The Absolutely True diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and Ellen Forney

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

1. Bibliography

Alexie, Sherman, and Ellen Forney. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007. ISBN 9780316013680

2. Plot Summary

Fourteen-year-old Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, is a “poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation.” Because Junior was born with many medical problems, everybody on the rez calls him a retard about twice a day, so he mostly hangs out alone in his bedroom reading books and drawing cartoons. After a teacher at Wellpinit, Junior’s reservation school, tells him he deserves better and that he needs to leave the rez forever, he switches to Reardan - the rich, white school twenty-two miles away from the rez. He is both a misfit at Reardan and an outcast at the rez for leaving them behind. During his Freshman year at Reardan, Junior faces poverty, racism, alcoholism, and death. His resilience and determination to overcome his circumstances gives a message of hope to young adults.

3. Critical Analysis

What Sherman Alexie does best in this young adult novel is develop the character of Arnold Spirit, aka Junior. Any reader, young or old, can relate in some way to Junior’s struggle with identity and self-esteem. Junior explains that “My parents came from poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people.” His mother and father are drunks, and he says he is a zero on the rez - aside from his best friend Rowdy, his parents, sister, and grandmother. When his father tells him those white people aren’t better than him, he knows his father is dead wrong. “He was the loser Indian father of a loser Indian son living in a world built for winners.” While attending school in Reardan, Junior is stuck between two worlds - two different cultures - and he doesn’t belong and isn’t accepted in either one. The entire novel portrays his struggle for his identity.

Junior’s story is at times incredibly depressing, and at other times filled with hope. Junior has a front row seat to the destruction alcohol can bring. Almost every Indian he knows is a drunk. He has been to forty-two funerals in his short life, and 90 percent of those deaths have been caused by alcohol. Even in the book, his grandmother is killed by a drunk driver and his sister burns to death when her house catches on fire while she is passed out from drinking. Junior’s recognition of the destruction alcohol brings is, on its own, enough to bring hope. Forney’s illustration of Junior standing at a road sign with two arrows pointing toward “Rez” and “Home,” and two arrows pointing in the opposite direction toward “Hope” and “???” illustrates Junior’s journey towards hope.

Sherman Alexie’s portrayal of Junior as a Spokane Indian is culturally accurate and authentic. Alexie is himself a Spokane/Coeur d’Alene tribal member and grew up on a Spokane Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. Much of Junior’s character comes from Alexie’s own life experiences. Both were hydrocephalics, suffering many seizures throughout their childhood. Alexie also left the rez to attend school in Reardan, which aided in his future academic success.

Ellen Forney’s cartoon illustrations perfectly complement Alexie’s story. Because Junior is a cartoonist, it’s only natural that the illustrations that tell his story are cartoons as well. It’s as though he’s illustrating his own story. The illustrations are in black and white, and they authentically depict Spokane Indians with dark, long braided hair in contrast with the white kids with blond hair at Reardan. The timing of each illustration is perfect, bringing humor and reality to Junior’s story. While Junior is coping with loss, grief, alcoholism, and depression, the cartoon illustrations lighten the heavy load. They inject humor into an otherwise tragic and depressing story.

I think this would be an excellent young adult novel to use in the classroom. It not only teaches students about the reality of Native American life, but it is also a relatable novel for most students. The majority of students deal with at least one - and possibly all - of the issues Junior deals with in this novel, whether it’s poverty, alcoholic family members, death, identity, or self-esteem. Junior’s character has the potential to bring hope to students who think they are alone in their circumstances.

4. Review Excerpts

From BOOKLIST (August 1, 2007): "Younger teens looking for the strength to lift themselves out of rough situations would do well to start here.”

From KIRKUS (July 15, 2007): "Alexie nimbly blends sharp wit with unapologetic emotion in his first foray into young-adult literature.”

5. Connections

Have students write about a difficult experience in their own life that they have had to find the strength to overcome, like Junior’s character in the novel. It could be a single event or a series of events. Have students illustrate their writing with a cartoon illustration to bring humor and reality to the experience.

Show students the following interview with author Sherman Alexie. In the interview he talks about his life, leaving the reservation, and writing this novel.