Has there been anyone in your life who wants to show the people in world that you will live through whatever comes your way no matter what it may be? Sherman Alexie did. Sherman Alexie grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. Never was Alexie's childhood easy, he also was not expected to live to a very old age. When Sherman was six months old he was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and has been a struggle for him ever since. Following Sherman's diagnosis with hydrocephalus, he went through an operation for it and he was not expected to survive. Throughout his life he had many seizures as a kid and spent most of his days reading. Sherman Alexie attended two colleges and it was not until he got to his second college when…show more content… War Dances is a novel where the narrator is suffering from a sudden hearing loss and is afraid he has a brain tumor or, his hydrocephalus from his childhood is coming back but, none of that is true. Through his time of being in the hospital and flashbacks from his father's visits at the hospital, he remembers that the song and custom that was done to help heal the sick does no healing at all but only comforts (War Dances Summary). One of the more impacting quotes in the novel is, “How does one survive these revelations? One just lives” (War Dances Summary). For instance, the quote is trying to get across the thought, how can one person survive these unexpected changes and events in life that are going to happen that we are not prepared or know they are coming. We can survive, we just live our life with the change. Throughout the novel the author shows that through the Indian culture there will be times where you will stop and really think why are we doing this? Will this really help us? What is the point of doing this? Through Alexie's novel War Dances the narrator stops to realize that the song that was done to help heal the sick in the Indian culture does no healing at all but only comforts. So in our time somethings do not really help us at all like they say they do, they only comfort and make us feel…show more content… In the book, Junior has grown up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and has been going to school on the reservation ever since high school, until he started to get picked on and just realize his life completely sucks. Until one day when he mentions he wants to switch schools, with encouragement from a high school teacher on the reservation, Junior decides to go to an all-white public high school off-reservation in the town of Reardan, Washington (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian). One of the quotes in the book that makes us look at life a bit different is, “Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community” (Ragsdale). The point Alexie is trying to get across in the novel with saying that quote is, that our life is a struggle between doing the thing we feel comfortable with and doing something other people feel comfortable with doing. Throughout the book the author shows that breaking tradition is something okay to do if you aren't happy. Sherman Alexie wanted to show people that if you are hurting or getting hurt it's not okay to keep doing the things you're doing, by that things are going to need to change. Also, picking on people because they are different is not okay either. People need to respect each other and stop being so cruel. So
