Final Short Answer

What Makes a Good Essay?

What makes a good essay to me is that you capture your reader’s attention through a startling fact, quote, or even a short anecdote. You should make sure this attention grabber, also known as a hook, is relevant to your topic. Next you should give background information on your topic, which then should lead to your central argument, known as your thesis. After you state your thesis, start a new paragraph to prove your thesis. This paragraph, or paragraphs, is known as your body paragraph. The body paragraph should contain a topic sentence, which should be a mini form of your thesis that will tell the reader what the whole paragraph is about and how it connects to your thesis. After your topic sentence, you should give some context on the evidence you’re about to argue so that the reader knows what you’re saying and that it flows correctly. After your context you place your evidence from primary sources because they are the only credible sources if you’re arguing something. After placing your evidence and correctly citing it, you should have a few sentences of analysis, which explains the evidence in your own words and then connects it to your thesis so that it all flows together. After placing X amount of evidence and analyses, you should have a concluding sentence that could also transition to the next body paragraph, if you have one. The concluding sentence should also summarize your whole paragraph before you start the new one. After your X amount of body graphs, you then have a conclusion. You should restate your thesis for the reader then give the reader a reason to actually care about your essay. Sure you have this brilliant argument, but why should they care? Open it up to a different perspective like connecting it to your government and see how it could possible affect them. I personally like ending my conclusions with quotes but you can also put a rhetorical question.

Final Essay

Connecting Justice

“Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both”. Former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, had said this simple yet powerful statement. What Mrs. Roosevelt is saying is that everyone deserves justice and it should not be rewarded to a particular group. To expand upon her saying, justice is defined as being treated with fairness. In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by author Sherman Alexie, Native Americans are given the stereotype of being drunken fools who are uncivilized. Not only that, they are also considered to be lesser than most because of how they isolate themselves from the general public. Alexie goes on to show us how uninformed most are about the situation around Native Americans, how their lands were unwillingly taken from them and then only small portions of it were awarded back to them. Alexie highlights how the government is not helping Native Americans due to their current problem of alcoholism, which is slowly killing off the Native American population. Similarly, according to the book The Rich and the Rest of Us, by authors and social activists Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, the way the American government is set up today makes it very hard for the lower class to sustain themselves and escape poverty. Not only that, with the poor only getting poorer, there is a surge of violence and illegal activities that occur because America has given up on these individuals. For instance, in the story Tattoos on the Heart, by father Gregory Boyles, there are many troubled individuals who are willing to leave the so called thug life in order to achieve success but do not get the proper chance to due to their troubled past. In America, if you’re charged with a crime it is virtually impossible to get it off of your record and it sticks with you for the rest of your life, which results in you being labeled as a “goon” or a “criminal”. The nation that says you can have unlimited dreams truly limits you by your rank in it’s social economic structure. Instead of helping the people in need, it ostracizes them leading those in distress towards a destructive path.

Many groups in the United States who faced a lot of problems with the law are ostracized and perceived as being abnormal due to their position in society. In the story Tattoos on the Heart we are told about a teen named Chico, who is quitting the gang life in order to start a new life without being tied to crime. Chico ended up getting a job, through Father G and his company Homeboy Industries, which had revolved around computers, something Chico was passionate about. Chico ends up getting shot due to gang members creeping by his house. During Chico’s funeral, Father G takes a moment to collect himself as he is saddened by the death of Chico. The Mortician approaches Father G to conclude the funeral and Father G says; “Now that…was a terrific kid.’ And the mortician…says, ‘HE WAS?’ My heart sinks…there is come larger disconnect for him…how could it be possible that sixteen-year-old cholo, gunned down, not far from his home, be a terrific kid?” (Boyle, 211). Father G recounts a time where he was burying a teen and felt disrespected that someone had thought the kid was a delinquent even though he was changing his life around before his unfortunate death. The mortician is a good example of how ignorant some are, including the government, about those who have had a criminal past. They still affiliate the past with the present and do not consider the efforts one makes in detaching themselves from their past. The mortician failed to realize that it was still a young person who was killed in a senseless shooting and that that specific young person was trying to get his life in order so that he could become something. Similarly, in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, we learn about the main character, Arnold Spirit, who leaves his high school in an Indian reservation to a regular city, that’s inhabited predominantly by Caucasians, in order to attain a better education due to the reservation being underfunded and not having many resources. Upon starting his first day, Arnold says that everyone at the school “stared at [him]…like [he] was Bigfoot or a UFO” (Alexie, 56). He then questions, “What was [he] doing in racist Reardan…[where] all of those kids knew…he did not deserve to be there…[because]…Indians don’t deserve shit” (Alexie, 56). Arnold knows that everyone is looking at him in disgust and disbelief due to the fact that a Native American would dare come into their town to use their public facilities. Arnold went through the faced the same ignorance Chico had faced because people are judging him even though he wants to better himself as a person and prosper in life. Both Chico and Arnold wanted to achieve the American Dream of being successful but are unable to because the government doesn’t care about them. The government would rather spend a billion a day in war costs rather than help the youth with a better educational program or even help cities clean up their act by providing more job opportunities to cities who are currently in poverty so that gangs don’t evolve. Also, majority of Americans look at these people as if they are foreign creatures that cannot coexist with the rest of the population. It is through this ignorance and alienation of particular people and groups that causes most to resort to live alternative lifestyles such as gangbanging or abusing alcohol in order to feel better about themselves.

