Task 2C: Dilemmas and personal choices

In this part, we will approach task 2C in your exam set. You are asked to compare and discuss Junior’s dilemmas and personal choices in Text 6 with those of another fictional character you have studied in your English course.

As we cannot decide for you on which character to choose, we will limit ourselves to give you an outline of Junior's dilemmas and provide you with some general points you can use in your comparison.

Junior's dilemmas and personal choices

Text 6 represents excerpts from the novel The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, published in 2007.

The novel is a first-person narrative by Native American teenager Arnold Spirit Jr., also known as "Junior", a 14-year-old. Junior is first confused as to why he had chosen to throw a book at his math teacher. He cannot really explain his actions and he contradicts himself: “Of course, I was suspended from school after I smashed Mr. P in the face, even though it was a complete accident. Okay, so it wasn’t exactly an accident. After all, I wanted to hit something when I threw that ancient book.” (ll. 7-10)

Reflect on how children view the world. As we grow up, the world becomes full of riddles. Sometimes we do not know how to behave or why we choose to act in a certain way. Can you think of another child character who struggled with dilemmas or was faced with a difficult decision? 

Then, he is confus...