Part Time Indian Conflicts

No matter the place in the world there are always leaders and followers, but sometimes there are people who take their own route. Within The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior is that person who takes his own route. This is because of all the conflicts surrounding him. Junior’s decisions were impacted by the conflicts around him because he wanted to try his best to escape the hostile environment he was in. When people are facing adversity they don’t want to accept what is happening they want to fight back. The actions everyone makes to fight back are influenced by what will help them get away from their problems. Junior’s conflicts heavily encouraged him to take risky actions that could’ve led to a positive or negative outcome.

Junior was constantly bullied while going to school on the reservation. One time, the Andrus brothers were picking on him and Junior said,”All three of them shoved me to and fro. They were playing catch with me” (Alexie 21). This was a common occurrence on the reservation for Junior, and it got to the point where he could not take it anymore. As a result, he convinced Rowdy to go with him to shave off the Andrus brothers hair which they have been growing their whole life. If it were not for Junior constantly facing the adversity of being bullied he would not have made the decision to shave the Andrusses hair. This conflict influenced Junior to make actions that are risky but could end up benefiting him in the future. Junior was not the only Indian on the reservation facing adversity. In fact most of the Indians were, and a specific person noticed this and finally came out and said something. Mr. P,

It took a decent amount of time for Junior to become comfortable at Reardan. The first couple weeks he went there it was a time of adversity for him because he was like no one else there, and no one really appreciated that. Junior struggled most at Reardan his first day or two there, and the reader knows this when he says, “All of those pretty… white girls ignored me…. Most of the white boys ignored me, too” (Alexie 63). The reader is able to learn that Junior was heavily ignored at Reardan when he first started going there, and it ended up impacting his later decisions. Junior use to play basketball at Wellpinit but he was hesitant to try out for Reardan, because he thought he would get embarrassed at tryouts and get cut. Then he realized that in order for him to make friends he needs to try his hardest to make the team, because he knew if he made it then people would like and respect him more. Junior did end up making the school basketball team and even played varsity as a freshman. After Junior made the team and people discovered he is playing varsity he started to friends on the basketball and received respect from the other kids in the school. Junior’s decision to try out for the basketball team was influenced by the fact that he was facing a time of adversity and needed a way to escape it. If Junior was not having trouble with kids before trying out he might not have even tried out. As the