“Laughter and Tears are Pretty Much the Same Thing…” The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a heartbreaking tale shrouded by humor. From the very beginning Arnold Spirit, “Junior,” was dealt a cruel hand, but from the very beginning he uses humor to mask what is a rather miserable existence. Spirit’s character was born with cerebral spinal fluid in his brain that caused many problems in his early life, including a dangerous surgery and seizures (1-2). However, he defies the odds and lives, forced to go on as a poverty stricken, speech impeded, awkward-looking, Indian boy who is constantly ridiculed and bullied for his station in life. Even when he tries to change, and break free from his life on the reservation, the community (along with his best friend Rowdy) turns on him, calling him a traitor. So, not only is he dealing with his social life on the reservation and at …show more content…
Throughout the book Arnold loses several people in his life, and the cause is always alcohol. However, through it all humor is constantly at play concealing these dark moments in Arnold’s life. This novel constantly made me think and constantly made me feel guilty, he was born on November 5, 1992, he is only 19 days older than I am and he was going through all these crazy life-altering events. Do you know what I was doing at fourteen-years old; I was going to school, to the mall, having dinner with my loving family. At fourteen, the only person I lost was my grandfather, and most of the reason he didn’t survive pneumonia was because of old age. Sure I have had my fair share of misfortunes, but this novel put everything into perspective. If I had to live in the shoes of Arnold I’m not sure I would have made it out of my Freshmen year; honestly, living the cushy life I had growing up, I don’t