Bibliographic Data:
Alexie, Sherman. 2007. THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN. Ill. by Ellen Forney. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0316013680
Plot Summary: Fourteen-year-old Arnold Spirit Jr.is not like other people. He is neither white nor black. He is not tall or strong or short or medium height. Even his brain is different than everyone else’s’ because his skull was filled with fluid when he was born. He is a weirdo, poor Indian kid living on the Reservation or “rez” with the others in the Spokane Indian Tribe in Washington State. He eventually is motivated to leave the rez in order to lead a successful life, and this story chronicles the ups, downs, middles, and heartaches that come with his decision to leave. Neither death, nor concussions, nor the loss of his best friend will deter him. Arnold Spirit Jr. is going to make it, damn it.
Critical Analysis:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a candid, no-holds-barred view at the life of one, Arnold Spirit Jr. Yes, he’s a chronic masturbator, stutterer, scrawny, poor, Indian kid in clearance K-Mart clothing, but he is also a smart guy with a penchant for wise-cracking.
His best friend, Rowdy, another Spokane Indian boy living on the rez is a total jerk, but at least he protects Arnold. They go to the traditional pow wows, and ceremonies together, they walk to school together, and eat lunch together. Eventually, Arnold discovers that he really enjoys learning, and maybe he will make it out of the quicksand-esque reservation. On the rez, no one ever leaves, they just become alcoholics who die in alcohol related crashes and accidents. One day, at the start of geometry class, Arnold opens his textbook to reveal a familiar name on the cover, his mother’s. He gets so angry that the rez is so poor and so ambivalent to education that they do not even bother keeping current materials. He ends up throwing his book in frustration and it hits his smelly, white teacher in the nose. This interaction ends in a strange direction, as the broken-nosed teacher visits Arnold, who is home on suspension, and encourages him to leave the rez and make something of himself.
Arnold follows his advice, moves to the school in Reardon, and commutes there in knee-deep snow everyday. He explains that his family, nor any of the other members of his tribe, have any kind of money, and therefore his dad rarely has gas money in which to drive him. This, nor-hitchhiking, nor his new classmates making fun of his K-mart clothes deters him. He goes to school. He learns. He perseveres.
Eventually, he becomes one of the more popular kids in school. He joins Varsity Basketball as a freshman; kind-of dates the hottest girl in school, Penelope, and is generally well liked. Although things are going well at Rearden, back on the rez his former classmates have turned on them. In the basketball game they play against the rez, he is mercilessly booed, attacked, and belittled. He vows to do everything in his power to beat them in the next match. Surprisingly, he does just that, and him and his team completely annihilate the rez basketball team. He is elated…he is overwhelmed…. and then he’s crying. Happy tears? No. It is at this moment that Arnold realizes that he did not just defeat another team, a group of bullies, some peers from up the road… he has actually crushed the dream of his Indian family. He quickly understands that most of the children have alcoholic parents, will never leave the reservation, will likely become alcoholics themselves, maybe have not eaten breakfast, and will definitely, never ever, have anything more exciting than being on a championship basketball team to look forward to. It crushes him.
It is with this new perspective that Arnold is able to look back at his Indian family with something other than anger or disgust. He feels bad for them. After all, these reservations were made by the white people to enslave Indians, and to let them wither and die within its confines. They never dreamed that they would prosper, or at the very least, persist on living as they have been. This motivates Arnold to get out and take on the world, and to lead in example for others on his reservation. He starts by asking Rowdy to come to his new school, and although Rowdy declines, it is obvious Arnold will never give up.
The cultural markers present in this book are haunting. The reservation Arnold and his family grow up on is as a bleak as the Washington weather. Everyone is an alcoholic. No one has any money. People are constantly beating one another up. Everyone, including his sister, father’s best friend, grandmother, etc. die ridiculous deaths directly related to the consumption of alcohol. Hell, he has been to forty funerals in the short little time he has been on this earth. All of the “white” people assume the Indians are loaded because of the casino, or that they are living comfortably on the money from the government, but this is absolutely not true. The US never meant for these people to prosper. They took their land, learned their skills, stole their food sources, and then confined them to small pins along the US with little-to-no compensation. It is no wonder many people drink to will away their day-to-day lives. It is important, also, to understand that the sarcastic tone in Arnold’s voice is anger and injustice. The fact that he “is the only Indian at his new school, despite the school’s red-faced Indian mascot” is just one tongue-in-cheek way that he imparts how unfairly Indians are treated in this country.
