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

Kennedy Dickerson

Mr. Rodriguez

Academic Literature

21 April, 2023

Poverty Doesn’t Have a Race In 2021, there was a study that shows the percentage of poverty categorized by race in each state. In Washington, 8.5% were White, 20.1% were Black, 18.9% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 18.5% Asian/Native Hawaiin and Pacific Islander. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, written by Sherman Alexie is a young adult fiction novel set in Washington, United States. The novel follows protagonist Arnold Spirit Jr. grows up going to school on the poor Spokane Indian Reservation. When he decides to change schools, his parents list schools in areas that are poorer than his. This goes to show, in Washington, Native Americans are not the only

Since the government doesn’t help the Native Americans, they tend to be impoverished. “But we reservation Indians don't get to realize our dreams. We don't get those chances. Or choices. We're just poor. That's all we are,” (Alexie 13). Throughout the story, Junior numerous times brings up that Natives will never have a chance to live their dreams and become rich doing so. “And because you're Indian you start believing you're destined to be poor. It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it,” (Alexie 11). Junior makes a clear point that Native Americans or in his case Spokane Indians are “destined to be poor” because they don’t have the support of the government. It’s shown in the story that elders in the reservation, like Junior’s parents, don't succeed because they are around those that don’t try to succeed due to lack of

“My school and my tribe are so poor and sad that we have to study from the same dang books our parents studied from,” (Alexie 31). When Junior read that his mother used the same textbook thirty years prior, it made him see how his school wasn’t properly funded for new supplies. When Junior tells his parents he wants to switch schools, they start to list multiple schools in the reservation area. “... filled with poor Indians and poorer white kids. Yes, there is a place in the world where the white people are poorer than the Indians… It's a school on the reservation border filled with the poorest Indians and poorer-than-poorest white kids. Yes, there is a place in the world where the white people are even poorer than you ever thought possible,” (Alexie 46). It goes to show, just as Junior said, there are numerous areas in his area that are less fortunate than him. Proving that Spokanne Indians aren’t the poorest on the