            Not only are groups in the lower part of the social ladder ostracized due to the neglect they face from our nation, but also these groups are slowly killing themselves. Aaron Huey, a famous photojournalist and documentary photographer, had spoke on the controversy surrounding Native Americans today. During his televised presentation, America’s Native Prisoners of War, Huey says, “They’re killing each other. They’re killing themselves…this is how we come to own these United States”. Huey goes on to say the causes of the slow extinction of the Native Americans is due to the fact that “more than 90 percent of the population is below the poverty line…[untreated diseases]…[and] alcoholism” (Aaron Huey, “America’s Native Prisoners of War”). Huey is describing how Native Americans are killing themselves off slowly through the use of alcohol and how many are dying of untreated diseases due to the fact majority of Native Americans are in poverty and unable to care for themselves due to the costs of medicine. The United States government does not provide aid to the Native Americans because they gave them pieces of land through treaties and let them have their own authority. Even with the crisis of poverty, America feels like they do not have to help out the dying population of Native Americans but they can interfere and intervene in affairs outside of U.S. soil. Not only is the U.S. ignoring the Native Americans but also it’s own citizens, specifically those who are struggling financially. In the story The Rich and the Rest of Us, we learn about a man named Joe, a single father who lives paycheck to paycheck. Joe says, “I do not eat lunch. I drink from the hose at work…you got to sacrifice for your child” (Smiley and West, 122). Joe is saying that he sacrifices food everyday for his son to ensure he is well nourished while he does his best to “live”. Due to low minimum wage laws, many people in the United States are unable to provide for themselves let alone for their family. Though Joe, and many others in his position, is not literally killing himself, he is dying from the sacrifices he makes for his son because of the way the country is set up. Joe is given a limited life where he cannot grow, is stuck in poverty, and cannot crawl out of it. Besides the unjust laws that make it virtually impossible for those in poverty to climb the social ladder, there are those who lean towards violence because they are not taught any better due to the country turning its back on them. In the story Tattoos on the Heart, we learn about many “homeboys” and “home girls” that resort to the gang life because, simply put, they do not know any better. Public education, especially in the poverty stricken cities, has failed these people causing many to drop out and join gangs. By joining gangs, these people are given new morals and values and that’s rep your gang and take out whoever disrespects you and your gang. Lots of gang violence is documented in the novel and many of the youth are suffering from this but the government does nothing but throw these people into jail. It is through Father G that these kids are given hope to succeed in life through his company, Homeboy Industries, which provides jobs and a new perspective to life. All of these novels share the common theme of the United States government and citizens ignoring those who need the most help to succeed in life.

