What Is Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a day -to-day journal highlighting the freshman school year of one Spokane Indian growing up on a reservation in Wellpinit, WA. This is a year in which he bravely transfers from the reservation school to a school 22 miles away that is predominately white. While mundane in nature, especially when compared to fantasy works such as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, this “diary” uses honesty, humor and universal themes to appeal to young adult readers. Junior experiences racism, exposure to mass alcoholism and inordinate death and violence. While the teen audience consuming this content may not fully grasp the extent of Juniors plight, they are uniquely (and cognitively) able
He lives in constant fear of being physically assaulted, “ Sure I want to go outside. Every kid wants to go outside. But it is safer for me to stay home. So I mostly hang out alone in my bedroom, read books and draw cartoons”. ( p. 8) While Junior does have one friend on the Reservation, and a family that loves him, he feels trapped by the social climate in which he lives. Junior is not the only person on the Reservation facing violence…… it is pervasive, he has been to 42 funerals, engaged in over 100 fights, and he is only 14 years old. His outlook is bleak, but he has his art as a coping mechanism, “I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats. (p. 11). The honest depiction of life on the Reservation may be the first exposure young readers have to the living conditions young Native Americans are faced with. Furthermore, most young adults have not been in 100+ fights, but they can recall that one altercation or moment of bullying that has a lasting impression on their
The schools on the reservation are inadequately funded and staffed. The medical care is inferior and likely contributed to Junior’s lingering disabilities. Alexie crafts a poignant summary of the oppression racism has on the tribe when he describes his father’s talent as a musician, “Given the chance, my father would have been a musician. Like he’s good enough to be on the radio. 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. It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you’re poor because you’re stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you’re stupid and ugly because you’re Indian. 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. Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.”( p. 17) Without shaming or politicizing, Alexie enlightens readers to the link between racism and poverty and with any luck, urges us all to examine our role in this