Alexie,
Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a
Part-Time Indian. Ill. by Ellen Forney. New York: Little, Brown and
Company, 2007. ISBN 978-0-329-65316-3
SUMMARY
Arnold
Spirit – cartoonist, satirist, teenager, and social outcast - was a survivor
from day one. Born with abnormal amounts of cerebral fluid in his skull,
doctors warned his parents he would probably have brain damage after a surgery
to drain the extra fluid. He proved them wrong. Born with ten extra teeth, he
had them all removed in one day – and survived to tell about that, too. Yes,
Arnold – better known as Junior – had to fight his way through life on the Spokane
Indian Reservation where he and his family lived. When Junior entered high
school, he realized he had to move the fight to survive and overcome beyond the
reservation in order to make it in the world. That is when he did the
unthinkable and told his parents he wanted to go to the white kids’ school 20
miles away. Faced with the social rejection of his Spokane peers and the prejudice
of the white kids, Junior uses his good humor and young wisdom to show them that
he can and will make something of his life and not settle into complacency on
the reservation like many of his family and friends have done.
ANALYSIS
Blended
together, the words of Sherman Alexie and artwork of Ellen Forney tell a funny,
thought-provoking, insightful, and sometimes sad tale of life on the Spokane
Indian Reservation through the eyes of Arnold “Junior” Spirit – a teenager with
the odds against him but determined to beat them no matter what it takes.
Alexie, born with hydrocephalus that required surgery when he was six months
old, grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. It is from his life experiences
he creates the memorable character, Junior, who shows the reader what life on
the reservation is like.
Forney
creates Junior’s cartoon sketches, which reveal his ability to find humor in
situations. His self-portrait shows a dark haired teenager with black rimmed glasses, who speaks with a stutter and is definitely awkward. He draws portraits of how his parents could
have been – Mom in a nice business suit and dad in a casual outfit but looking
sharp. His sister is drawn as a pretty, dark-haired teenager, but her clothes
are all labeled either “stolen from…” or “shop-lifted from…”
From the
first page, Alexie captures the reader’s interest with Junior’s witty words that describe his life and the lives of his family
and friends, Native Americans who live on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Junior’s
last name, Spirit, fits him perfectly: He has a spirit that calls to be free of
the cycle of life that pervades the people on the reservation. Junior understands that the key to breaking the
cycle is to get a good education, which is not offered on his reservation. He
decides to attend a high school that is not on the reservation, even though he knows that this decision will alienate him
from his high school peers who will consider this a betrayal to his tribe, but
he also knows that it is something he has to do, or he will become complacent and
his life will become part of the cycle.
His parents
have accepted the lifestyle of settling into roles where ambition is stagnant. However,
they do not want the same for their children. Junior explains, “Yeah, Dad is a
drunk and Mom is an ex-drunk, but they don’t want their kids to be drunks.”
With his parents’ support, he leaves his high school on the reservation to
attend a high school twenty-two miles away, in the rich white town of Reardan. The
transition is not easy: Transportation to and from the school is not reliable;
He must gain acceptance with the white students in the white school; and, as
his mother warns, “The Indians around here are going to be angry with you.”
These obstacles, however, make Junior stronger and he successfully overcomes
barriers that most people in his tribe allow to keep them contained in the
reservation.
Alexie is
straightforward about life on the reservation. He does not sugar-coat anything.
The cultural markers of the modern 21st century Spokane Indian Reservation
are throughout the book– and sometimes shock the reader. For example, when
Junior needs to have ten extra teeth removed, he had to go to the Indian Health
Service that had strict funding guidelines. They “funded major dental work only
once a year, so (he) had to have all ten extra teeth pulled in one day. And
what’s more, our white dentist believed that Indians only felt half as much
pain as white people did, so he only gave us half the Novocain.” Alexie addresses the issue of poverty the Spokane
Americans experience. Junior knows his
family is poor, but his appreciation for his parents’ support to help him fit
in at the white high school shows when he writes, "I mean, my mother and father
were working hard for me, too. They were constantly scraping together enough
money to pay for gas, to get me lunch money, to buy me a new pair of jeans and
a few new shirts." Junior’s poverty is a struggle, but it will not keep him from
reaching his dreams.
Alexie’s
blunt and honest portrayal of a Native American teenager struggling to make it
in a white world awakens the modern reader to the reality of life on a 21st
century reservation. Refreshing and direct, Junior’s message is heard loud and
clear - To get somewhere in life, you have to get up and get out to make it happen. And you never give up.
AWARDS/REVIEWS
Best Young Adult Book, 2008 - American Indian Youth Literature Award
Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2008 –
Bank Street College of Education, Outstanding Merit
Kirkus Best Young Adult Books, 2007 –Kirkus
Notable Books for a Global Society, 2008, Children’s Literature and Reading Special
Interest Group IRA
School Library Journal Best Books, 2007
“The sarcastic, self-deprecating humor
should add to this book’s appeal.” Children’s
Literature, 2007.
“Sherman Alexie’s first novel for young
adults is hilarious and touching at the same time.” CCBC, 2008.
CONNECTIONS
Lesson
Plan Links:
Sherman Alexie’s Official Website:
Brief biography on poets.org:
Information about the Spokane Tribe
PERSONAL
RESPONSE
Alexie wrote The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian for the teenage
reader. Junior’s character is direct, funny, humorous, and does not hesitate to
point out the contradictions that exist in the adult world. I would recommend
this for eighth grade to high school age students to read because some of the
content deals with drinking, fighting, and sexual reference. These are all realities in the teen world
today, and Junior’s determination to not fall into that lifestyle sets a strong
example for today’s young readers.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian. Cover illustration. Internet on-line. October 24, 2013 from http://www.flr.follett.com/cover?FLR=22390U6&SID=e7ab27e8ca59f3da7e7d2532da695d3e&type=cover
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