            In conclusion, the nation that welcomes those in search for a better life with unlimited possibilities truly is a fabricated belief due to the fact of how it truly ostracizes its citizens who are on the bottom of the “totem pole”. Through the alienation of it these citizens, these citizens go down a destructive path. The result of the latter is either death or imprisonment, which is considered to be a form of “rehabilitation”. No one is truly born evil rather they are influenced by it through their surroundings. Confucian philosopher Mencius himself says that human’s nature is innately good upon entering the world. Just like how it is a major motif in the book The Rich and the Rest of Us, the United States favors greed over compassion for its citizens. Through the slashing of financial aid programs, also known as safety nets, that aided the poor and tax breaks to the rich, our nation is indeed corrupted and swings in favor of the infamous 1%. Not everyone is born into a middle class family and most have to work their way up. Those who are in poverty are given this stigma of being lazy or worthless instead of being thought of as someone who is going through a very rough time to make ends meet due to the circumstances they’re in. Even though this is a controversial subject to bring up, the recent shootings at University of California, Santa Barbara are good example of what I am arguing where a young male student felt frustrated because no one gave him attention, mainly females. Do I agree with the way he handled the situation? Heavens no but because of being alienated and feeling left out, he went down a destructive path. Without corruption and greed, this nation could’ve been a leading example to bring the Earth’s number one goal into fruition, world peace. With the internal conflicts this country possesses, it has spread and contaminated all of its citizens by causing negative stereotypes and racism to continue living. I believe Boots Riley, an American poet, said it best where “If they really loved you, they’d tear this motherfucker up”.

Tattoos Essay

Richard Singh

English 102

Mr. DeWit

Thesis: We should accept those around us by not being judgmental because we are ruining the experience of those being judged in the home we all share, Earth. “The meaning of life is to help others find theirs.” – Viktor Frankl

            Father G had guided many gangbangers into the path of righteousness by believing in each of them. Early on in the book, Father G recounts a story about one his former employees, Luis. Luis was one of the most notorious drug dealers within Father G’s community and always declined Father G’s offer to change his life by coming to work for him. Not long after the birth of his daughter, Luis decided to work for Father G’s company Homeboy Industries as a baker. After working for Father G and being promoted to a foreman, Luis was able to buy his own place his daughter and himself with his “honestly earned, clean money” (15). Father G goes on to congratulate Luis by saying, “You…did…this. You’ve never had a home in your life-now you have one…You were the biggest drug dealer in town, and you stopped and baked bread instead” (16). Father G tells Luis that it was through his own effort that he was able to turn his own life around. This shows that Father was able to help someone find meaning in their life by proving them with an opportunity and the right support because if it was for Father G and his business, Homeboy Industries, Luis would’ve still been a drug lord within the community and most importantly, he would not have been able to find the greatness in himself. Similarly to Luis’s incident, Father G also helped out another young man who went by the street name Scrappy. Scrappy is a 20-year-old gangbanger who just got out of prison and is seeking for change. Father G explains that he and Scrappy had a very rocky relationship and that Scrappy even once pulled a gun out on him once. Scrappy visits Father G at Homeboy Industries in seek for a job and proper guidance in order to escape the troubled lifestyle he had. Despite their past differences, Father G agrees to help Scrappy by “[hiring] him that day” and placing him in the “graffiti crew”(34). Father G was able to put his differences with Scrappy aside and help him attain a more joyous life that he could be content about. Father G shows us that you can always find good in those who are perceived to be as evil and that we are all a reflection of God.  Father F was able to look into his soul and see that he still had possessed the will to be good. Through his guidance, Father G was able to help out many homeboys live a life of happiness and fulfillment instead of a life filled with regret.

            Not only was Father G exceptional at guiding the homeboys to live a more just life, he also showed that he truly cared for these people who were often rejected by society. For instance, Father G showed his caring for Lula, a slow minded 10-year-old boy at the time who did not receive much attention from his family. One day, while Father G is in a conference, Lula stands by Father G’s door with his report card. Father G tells Lula to come over so that he could examine his report card. Father G says, “I glance across the piece of paper…F, F, F, F, F, F. All Fs and nothing but damn Fs…[until] I find it. Absences: 0” (49). Father G then goes on to say “Lula, nice goin’, mijo, you didn’t miss a day” (50). Father G congratulates Lula for not skipping out on school like most kids in the community. He praised many people no matter how small their deeds were. Besides shaping Lula in becoming a better student, Father G also showed his care for a homeboy named Sniper. Sniper was a kid who went to confession and was asked by Father G his name. After a few nicknames he finally opened up to Father G. Father G asked the kid “What’s your mom call you?” (54). The kid finally opened up to Father G and says, “when my mom is not mad at me…she calls me…Napito” (54). Father G goes on to say that he saw the kid transform from “Sniper to Gonzalez to Cabron to Napoleon to Napito” (54). Father G showed that he cared about this kid by asking him for his real name, the name chosen for him by God and not his street name. Father G truly cared for this kid because he wanted to know his actual name and see his true identity, the child of God, and not his façade. Father G showed love to those who lacked love by society.

