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The Absolutely True Diary, A Part-Time Indian By Sherman Alexie

592 Words3 Pages

“I was half Indian in one place and half white in the other. It was like being Indian was my job, but it was only a part-time job.”-Arnold Spirit Jr (Alexie, 118). Written by Sherman Alexie, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is a well-written Indigenous novel in which the author explores the powerful theme of overcoming racism and adversity. This essay will examine this poignant message by exploring the main character's racist experiences with students at Reardan High School, the microaggressions faced by teachers, and lastly, the generational cycle of poverty faced by Indigenous peoples on the reserve. Near the beginning of the novel, the main character Arnold Spirit, transferred to a predominantly white school, Reardan High School. At the beginning of this …show more content…

At first, Roger and his friends would call Roger racist names like “Chief” or “Tonto” or “Squaw Boy” (Alexie, 64). Arnold was too frightened to defend himself until Roger went to extremes. At lunchtime, Roger said to Arnold “Did you know that Indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo” (Alexie, 64). In response, Arnold punched him. Not only did Roger insult Indigenous people, but also the entire Black community. These encounters exemplify the prevalent issue of overt racism against marginalized people. Secondly, not only was Arnold a victim of racism directed at students. but also teachers. One day in class, Arnold decided to correct his teacher on a topic. The teacher, Mr. Dodge, was quick to condescend him as well as doubt his answer. This was because he was Indigenous. He sarcastically said to Arnold “Where did you learn this fact? On the way to the reservation? Yes, we all know there’s so much amazing science on the reservation”. Mr Dodge was overtly disdainful of Arnold because he is Indigenous. He believes that marginalized people are not as educated, or intelligent as Caucasian

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Throughout the book of the Absolutely true diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie the main character and narrator of the story gives us a variety of themes in his book, one of which is Identity. Starting from reading the title I found myself trying to predict what the book was going to be about all that came to me was a book about the story of an Indian men. The title itself gives an identity to the main character. Even from the first page of the book, in the fist sentence it shows you who this boy is. “I was born with water on the brain” he says.

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Introduction The true diary of a part time Indian is a novel for young adults written by Sherman Alexie and illustrated by Ellen Forney, it was published in 2007 and has won several literature awards. The book tells a story of Arnold who is a hydrocephalic, a physical impairment that makes him to be picked on and bullied and which makes him vulnerable to seizures. One of the main struggles that Arnold faces in this novel is between his part-time Indian WellPoint self (Junior) and his half-white Reardan self (Arnold). On the reservation he is intimidated and picked on, while at Reardan he receives respect and chooses to be somebody.

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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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Thud! I am a tad bit fad! The book hit the wall. In the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman, Alexie Junior saw his mother’s name in his math book, and that was the last straw. Junior decided to start going to school in Reardan, an all-white school, which is off of his reservation.

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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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The novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian( Alexie S.J., Jr, 2007), written by Sherman Alexie, describes a story about a brave Indian boy called Arnold Spirit Jr. who finds out his potential and always go ahead towards his dream. Read throughout the book, comedy and tragedy always accompany with Arnold`s life. The 14-year-old Indian boy was born with illness and sneer. On the way he grew up, he suffered from various violence from different people. The tragedies in Arnold`s teenage life such as poverty, violence and death give readers deep impression.

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Sherman Alexie’s powerful novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, investigates the concealed complexity of the Spokane Indians world. Sherman Alexie illustrates jovial humor, brutal reality, and eulogistic sadness through the pragmatic main character, Arnold Spirit Junior, to allow the reader fathom what the Native Americans are feeling. Indian reservations ― although they are home to some of the most culturally rich and spiritual people ― have had a long history of being more prison-like than a place of peace and comfort. The hopeless Indians, in modern society, that inhabit the reservations are suffering through poverty and drunk alcoholic chaos. Poverty and alcohol seem to dominate the once joyful society.

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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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Have you ever felt as if someone was treating you differently than others just because of the way you look? Arnold Spirit is the main character also known as Junior in the book, by “ Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. He narrates his own life as a Native American and the ones around him that were not Native Americans. In the story, there are a lot of stereotypes that revolve around Junior being a Native American.

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The story represents the culmination of Wright’s passionate desire to observe and reflect upon the racist world around him. Racism is so insidious that it prevents Richard from interacting normally, even with the whites who do treat him with a semblance of respect or with fellow blacks. For Richard, the true problem of racism is not simply that it exists, but that its roots in American culture are so deep it is doubtful whether these roots can be destroyed without destroying the culture itself. “It might have been that my tardiness in learning to sense white people as "white" people came from the fact that many of my relatives were "white"-looking people. My grandmother, who was white as any "white" person, had never looked "white" to me” (Wright 23).

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