Assimilationist Test

       
Assimilationist Argument

        10/28/15

Period 4

At the beginning of the book the Life of a Part time Indian, you immediately recognize how Arnold is struggling to find his identity. He seems to be caught in between two worlds and somehow split in half. One side is telling him to embrace the Indian in him, the other side is trying to come more intact with the “white side” of himself. He starts off at a majority filled Indian school but begins to feel “less than” and wants a better education. Arnold then moves to a mostly white school and things begin to change for him.

In my opinion, Arnold is an assimilationist because although he was not fully invested in his culture for the entire book length, he tried as best he could to accept himself for what he is but also learn about the white culture and how they differ in ways he might not have known before. An assimilationist is one who is invested in their culture and encourages assimilation of groups and that is what Arnold is striving for in this book but, there are so many things going on around him he loses track of who really he is.

One example where you are able to see how he is beginning to have a hard time holding onto his race and holding onto being an assimilationist, “I was carrying the burden of my race, you know? I was going to get a bad back from it” (pg.43). Then as he begins to try to do what he thinks is fitting in with society, he begin to stand out even more. As the book goes on, he realizes it himself. He wants to fit in so badly with all the children at his new school however, he seems to start turn into a different person when around them. Even deeper into the book when he has just begun playing on the basketball team, he experiences a type of betrayal from his culture. At the basketball game,  “My fellow tribal members saw me and they all stopped cheering, talking, and moving” (pg.143). And although he ended up leaving his reservation, this did not mean that he was still not fully attached to hi reservation. He says, “I would always love and miss my grandmother, my big sister, and Eugene. Just as I would always love and miss my reservation and my tribe. I hope and prayed that they would someday forgive me for leaving them I hoped and prayed that I would someday forgive myself for leaving them” (pg.230).

He at the end learns to accept himself for being an Indian but still seems to wish to explore other cultures. He finds confidence in himself and is not as afraid or embarrassed as he was in the beginning of the book. Not only this but he seems to find the perfect balance within himself and is able to find his identity. The balance of being an indian part of the time and part of the white culture at other times.