Part Time Indian Essay FINAL DRAFT

Richard Singh

English 102

March 1, 2014

The Tree of Hope

            “If you are going through hell, keep going”. These are the wise yet motivational words of Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of England. Churchill is simply stating that even when you are in your darkest moments of life; push through it because there is always a turning point in which where one’s agony transforms into one’s happiness. This statement can easily describe the character Arnold “Junior” Spirit in, author, Sherman Alexie’s novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. In the novel, Arnold is a young Native American adolescent growing up in the Spokane Indian Reservation. Just like all of the other Indians on the reservation, Arnold is very poor and struggling to get by in life. On top of being close to dirt poor, Arnold has a few physical abnormalities that causes him to be different from other people which results in his endless bullying by the other Indians in the reservation. Though Arnold is mistreated by his reservation, he still has unconditional love for the reservation. The reservation had contained a few trees, very big trees. As a child, Arnold had climbed one of the trees in the reservation that was roughly 100ft tall. Arnold climbed the tree and was very close to the top until he looked down and saw what possibly could have been one of the greatest sights he had ever seen in his life. He saw the entire Spokane reservation and was in awe. The tree that Arnold had climbed as a child represents his life. For instance, the branches of the tree display all of the struggles and obstacles he had faced in life. Thought it was an arduous task, he persevered through the branches and kept climbing the trunk of the tree because he wanted to reach the top of the tree. Arnold does not let anything impede him on his journey of becoming successful because he wants to experience the beauty and joy as he once did when he gazed upon the reservation from the top of the tree.

            One obstacle Arnold faced in the novel was the constant bullying within his community. Arnold claimed that he was bullied on a daily basis on the reservation. He said he was called “a retard about twice a day” due to his defects (4). Not only was Arnold also called names, but also was physically abused by many of the Indians in the reservation. Arnold had claimed that he was part of the “Black-Eye-of-the-Month Club” (4).  Arnold was not only bullied by people around his age group, but also was bullied by the adults on the reservation as well. While at the local powwow, Arnold had run into the Andruss brothers. The brothers are triplets who are in their thirties. Arnold said that, “one of the brothers…kneed [him] in the balls” (21). Arnold was bullied by many people within his reservation due to his physical abnormalities. Arnold could have been drowned by the bullying and succumbed to the pressure by harming himself but instead he had hope that he could make it out of the reservation. Arnold loved making cartoons and drawing in general. He said that, “I draw because I feel like it might be my only real chance to escape the reservation” (6). Arnold used drawing as a coping mechanism in order to stray away from all of the adversity he had faced. He had hope and faith that he could make it in life despite all of the hate he received from his own community. Arnold is able to persevere through bullying by using his own therapeutic method, drawing, in order to acquire hope of becoming someone successful. 

