Throughout their lifetimes, people go through a change in identity, which despite not being physical it changes them morally and emotionally, as well as influencing their actions. Sherman Alexie capitalizes off of this with his novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (ATDPTI), which follows Junior, a boy from a Native American reservation, who switches to a school in a nearby town, which is known for being racist towards his culture; Junior changes through the novel, and develops a true sense of his own identity, giving the work a prominent theme. Zitkala-Sa’s School Days of an Indian Girl follows a young Native American girl in the late 1800s, who is forced away from her family and sent to a boarding school built to strip them of their culture, and encounters drastic change similar to Junior. Sherman Alexie addresses the impact of one 's positive change in identity by giving his protagonist a character and goal or character to surpass; he does this by creating two similar characters, giving his protagonist a goal, and by showing a concluding comparison.
Alexie shows Junior’s change in identity by giving him a supporting character that can reflect his change. In ATDPTI, Alexie uses Rowdy, Junior 's friend from the reservation. When Junior is talking about his friendship with Rowdy, Alexie writes, “He’s just a big, goofy dreamer, too, just like me.” (Alexie 23). Rowdy and Junior are created to be similar characters, to want to escape what seems like destiny