Mathias J. Per. 4 Ms. Taylor Sherman Alexie on True Identity “What is true identity, and how, if possible, can one achieve it?” Sherman Alexie poses a response to such a question by the use of Arnold Spirit in his novel Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. To Alexie, the path to true identity is the path of modifying your views and perceptions whilst bettering yourself. Through the medium of the protagonist the author gives us an example of what Arnold’s journey is by his discovery of his own potential, accepting other and being accepted, and his academic brilliance. The event that led Arnold to decide to change himself was a conversation with his teacher Mr. P. He comes to Arnold after having a book be thrown at him, breaking his nose and landed Arnold in suspense to say, “You threw that book in my face because somewhere inside you refuse to give up… you stay on this rez… we’re going to kill you…” What Mr. P means by giving up is that …show more content…
Here he became the Indian kid. This kind of sticking out, along with the stigmas that come with being Native American left Arnold feeling alienated and different, going on to say,”Readen was the opposite of the rez… it was the opposite of me.” The people there were initially cold and racist towards him, and growing up on the reservation he had learn to be hostile towards white people. Over months and months this divide based solely on race began to weaken and disappear completely. Arnold gained the respect and friendship of Rodger, a senior who was brutally racist to our protagonist, and started dating Penelope the most popular girl in the school. He had become one of the normal students at Readen, even calling himself a “part-time Indian,” and uplifted by most everyone there out of sheer kindness. Everyone had grown to see things from another’s perspective and came closer to their own “true