            Another obstacle Arnold had faced was the cheap education he was receiving at the reservation. For instance, during his first week of high school at the reservation, Arnold was very excited about taking a geometry class. As his geometry teacher, Mr. P, handed him a book he quickly opened the book up to the first page only to find it saying “THIS BOOK BELONGS TO AGNES ADAMS” (31). The book had belonged to Agnes Adams, Arnold’s mother.  As it is depicted by one of his illustrations, Arnold had thrown the book at Mr. P because he was enraged that he was “handed a geometry book that was at least thirty years older than [he] was” (31). Arnold illustrated a picture of what looks to be him throwing the book at Mr. P subsequent to finding out it was his mother’s book thirty plus years earlier. Due to the reservation being very poor, Arnold was unable to receive the proper education he desired because the reservation’s school did not receive the proper funding in order to be up to date with their material. Now, Arnold could have completely given up at this point at school and could’ve become a drop out but instead he did something bold and courageous, which was deciding, “to go to Reardan [High School]…one of the best small schools in the state” (45-46). Arnold decides to go to Reardan High, which is one of the best schools in his state, but was also filled with many rich white kids who were racist. By being “the first one to ever leave the rez…the Indians [would] be angry with [him]” (47). Arnold knew by leaving the reservation and going to a white school he would make many Indians in his reservation upset but he knew that the only way to make it out of the reservation and to succeed in life is by taking such an enormous risk because it will lead him towards happiness and not despair. He did not give up after seeing how poor his former high school was, instead he decided to go to one of the best high schools in his state, despite the consequences he may receive.

Besides the lack of proper education, Arnold also faced the constant struggle of being unconfident. Before starting high school Arnold talks about how he and his best friend Rowdy were the best basketball players in middle school. He talked about how Rowdy would go on to be a great basketball player in high school and start on varsity but that he, Arnold, would not. Arnold said, “I don’t think I’ll be a very good high school player…I’ll probably be a benchwarmer on the C squad” (28). Even before tryouts Arnold is already selling himself short and believes that he will not be a good basketball player in high school. This is quite ironic because Arnold ends up trying out for Reardan’s basketball team, whose school is more athletically demanding, and he “ended up on the varsity…as a freshman” (142). Even though Arnold always believes he is lower than everyone else, he still ends up proving himself wrong because of his persistence. Arnold not only was a varsity player, but he also led them to defeat his former high school in a blowout game by a lead of “forty-two points” (194). Arnold persevered through his own lack of confidence by not quitting and trying things out, even if they have indefinite outcomes. Another example of how unconfident Arnold was is when he was twelve years old and falls in love with an Indian girl named Dawn. He said that “she was out of my league...I knew I’d be one of those guys who always fell in love with the unreachable, ungettable, and uninterested” (74). Again, Arnold showed how unconfident he was because he believed that he would never be loved by those he loved, in a non-platonic way of course. It is quite ironic, again, because he ends up dating Penelope, the “pretty and smart and popular” girl at Reardan (108). They became the “hot item at Reardan High School” (109). Arnold showed how he had come a long way from being a total nobody at the reservation to being a very hopeful and courageous person after leaving the reservation because he had the mentality of wanting to be successful. He did not become submerged by all of the negatives because he fought through them by making very wise decisions, decisions that failed him in the past but yet still also helped him in the present.

Even after struggling with bullying, a lousy education at the reservation, and even being unconfident with his abilities, Arnold also experienced tragic deaths of his loved ones. Arnold first loses his grandma due to being “struck and killed by a drunk driver”. Subsequently he loses Eugene, an uncle figure to him, who was shot by a man who was “too drunk to even remember pulling the trigger” (169). Shortly after the loses of his grandmother and Eugene he loses his sister Mary, who “burned to death” because she was passed out due to being “too drunk” to wake up and realize her home was burning” (205). The common themes in these deaths are alcohol abuse. It is said that Native Americans do have a history with alcohol abuse[1]. Arnold himself also says that after his sister’s burial he went to school the next day because while they shared stories of the departed, “everybody would be drinking booze and getting drunk and stupid and sad and mean…I couldn’t stay and watch all of those people get drunk…if you’d given me a room full of sober Indians, crying and laughing and telling stories about my sister, then I would have gladly stayed and joined them in the ceremony” (212-213). Arnold said that he is disgusted with how everyone drinks even though it was the cause of all of the death of his loved ones. He knows that living in the reservation there is a great abuse of alcohol and he doesn’t want to be apart of it. He goes to school, even while being affected by the death of loved ones, because he wants to succeed in life and not submit to the inherent Indian ways that causes Indians to regress in life. Arnold said that, “I knew I was never going to drink and because I was never going to kill myself because I was going too have a better life out in the white world” (217). Arnold fully realized his journey from leaving the reservation and what world has to offer and at the same time knows that his people are slowly killing themselves because of alcohol abuse. He knows that his perseverance will lead him to a better life rather than living on the reservation.