Reviewer’s Notes: I know that the appropriate or culturally sensitive phrase is “Native American”, but I am utilizing the language Alexie does in his story to emphasize his voice/message. More over, I remember reading a few chapters of this story in an anthology in my freshman English Composition class in college, and remember really loving the raw way in which Alexie writes. As I started to read this book for this report, I was miserable. I could not understand the author’s use of repetition, or his self-disparaging remarks, or his insistence on describing just how bad he really had it. Then, I got to the point of the book where things started looking up for Arnold. He was making friends. Becoming popular. Was doing well in school. People were nice to him even though they found out he was poor. His friend wanted to come and hang out on the rez with him for a few weeks. This helped me understand just how big the impact of these positive changes really was. I was bummed when I saw that I had so few pages of the book left, and therefore I re-skimmed it, and paid special attention to the different artistic methods utilized by the illustrator, Forney, right after I had finished.
Awards:
ALA Best Books For Young Adults
Best Books For Boys: A Resource For Educators
Best Books For Middle And Junior High Readers: Grades 6-9 - Second Edition
Best Books For High School Readers: Grades 9-12 - Second Edition
California Young Readers Medal Program Winner
Starred Reviews:
BOOKLIST: "Alexie’s humor and prose are easygoing and well suited to his young audience, and he doesn’t pull many punches as he levels his eye at stereotypes both warranted and inapt. A few of the plotlines fade to gray by the end, but this ultimately affirms the incredible power of best friends to hurt and heal in equal measure."
BULLETIN FOR THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS: "The grief in this narrative is enough to leave a reader gasping, with both the humor and the hope always deepened by sadness and the ever-present niggling of undeserved and impotent guilt. Nevertheless, what emerges most strongly is Junior's uncompromising determination to press on while leaving nothing important behind."
Connections:
There are many other great books by Sherman Alexie, including Reservations, and War Dances. For children that are interested to learn more about Native American culture, but maybe want less of a diary and more of a narrative feel, they should check out Joseph Bruchac.
I always find it interesting to cover Native American literature around thanksgiving, and ask my teens, (12-18 year old public library volunteers) what differences they find within stories about people on reservations, and the stories they may have learned in school, songs, or stories from history. They are usually quick to pipe up and say, “They were not treated fairly”. Many times, teens are astounded by this, but I find it a good opportunity to teach them that it is important to conduct research, and read nonfiction and informative books for themselves, and to make their own opinions, rather than just to rely on what they hear. I use this opportunity to guide them to our vast reference section or our online databases.
Alexie, Sherman. 2007. THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN. Ill. by Ellen Forney. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0316013680
Plot Summary: Fourteen-year-old Arnold Spirit Jr.is not like other people. He is neither white nor black. He is not tall or strong or short or medium height. Even his brain is different than everyone else’s’ because his skull was filled with fluid when he was born. He is a weirdo, poor Indian kid living on the Reservation or “rez” with the others in the Spokane Indian Tribe in Washington State. He eventually is motivated to leave the rez in order to lead a successful life, and this story chronicles the ups, downs, middles, and heartaches that come with his decision to leave. Neither death, nor concussions, nor the loss of his best friend will deter him. Arnold Spirit Jr. is going to make it, damn it.
Critical Analysis:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a candid, no-holds-barred view at the life of one, Arnold Spirit Jr. Yes, he’s a chronic masturbator, stutterer, scrawny, poor, Indian kid in clearance K-Mart clothing, but he is also a smart guy with a penchant for wise-cracking.
His best friend, Rowdy, another Spokane Indian boy living on the rez is a total jerk, but at least he protects Arnold. They go to the traditional pow wows, and ceremonies together, they walk to school together, and eat lunch together. Eventually, Arnold discovers that he really enjoys learning, and maybe he will make it out of the quicksand-esque reservation. On the rez, no one ever leaves, they just become alcoholics who die in alcohol related crashes and accidents. One day, at the start of geometry class, Arnold opens his textbook to reveal a familiar name on the cover, his mother’s. He gets so angry that the rez is so poor and so ambivalent to education that they do not even bother keeping current materials. He ends up throwing his book in frustration and it hits his smelly, white teacher in the nose. This interaction ends in a strange direction, as the broken-nosed teacher visits Arnold, who is home on suspension, and encourages him to leave the rez and make something of himself.
Arnold follows his advice, moves to the school in Reardon, and commutes there in knee-deep snow everyday. He explains that his family, nor any of the other members of his tribe, have any kind of money, and therefore his dad rarely has gas money in which to drive him. This, nor-hitchhiking, nor his new classmates making fun of his K-mart clothes deters him. He goes to school. He learns. He perseveres.
