Absolutely True Diaries Of Part Time Indian Analysis

Literary Analysis of The Absolutely True Diaries of a Part Time Indian [Hook]Alexie Sherman wrote The Absolutely True Diaries of a Part Time Indian in 2007. The book tells the story of Junior, a teenage Indian boy’s, life on a reservation in Washington who decides that his survival depends on him leaving the reservation. Part Time Indian proves that if one actually tries, in an effort to live, the outcome will not be as important because simply trying can change the course of one’s life as shown through Junior's responses to teachers, coaches and death of people close to him. Since Junior was feeble no one seemed to think he would amount to much, until Mr.P. Mr.P, Junior's geometry teacher on the reservation, has a poignant impact

The first time Reardan plays Wellpinit, Junior’s former high school, Junior gets a concussion and gets taken to the hospital. Once at the hospital, his coach tells him “it’s not whether you lose or win the game...it’s how you play the game” in an effort to tell him that he did not make the team lose (Sherman 148). That winning did not matter and trying is all that matter. The second time they play Wellpinit they destroy them because “one play can determine the course of the game” and Junior stealing the ball from his former best friend, Rowdy, and shooting a three pointer changes the course of the game (Sherman 194). This builds on what the coach said earlier: the actions, which one takes often, matter more than their outcome, and a single action can change everything. Prior to the win, the coach tells Junior that the “only way we’re going to win this game” is if he blocks Rowdy (Sherman 188). This proves actions matter because the win came the instant Junior shut Rowdy down and came as a direct result of the coach instilling him with hope. The win did not matter, but realizing that he could win mattered. The coach helps Junior’s confidence grow and in turn he takes more action and starts to understand that actions

His grandma dies first and, at her funeral, they laughed and cried together because “[they] lived and died together” (Sherman 166). Since his grandma had taken action, they could celebrate her life rather than mourn her death as a pillar in the community. Then his ‘cool uncle,’ Eugene, gets shot in the face while drunkenly fighting over wine. The death causes his dad to go “on a legendary drinking binge” and his mom to go “to church every single day” (Sherman 171) These are the actions of people mourning a life not spent and therefore wasted. Actions make a life and without them life is merely survived. It is depressing when people who had a chance to live, die, but is even harder when someone young trying to live dies. For instances, his sister who left to find life but ended up burning to death because she had drank herself into oblivion when her home went up in flames. His sister’s tragic death prompts his mother to beg Junior to stay. These people wished they could have seen her live and that makes it hard, she took no action and therefore had no potential greatness. The way Junior’s family handled these deaths proves that trying to live means people can celebrate the fact that you lived and did not merely