In conclusion, the tree that Arnold climbed as a child represents his life by the branches representing all of the obstacles in his way from reaching the top. He doesn’t quit climbing because he is persistent and hopeful of a beautiful outcome. Sherman Alexie shows us through the lens of Arnold Spirit the challenges most Native Americans, mainly adolescents, face today. Many Native Americans are facing alcohol abuse, poverty, and lack of direction. Arnold was one of the few courageous Indian boys who did not follow the footsteps of a traditional Indian because he wanted to succeed and would do whatever it took to attain success. The story’s profound message shows us that Native Americans are not treated with the proper respect they deserved and that the United States government should help them out more because they are slowly dying off. The US did, after all, take their land. They were the indigenous people of the lands we call home today.

               

             

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[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3068262

Sample Paper 1 Critique

How interesting the paper is

How understandable the paper is

How convincing the paper is

How well-developed and supported the various topic sentences are

 

This paper was very interesting to me because it introduced the analogy of the story told about the stupid horse and the story of Junior moving to Reardan to achieve hope. I liked how the author compared Junior to the horse and the reservation as the lake. The lake did pull down the horse which led to its inevitable death. Just like in the story, those who did stay on the rez did have a shorter life expectancy but they also had no hope left for them. Overall, this paper was pretty understandable and has some pretty good ideas that can be refined a bit more to make it more proficient.  I was convinced that the author knew what they were talking about.

A few cons of the paper would be simple grammatical errors that could be easily fixed such as present and past tense. Also some of the sentences were very very short so maybe add a little to them. Also the format is a bit confusing as there are quotes everywhere with little analysis. I couldnt find some of the topic sentences because the quotes were used to start new paragraphs. There could be uses of transitions and concluding sentences.  This could possibly be a rough draft so its understandable that the author was just placing everything where they seemed to fit but hopefully the final draft had a good "flow".  Finally, I'd say that the thesis should be revised more so it could encompass all the ideas that are being mentioned within the essay.

Why you should read "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian"

Dear young person,

I believe you should read the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by author Sherman Alexie because it portrays the life of an adolescent Indian boy who lived in a very poor Indian reservation that overcame all the adversity that was thrown at him. The main character, Arnold "Junior" Spirit, is born with brain defects which causes him to have a few physical abnormalities, such as large feet. He is teased by many Indians within the reservation, some offenders being adults, which causes him to be afraid of the outside world. He does, however, have a best friend who is the baddest and toughest kid of the reservation named Rowdy, ironic huh? Rowdy and Junior do every activities together ranging from sports to attending the local powwows. Eventually Junior feels as if the reservation is holding him back because he is told by one of his teachers that he has the potential to be great. Junior decides to transfer to a nearby town's high school, Reardan High School, which is filled with many white kids who have either never seen an Indian or are prejudice against them. Eventually, Junior becomes one of the most popular kids at the white high school through his courage, determination, and optimism. You can say that because of attending Reardan, Junior achieved more that he would have at the reservation. But that is not the point.

The book shows that a kid who grew up fearing everything around him, also very dirt poor, still found happiness by taking a very courageous risk by going against his reservation and attending a "white" school. He ended up dating the hottest girl at the school and also befriended the schools toughest jock, which is unusual because on their first encounter they got into a fist fight. Arnold never gave up and persevered through all of the hard-balls life threw at him because he had something called hope. All the things he hoped for all became a reality once after attending Reardan. By believing in himself he was able to achieve happiness. Not only did Arnold have hope, but he inspired those around him to go out and reach for their dreams. Who knows, maybe this book can influence and motivate you to achieve greater things in life.

Native American Current Events

The current state of affairs for Native Americans:

-Yakama have "jurisdiction over certain civil and criminal matters" in the state of Washington thanks to Gov. Jay Inslee. There are current discussions in giving the Yakama police forces more authority in area that are out of the reservation. (http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/01/29/yakamas-bittersweet-moment-gaining-some-criminal-jurisdiction-153253)

-The Department of Justice announced that it would support tribes financially by funding for public safety, victim services, and crime prevention. (http://www.nativetimes.com/index.php/news/federal/9388-doj-announces-funding-opportunities-for-tribes)