Absolutely True Diary Of Part Time Indian Analysis

In, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior’s life has always been black and white, in the sense that there is a white world and his world, but he has never gotten a chance to explore the in-between or grey: the mix of the white world and his, and he is not expected to. The Spokane Tribe was reluctant to associate with the white people on the outside of the reservation because white people were the main party who had forced seclusion upon them. Going to a white school was unheard of and out of the ordinary amongst Junior's peers, but Junior’s main goal is to receive the best education, and he realizes the best opportunities and chances for his dreams to be realized are off the reservation. Junior comes across
When Junior gets into the fight with Roger he assumes that they will abide by the same “rules of fisticuffs” (61), but they do not, so he is not used to this way of life, and white people may not abide by the same rules of respect. In the Spokane Tribe these rules were unspoken, known facts about the respect each person deserved, but Junior realizes since they do not have those rules at Reardan than they must not respect him, and that is when he goes and talks to his grandmother about the situation. Junior encounters multiple examples of violence on the reservation too, including the Andruss Brothers. At the powwow, the Andruss brothers approach Junior and start to beat him up, “I fell down. One of the brothers picked me up, dusted me off, and then kneed me in the balls” (21). Violence is a major part of Junior’s life, he gets bullied because of his differences all of the time. At Reardan, he is picked on by Roger because he is the only Indian and not like the other kids. Afterwards, Rowdy asks Junior, “ who did this to you” (21)? Rowdy wants to make sure that Junior is okay because he knows about his brain and how fragile it is. This moment is ironic because Rowdy cares about who beat up Junior, but later on Rowdy beats up Junior out of his anger for Junior going to Reardan. Rowdy’s concern and ultimate act of revenge show that he cares about his
Junior says, “No matter what happened between my tribe and me, I would always love them for giving me peace on the day of my grandmothers funeral” (160). When Junior leaves home, his tribe feels as if he has betrayed them, which is apparent in his first game against Wellpinit, “they all turned their backs on me” (144). But, their ability to forget and let go to give Junior time to grieve is out of respect. No matter how far Junior got away from the reservation he would always love them. The respect shown at Junior’s grandma’s funeral is a testament to the fact that the Spokane tribe is about respect. Death is the main part of Indian society. Junior experiences more death in his community than any of his white peers, “all my white friends can count their deaths on one hand. I can count my fingers, toes, arms, legs, eyes, ears, nose, penis, butt cheeks, and nipples, and still not get close to my deaths” (200). A big difference between Junior’s society is the effect of alcohol and presence of alcoholism in the community, “about 90 percent of the deaths have been because of alcohol”(200). Junior has experienced more death in his life then some people experience in one life, and the main cause of all of them is alcohol...Mary, Grandmother Spirit, and Eugene. Alexie uses the real fact of 90% of deaths to portray the great amount of deaths from this recurrent cause.