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The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Summary

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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- Time Indian” is a story narrated by Arnold Spirit, Jr an Indian Blooded kid who was born and raised in a indian reservation in Wellpinit, WA. Arnold Is a very uncommon indian starting by the fact that he was born different than any Indian he was born different than any normal human, he was born with too much “water in his brain” too much cerebrospinal fluid. Cerebrospinal fluid is a fluid that protects the brain inside the skull, as a baby Arnold had to have surgery, a surgery to extract the extra cerebrospinal fluid from his brain. This surgery is a very dangerous surgery do to its risk of being left in a vegetable state. Fortunately for Arnold he made it …show more content…

In 3rd grade Arnold had a foot size of 11 not normal for a 3rd grader he also had a bigger skull than all the other kids, all of this deformations or imperfections made a childhood full of bullying and just a tough experience as he grew up in the reservation. Arnold was a victim and an easy pray for the oppressing Indians. As a kid he was a victim of at least one attack per month from any indian who just seemed to be in the mood of taking out his anger that day. Terrified from being bullied and harassed from anyone Arnold grew most of his childhood in school and inside his house. Arnold’s best friend is Rowdy, an Indian kid from his same reservation, unlike Arnold Rowdy is a bully and a very aggressive individual all of Arnold’s child hood in the reservation was accompanied by Rowdy who protects him from any other bullies and anyone who dares to bother him. Although their relationship seemed to be inseparable a conflict starts to arise in this friendship when Arnold is convinced by his geometry teacher Mr. P to leave the reservation, Mr. P convinces Arnold that if he stays in there his hope will slowly begin to vanish. Arnold quickly reacts to his professor’s words and the next day he gives his parents the great and surprising news. Arnold wants to attend Reardan High School a school for middle …show more content…

In that first game against his own people, he is chanted off “Arnold sucks! Arnold sucks! Arnold sucks!” but still not intimidated. He is about to enter the game when suddenly a flying coin from the stands hits his forehead and makes him bleed, stitched up Arnold decides he still wants to play. Arnold is put in the game, but again he is injured and knocked unconcious by his best friend Rowdy. Reardan High School loses the game and Arnold ends up in the hospital. After this tragic loss, Arnold the coach and his team felt the loss more personal. The next game was taken place in Reardan and the surprise was that Arnold became the star of the game scoring the first three pointer of the game, the first three points of the game that automatically defeated the Wellpinit team physiologically. The Reardan team won that game but Arnold felt bad for the Wellpinit team he felt bad that he defeated his own blood but mostly he felt bad because he knew what the future was for both teams. The Wellpinit players had no hope at all, and the Reardan players well, they had hope and a future to plan. School ended and Arnold went back to his life in the reservation but one day a knock on his door brightened the view “knock, knock” come

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It all comes down to discovering how we can win, even when the odds are against us. A major theme in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is never giving up. Junior starts life with serious brain damage and physical abnormalities. His family is poor. He is Indian, he doesn’t have access to the same level of schools, and health care as the white kids.

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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should be taught at DHS. It teaches a person about reality and about the struggles of the world, yes it uses profanity and sexual, but it shows what can happen to a teenager and showing them what could happen to them. The absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a wonderful and fantastic book. Reardan, the all white school Junior transfers to, is about 23 miles off the reservation. This means he either has to hitchhike or walk because his family can’t afford the money for gas, that could be someone in a teen in Douglas community.

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The book focuses on a young boy named Arnold Spirit who shows persistence and bravery as he defies all odds and strides towards a happier more successful life than his parents and ancestors before him. Arnold is a bright, inspiring young boy who grows up with little fortune and is destined to continue down the path of a poor, misunderstood Indian. However, his fate changes for the better when a spark lights the fire inside of him to strive to pursue a better, more flourishing life as he makes an extraordinary decision to transfer to an all-white school for a worthier education. However, the drastic change of schools puts a burden on his family to get him to school as well as leads to extreme bullying from not just kids at his new school but also from his fellow Indians in his hometown. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I learned that it doesn 't matter what your situation is and what you are expected to accomplish in your lifetime or what standards have already been set for you because you can be whoever you want to be with hard work, ambition, and confidence.

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In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes.

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A Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit, Washington is the setting of Alexie’s book. The Indian reservation gives us a firsthand look of a poverty stricken community. The main character in the book Arnold and his family and mostly all other families living on this reservation are poor. Their community is isolated from society; the main character feels that “the reservation is meant to be a prison” in the sense that they are isolated from the real world (Alexie 216).

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Overcoming a challenge, not giving up, and not being afraid of change are a few themes demonstrated in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Perhaps the most prominent theme derived from the novel is defying the odds, or in other words rising above the expectations of others. Junior Spirit exemplifies this theme throughout the entirety of the book. As Junior is an Indian, he almost expects that he will never leave the reservation, become an alcoholic, and live in poverty like the other Indians on the reservation—only if he sits around and does not endeavor to change his fate. When Junior shares the backstory of his parents, he says that his mother and father came from “poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people” (11).

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