The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Summary

Dear Mrs. Garriott,
I read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The narrator, Junior or Arnold, introduces himself to us: he is a hydrocephalic, meaning he was born with water on the brain. He is also a budding artist and hopes to use his words to connect with people. In the story, Arnold undergoes a series of alcohol-related losses: first his grandmother is hit by a drunk driver, then his dad's best friend Eugene is shot in the face at a 7-11, and his sister Mary dies in a trailer fire. Meanwhile, Arnold has decided that he is multi-tribal, looking at himself as not solely based on "white" or "Indian." He belongs to many different tribes. Throughout the book, Alexie used a lot of different writing techniques,
First, Junior's poor little dog, Oscar, is shot by his father in the book. The death of the animal becomes a symbol for the destruction caused by poverty on the reservation, because they did not have enough money for a vet so the father just shot the dog. We see this developed in the deaths that follow Oscar: Arnold's grandmother, Eugene, and his sister, Mary. Again talking about poverty, Arnold finds his mother's name written inside of a geometry book and throws the book straight at his teacher, Mr. P. The book stands for the poverty on the reservation and the way in which the school has low expectations for their students. Arnold fights back by throwing the book. He is rejecting what the school offers its students for their education. Lastly, chicken is very important to Arnold since he's almost always hungry. Food and money is scarce on the reservation. While KFC might seem like fast food to some, this would be a treat for Arnold. He says, “There is nothing better than a chicken leg when you haven’t eaten in (approximately) eighteen-and-a-half hours”(p.8). He even draws the chicken in the book. It is interesting to see how we live, thinking that KFC is just fast food and that we have so many choices to decide from for food. If you think about our society not having enough money to even buy new books, you realize how big of an impact this made on Arnold, when he found this out. Most people around us, fortunately, do not relate to
Arnold is a funny character and cracks a boat load of jokes, or draws hilarious pictures even at his darkest moments. It is clear that this applies to Arnold. He is a teenage boy who is just packed full of words, images, ideas, thoughts and feelings. As we see from the novel's first few paragraphs, Arnold has about a million different metaphors for every situation. As a character, he's what we might call hyperbolic. He's a little over the top, but that's why you like this character so much. Arnold, much like his writing, is filled with excitement. The thing about Arnold is that even though he goes through a massive amount of bad things in his life, his writing is almost always hopeful. He's always filled with joy, he always is excited to be alive. Take his joy lists in Chapter 24, as an example. In order to cope with all of the death in his life, Arnold makes lists of his favorite foods, books, bands, and basketball players. Arnold's hope is what ultimately leads him to fight for his dreams by leaving the reservation. This character just makes the best of any