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What Is The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian By Sherman Alexie

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When I was reading Sherman Alexie’s books, Blasphemy and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I found that Alexie likes to adjust his way of writing dramatically based on his audience and the story(s) that he is trying to tell. For example, when he wrote Blasphemy he was writing to an audience that consisted more of adults that would’ve been in their early 20’s or older, based on the complexity of how this book is set up. Alexie made it so that this book was many stories of Indians, not just him or family, but a lot of people. There are some that don’t make any sense and you really have to pick it apart to understand his subtle references. His approach to writing The Absolutely True… is more for young adults, maybe 12-19 year olds, …show more content…

When Alexie wrote Blasphemy with harder to follow context and a greater vocabulary. In The Absolutely True... he writes more for a younger audience keeping it easy to follow and rarely using words most people wouldn't know the meaning of. One of the last things that I noticed about Alexie’s writing in these two books is that no matter how different he wrote these books both had a satisfying ending, Blasphemy ended with him winning back his grandmothers regalia, which is something Indians dance at pow wows in. Which Alexie wrote on the last page, “He closed his eyes and thought about the possibilities. Then he stepped into his back room and returned with my grandmother’s regalia. ‘Take it’ he said” (pg 464). This ties up the last story of an old drunk Indian who stumbled upon his dead grandmother’s stolen regalia, giving it an ending that the audience would be okay to leave on and not expect more. In The Absolutely True... has a happy ending of him becoming best friends with his ex-best friend over the summer after he transferred schools, the last part being, “Rowdy and I played one-on-one for hours.”(pg 230). Since they got back to being friends playing the sport they both love it gives the audience a happy and content feeling so they can put the book down and be okay that it is over. Both of these endings are completely different, but they both leave the audience content with the ending, making it so a sequel is not requested to help tie up loose

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