Helen Cheng
Tisha Meadows
Language and literature
28 September 2016
The Absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian
Sherman Alexie, native American poet, writer, and filmmaker, is born with
hydrocephalus, a condition in which the brain happens to have a large amount of cerebral fluid in the cranial cavity, and was operated from the condition in which he was six months old. Sherman, being a writer of splendorous literary pieces like, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in heaven, Indian killer and, Reservation Blues, is now introducing us with one of his uplifting novels from many of his writings based on native American life, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, also a bildungsroman novel, in a funny way that makes the story not so complicated and sad at the same time, in which we can get a taste of Indian culture in his formative years on the Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit.
In the story of a Part-time Indian, Junior or Arnold Spirit, the protagonist, is born with hydrocephalus, “. . . weirdo me, I was born with too much grease inside my skull . . .” (1). He demonstrates the place where grew, Wellpinit, Washington as well as the surrounding cultural group of “. . .Indian families that stick together like Gorilla glue” (89).
Persisting his cultural group and the strong sense of unity between their families, we can see how the protagonist is at the stage where he is coming of age, in which he identifies himself where he is in place in society, as well as where he belongs. As the story builds up, on his journey, Junior is at Reardan, which he now considers as his other hometown in search of hope.
At Reardan, the protagonist, Junior, is now on a spot of a better and higher education in a place surrounded by white people, where his cultural and racial backgrounds are being exposed to the people surrounding him; being the only Spokane Indian kid. As Junior starts his journey, he is testing his boundaries and limits doing things like masturbating, “I spend hours in the bathroom with a magazine that has one thousand pictures of naked movie stars . . .” (25). As part of any average everyday teenager, this is a very common thing to do, especially with boys. This shows that they are at the stage of love and sexuality.
As you dive into the plot, in the story, Junior is constantly being brusquely bullied at both of his hometowns because of his rare condition. In between the Spokane Indian tribe community, people around him are involved in the consuming of alcohol, in which we can see results of lack of education, leaving Junior and many Indians descending from the Spokane tribe in a situation where they can afford to few of the needs or dreams as any tribe member would wish to have.
Yet, while he passes through this challenges surrounding his tribe, Junior is lucky to have parents who don’t believe in violence and help him through his life at the reservation when living with this condition, no matter the socioeconomic status they are in and a sister who understands him despite his condition.
However, his friend Rowdy, who has violent parents giving Rowdy no attention or care, steps through and plays a big role in Junior’s life at the reservation defending him from constant bullying and as a truly best friend. Junior explains “he is my best human friend and he cares about me, so he would always tell me the truth” (16). As we can see, this is a true example of friendship and role of peers showing us that Junior has a level of trust on him, which is important because this means that Junior would rely on him whenever he needed him.
Because Junior could not afford to few needs and dreams, he realizes the world he is in and feels a desire to move to Reardan high school with lots of white people in search for hope and a better education.
When Junior arrives at Reardan high school, he is no longer with the support of his friend Rowdy and is seen as taboo leaving the reservation by the Spokane people. He is the only Spokane Indian at the school with lots of white people seeing him as an outsider. But, because he is seen as an outsider, he has to fight back for his place in society and begins to interact with people who always reject him back.
Yet, he achieves personal goals as he grows into a freshman at the high school. He gets his first crush on a girl called Penelope, punches a boy called Roger in a fight when trying to be tough, and most importantly he accomplishes his social standing in a basketball game at Reardan high school against Wellpinit, where it turns out that his all time friend Rowdy would have to confront him at this game, “. . .It was crazy. How often does a reservation Indian kid hear that? How often do you hear the words “Indian” and “college” in the same sentence? Especially in my family. Especially in my tribe.” (180).
From all the novels and books out there made for young adults and adolescents, this one has a fun side to it from the perspective of a young teenager because it rides us through challenges and sudden realizations in the way a teenager would see it.
I recommend reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie because it may recall some of young adults’ adolescence, and makes it fun for teenagers to know from a person at the same age of what they went through.
I really like how Sherman Alexie gives us an idea of the book with the title of the book being The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian which gets us into thinking about the part Part-Time Indian, foreshadowing us how Junior was a part-time Indian in his other hometown, Reardan, in which he gained his other half at the high school with all the white people around him at high school.
helencng 