Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Essay

Natalia Kasperek

Mr. Rodriguez

Academic Literature

21 April 2023

Individual vs. Community Never leaving a fixed mindset will lead to failure. The young adult fiction novel, The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie illustrates this when the readers follow the main protagonist, Junior, and his struggle as he moves from living in poverty at the Spokane reservation to going to an all-white school and being provided with new possibilities. Junior is influenced by both his old and new community causing him to have to change his obligations and feelings towards each environment. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the author discusses the theme that “a person’s decisions impact themselves,

People who lack resources will struggle to succeed in their environments. While learning about Junior, his culture, and the reservation, the readers are presented with different factors which show that living at this reservation was not easy for the people as they faced many hardships such as poverty, alcoholism, and a lack of utilities. Alexie Sherman presents this on page 31 when she says, “This book belongs to Agnes Adams … Agnes Adams is my mother. … So that means my mother was born an Adams and she was still an Adams when she wrote her name in the book. And she was thirty when she gave birth to me. Yep, so that means I was staring at a geometry book that was at least thirty years older than I was. I couldn’t believe it.” This may also show just how much of a lack of supplies the reservation contained and the poverty in which they were forced to live in, as Junior feels outraged and realizes how behind the education system is. This causes the students to have a lower level education and instead of succeeding in life and getting a good career, the school causes them to be ignorant of the education system. Especially since teachers at this reservation are negligent, and careless about the students and their education. Junior’s outburst caused not only Junior to thrive for change but

Junior often struggles with trying to figure out his identity both at the reservation and Rearden. However, as Junior grows and goes along his path to Rearden, there are times when he finds his individuality and becomes his own person. After Grandma Spirit passes away, we learn from Junior, “But I was also the kid who’d just lost his grandmother. And everybody knew that losing my grandmother was horrible. So they all waved the white flag that day and let me grieve in peace. And after that, they stopped hassling me whenever they saw me on the rez. I mean, I still lived on the rez right? … So I was still a part of the rez,” (Alexie, 160). Here Junior finally gets to be his own person as he finally doesn’t have anyone bothering him and everyone accepts that no matter what school he attends, he is still a part of the reservation. When everyone left Junior alone, they felt empathy towards Junior especially since they all probably knew Grandma Spirit as she was very well known amongst the reservation. Since Grandma Spirit was so popular, she was known for bringing people together and forming a closer community. She brought so many people together when she was alive, and she brought even more people together when she passed away. So many people struggled with grief at this time and they had an understanding of what Junior is going through, probably understanding that his grief is even larger due