb indian stereotype. He struggled with this both on and off the reservation. On the reservation, Junior is seen as a freak who is used to taking physical abuse. This all changes when he is confronted by his high school math teacher. His teacher gives him the motivation to get off the reservation before the oppression kills him and his hope. This conversation begins the act of breaking free of the stereotype for Junior. However, once he leaves for a school off the reservation, he still must try to break it. At his new high school, he faces discrimination from many of his peers and even some of his teachers. He must adopt a new set of social rules now that he is in a primarily white school. Before he transferred, the rules of life mostly depended on fighting. But when Junior starts a fight at Reardan, he is seen as tough guy. This baffles him. However, prejudice also exist between Junior and those of whom he is closest with. When he and Penelope begin to date, he tells the reader how he is the smudge that Penelope wants in order to make her life a little less perfect. She only wants to be with him because of his ethnicity. 

The bluest eyes

The second half of The Bluest Eye, Morison continues her development of major characters. The character who she spends the most time portraying is Cholly Breedlove, Pecola's father and, ultimately, the man who rapes her. The story focuses on the early days of his life, but major emphasis is placed on four events in his life: being saved by his aunt, the death of his aunt, being embarrassed by two white hunters, and his first encounter with his father. The final two events play major role in shaping Cholly into the kind of man he is by the end of the novel. The encounter with the two white hunters is a part of Cholly's past that instills an attitude of hate and resentment towards African American women, especially during intimate moments.  This becomes very apparent when he rapes Pecola. Cholly's first, and what appears to be his only, encounter with his father has a demoralizing and humiliating effect on him. With a few quick words, it becomes apparent his father wants nothing to do with his son. This kind of abandonment drives Cholly to a life of alcohol addiction and problems. I find it ironic how Cholly throws his family's life in to chaos and then just abandons them, seeing as I t's almost the complete opposite of what his father did to him.