Eventually, he becomes one of the more popular kids in school. He joins Varsity Basketball as a freshman; kind-of dates the hottest girl in school, Penelope, and is generally well liked. Although things are going well at Rearden, back on the rez his former classmates have turned on them. In the basketball game they play against the rez, he is mercilessly booed, attacked, and belittled. He vows to do everything in his power to beat them in the next match. Surprisingly, he does just that, and him and his team completely annihilate the rez basketball team. He is elated…he is overwhelmed…. and then he’s crying. Happy tears? No. It is at this moment that Arnold realizes that he did not just defeat another team, a group of bullies, some peers from up the road… he has actually crushed the dream of his Indian family. He quickly understands that most of the children have alcoholic parents, will never leave the reservation, will likely become alcoholics themselves, maybe have not eaten breakfast, and will definitely, never ever, have anything more exciting than being on a championship basketball team to look forward to. It crushes him.
It is with this new perspective that Arnold is able to look back at his Indian family with something other than anger or disgust. He feels bad for them. After all, these reservations were made by the white people to enslave Indians, and to let them wither and die within its confines. They never dreamed that they would prosper, or at the very least, persist on living as they have been. This motivates Arnold to get out and take on the world, and to lead in example for others on his reservation. He starts by asking Rowdy to come to his new school, and although Rowdy declines, it is obvious Arnold will never give up.
The cultural markers present in this book are haunting. The reservation Arnold and his family grow up on is as a bleak as the Washington weather. Everyone is an alcoholic. No one has any money. People are constantly beating one another up. Everyone, including his sister, father’s best friend, grandmother, etc. die ridiculous deaths directly related to the consumption of alcohol. Hell, he has been to forty funerals in the short little time he has been on this earth. All of the “white” people assume the Indians are loaded because of the casino, or that they are living comfortably on the money from the government, but this is absolutely not true. The US never meant for these people to prosper. They took their land, learned their skills, stole their food sources, and then confined them to small pins along the US with little-to-no compensation. It is no wonder many people drink to will away their day-to-day lives. It is important, also, to understand that the sarcastic tone in Arnold’s voice is anger and injustice. The fact that he “is the only Indian at his new school, despite the school’s red-faced Indian mascot” is just one tongue-in-cheek way that he imparts how unfairly Indians are treated in this country.
Reviewer’s Notes: I know that the appropriate or culturally sensitive phrase is “Native American”, but I am utilizing the language Alexie does in his story to emphasize his voice/message. More over, I remember reading a few chapters of this story in an anthology in my freshman English Composition class in college, and remember really loving the raw way in which Alexie writes. As I started to read this book for this report, I was miserable. I could not understand the author’s use of repetition, or his self-disparaging remarks, or his insistence on describing just how bad he really had it. Then, I got to the point of the book where things started looking up for Arnold. He was making friends. Becoming popular. Was doing well in school. People were nice to him even though they found out he was poor. His friend wanted to come and hang out on the rez with him for a few weeks. This helped me understand just how big the impact of these positive changes really was. I was bummed when I saw that I had so few pages of the book left, and therefore I re-skimmed it, and paid special attention to the different artistic methods utilized by the illustrator, Forney, right after I had finished.
Awards:
ALA Best Books For Young Adults
Best Books For Boys: A Resource For Educators
Best Books For Middle And Junior High Readers: Grades 6-9 - Second Edition
Best Books For High School Readers: Grades 9-12 - Second Edition
California Young Readers Medal Program Winner
Starred Reviews:
BOOKLIST: "Alexie’s humor and prose are easygoing and well suited to his young audience, and he doesn’t pull many punches as he levels his eye at stereotypes both warranted and inapt. A few of the plotlines fade to gray by the end, but this ultimately affirms the incredible power of best friends to hurt and heal in equal measure."
BULLETIN FOR THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS: "The grief in this narrative is enough to leave a reader gasping, with both the humor and the hope always deepened by sadness and the ever-present niggling of undeserved and impotent guilt. Nevertheless, what emerges most strongly is Junior's uncompromising determination to press on while leaving nothing important behind."
Connections:
There are many other great books by Sherman Alexie, including Reservations, and War Dances. For children that are interested to learn more about Native American culture, but maybe want less of a diary and more of a narrative feel, they should check out Joseph Bruchac.
I always find it interesting to cover Native American literature around thanksgiving, and ask my teens, (12-18 year old public library volunteers) what differences they find within stories about people on reservations, and the stories they may have learned in school, songs, or stories from history. They are usually quick to pipe up and say, “They were not treated fairly”. Many times, teens are astounded by this, but I find it a good opportunity to teach them that it is important to conduct research, and read nonfiction and informative books for themselves, and to make their own opinions, rather than just to rely on what they hear. I use this opportunity to guide them to our vast reference section or our online databases.