Alexie,
S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a
part-time Indian. New York, NY: Little Brown.
The absolutely true diary of a part-time
Indian consists of several important
characters, but Arnold "Junior" Spirit is the main character and he is an
intelligent young Native American living on the Spokane Indian Reservation with
his mom, dad, and Sister Mary. Junior has overcome several handicaps. He also has a stutter and a lisp, which
make him the object of much teasing by his peers. Based on this, I can conclude the theme of
isolation, the isolation that Junior feels as an individual, a boy who was born
with multiple physical impairments, including water on the brain, which causes
him to have seizures, and poor eyesight. Junior also has an intellectual
curiosity that is unmatched by most of his peers; this makes him an outcast
among his own people.
At fourteen years old, he has been branded "a
retard," and to avoid being beaten up regularly, he spends a lot of time
alone in his room reading books and drawing cartoons. Rowdy
is his best friend, but their friendship dissolves when Junior decides to
transfer to Reardan motivated by Mr. P. his math teacher. Rowdy names Junior, “traitor.”
But that doesn’t stop Junior from desisting from the idea of transferring
schools. He is tired of living the life Indians are expected to live in his
reservation and is determined to change his life and his education, therefore, he
transfers to Reardan, a school 22 miles away from his reservation.
He is not received with open arms, but instead has to fight against all odds to be accepted. Here is where the theme of race and racism is identified as Roger and his friends call him names, such as chief, sitting bull, tonto, red-skin, and or squaw boy. He shows courage and determination when he faces Roger in a fight. Roger and his group accept him the following day by saying “hi” to him. He also wins the admiration of Penelope and many students at school slowly accept them as a couple. Junior meets Penelope’s father who also is racist against Junior when he notes that Reardan's school mascot is an Indian like him.
Junior continues to beat the odds and is invited by Roger to try out for the basketball team, surprisingly Junior makes the Varsity Basketball Team and with that has crossed and beaten all odds as he befriends the most popular kids at Reardan. Back at his reservation, he is still known as the traitor and Rowdy still hates him for leaving. Reardan plays against the Reservation’s basketball team and they are seriously defeated. This adds up to Junior’s anger towards Rowdy and is determined to beat him next time, which they do.
Throughout the story, Junior experiences the loss of love ones. He learns to deal and understand the pain of losing a love one such as the pain he felt while he lost his grandmother to a drunk-driver, his dad’s best friend shot by another friend, which he loved as an uncle, and his sister, burned while drunk in her mobile home. The constant presence of death, leads to a loss of hope which Junior is troubled to gain back throughout the story. He’s constantly fighting for “hope.” He keeps hoping for a new life because he does not foresee himself as an alcoholic like mostly everyone at his Indian Reservation appear to be.
The story ends as Rowdy and Junior reconcile their differences and Rowdy finally accepts and forgives Junior for leaving him and the reservation. Rowdy uses the term, “nomadic” that Junior is nomadic as he always knew that he would travel the world from place to place looking for water, food, and grazing the land. They played ball until the moon was huge and golden and perfect in the dark sky.
Wow! Amazing and mesmerizing story about believing and achieving one’s goal to better oneself despite the odds. I believe that students ages 12 through 18 could identify themselves with Junior and not necessarily because they are Indians, but because several have immigrated into the U.S. from different countries and they’ll understand the feeling of attending a new school and figuring out the rules to be accepted by their peers just like Junior tried to do. This reminds me of Havinghurst's Theory of Developmental Tasks in which Richard Havighurst discusses the importance of adolescents learning how to get along with peers. That negotiation, compromise, working cooperatively in groups, and accepting differences are all components of getting along with peers. I was able to read about all of these components in this novel. A similar book that I recommend for continued reading perhaps could be If I Ever get out of here by Eric Gansworth. The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian consists of 230 unforgettable pages.
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