Follow Your Dreams
Should we be what we want or what others want us to be? In the books The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros there are many characters that have a dream to do something, but they are expected to do something else because of society and the people surrounding them. The authors prove how Arnold Spirit, Mary Spirit and Marin’s responsibility to their community and tribe take precedence over their own goals, even though it shouldn’t.
Arnold Spirit left the reservation to follow his dreams and get a good education. He is a leader and a risk-taker for achieving his goals, but his tribe was not that happy. “You’ll be the first one to leave the rez this way, The Indians around here are going to be angry with you” (Alexie 47). His mom explained to him that it’s a good opportunity but that he was going to let his tribe down. No one expected him to leave to go study in a white school, and once he did everyone else on the rez was mad, except for his family, and stopped talking to him, including Rowdy, his best friend. They would just shut the door on his face and refuse to talk to him. At the end of the book, everyone was happy for him and Rowdy too; Rowdy told Arnold “You’re going to keep moving all over the world in search for food and water and grazing land. That’s pretty cool” (Alexie 230). Even though Arnold is expected to do something else by his reservation, he went out of his ways to achieve his individual goal first.
Mary Spirit was quite similar to her brother. She was expected to stay on the reservation just like him, but she wanted to go out to be a writer just like him. She left the reservation to go to another reservation, thinking she could achieve her goal, but she didn’t. “She kept writing in her book. And she kept up working up the courage to show it to somebody and then she just stopped” (Alexie 39). Mr. P told Arnold. She just stopped and lived in the basement for seven years. She lost hope because she knew her tribe was not going to approve. But she got inspired to leave by her younger brother Arnold. “I love it here in Montana. It’s beautiful. It was a dream come true! I love my life! I love my husband! I love Montana” (Alexie 99-100). Her responsibility took precedence over her goals when it comes to writing novels, but it didn’t when it came to leaving the reservation.
Marin, was waiting for someone to come, Her goal was to leave and have someone who loved her and took care of her, but she didn’t have a own personal goal, she just wanted to leave, she was depending on someone. “Marin under the streetlight, dancing by herself, is singing the same song somewhere. I know. Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life” (Cisneros 27). She had no hope for herself, but she didn’t want her responsibility to her community to take precedence on what she wanted. She was expected to stay in the Hispanic family and to be a housewife locked up in her house. She wanted to leave Mango Street and her family, and wanted to build her own family, but most probably she was going to be a housewife and no hope for her personal life, because she was depending on someone. She didn’t do anything about her own
Mostly, in both the books, people’s responsibility to their community was more important, and not their goals. Many people didn’t get anywhere with their individual goals, like Marin. Some got half of what they wanted, like Mary. However, others, like Arnold, got what they wanted by fighting and never giving up and thanks to him I think that our personal goals are priority then comes our responsibility to our community and what they expect of us.
Tanya M 