Part Time Indian Analysis

The Absolutely True Diary of Part-Time Indian: a Journey of Hope
“There is another world, but it is in this one” (W.B Yeats), this is how Alexei Sherman managed to begin the journey of his eye-opener novel, The Absolutely True Dairy of Part-time Indian. It is a magnificent story of overcoming the obstacles associated with being an Indian teenager by stepping outside the reservation world and striving for better opportunities in another world. Junior, who carries the native blood in his veins, gives an insight of the Native American culture encompassing all of its sacred and astonishing details. Through Junior’s experience and between the storylines, various aspects of the Native American community tend to appear such as poverty, alcoholism,

and kinship that make the novel stands as a unique Indian literature piece.
Poverty is a never-ending cycle influencing almost every dimension of the Native Indian community. This devastating aspect of poverty appears through the novel in different shapes and forms. It is not only about the lack of material possessions or money; rather it is about how poverty crushes the dreams and hopes of the native people to achieve goals during their lifetime. Sometimes, life- threatening situations can teach you something beneficial to use for surviving the rest of your journey in life, but not poverty, and as stated by Junior “Poverty doesn't give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor”. Poverty on the reservation is an inherited status. It is obvious that most Indians grow up poor and instead of fighting against it, they had already adapted the poor norms as part of their lifestyle.
Reflections of poverty can be seen through the poor education system within the reservation. Getting a high school education is the farthest that an Indian can get. Pursing a college degree requires backbones to overcome the poverty and start a journey outside the reservation. Additionally, on the Indian reservation schools, they use books that are around quarter century old, these books contain scientific ideas and information that had already either been proven wrong or developed into something better. The reason lays on the fact that poverty is so compelling to the extent that new books are not affordable. A clear example that support this statement is demonstrated when Junior found his mom name on his own geometry book. In other words, the book was at least 30 years old. It is more than an old book, “my hopes and dreams floated up in a mushroom cloud”, It is a matter of feeling that your wishes and expectations are getting into an end with the fact of being so poor. That is to say, poverty handers Indians ability to push themselves to bigger academic dreams.
Poverty is not the sole cause behind the struggle of being Indian, but also alcoholism.

Abusive relationships, senseless death, constant fights, and other social issues have arisen as a result of the extensive use of alcohol. It not the shortage of food or medicines that killed the native people, rather it the irrational drinking habits. In the book, Junior faced three death cases related to alcohol. It is not necessarily that the drunk person is the one who passes away, it the innocent people affected by carless drunk behavior such as driving while drinking. Despite being poor, native people would spend all of the money they had to land their hands on alcoholic beverage. Obviously, alcohol is not just a drink, it is a lifestyle. The people at the reservation would involve drinking alcohol at any time of the day and at any occasion, whether it is a death or a ceremony. It is believed that drinking takes away your pain because it blackouts your feelings, and those Indians have so much difficulties going on in their lives that they want to get forget about. However, instead of dealing with these problems, alcohol counties to create more of

them.
Regardless if the drinking problems are the causes of the death or not, the native community well managed these events.

Many lives have brought to an end on the reservation for several of prevalent reasons such as poverty and alcoholism. Death is common and that is why the native community is accepting and adapting this fact. This is illustrated in the novel when Junior mentioned that despite his young age, he attended almost forty-two funerals. This is probably one of the biggest differences between a Native Indian and any other race. Moreover, as stated by Junior, “Each funeral was a funeral for all of us.” losses bring the entire community together. The deceased person was valuable to every individual in the tribe in and not only the close relatives. Clearly, this is because the tribe bond is one of the most appreciated values to the Native Indian community. Altogether, the Native Indian community understanding of death helped in making it as something far away from being a strange

phenomenon.
Living on and off the reservation is like choosing between two completely different worlds. Although both of these places could be sharing the same geographical locations, yet they are contrasted. Life on the reservation is rough, because it means that one must combat the consequences of numerous social problems such alcoholism, violence and poverty. Scarcity of the necessities is common, and every other family on the reservation has to deal with it in a way or another. You may try to escape or hide, but at the end you are destined to live that life. On the reservation, hopes and dreams are crushed. If one wants to follow a dream, he needs to take the path that leads to outside the reservation domain. In other words, you have to leave to search for something more.
The reservation meant to outcast the native people from the world, however there is always a blessing in the storm. Regardless of how rough living on the reservation could be, there is a strength and beauty to be surrounded by hundreds of people that share the same life journey. Family is a significant component of an Indian life, especially on the reservation. It is a dominant concept that emphasis on honoring the ancestors of the tribe and elder people. When speaking of family, the entire reservation is like a one big family. The native people have been through a tough journey of saving what is left of the culture and its people, so the feeling of belonging is prevalent. They know each other and understand the historical story of survival that put them at risk of losing everything. It is the spirit of kinship that makes living on the reservation different.
What makes this novel one of its kind is that what makes you laugh, makes you cry at the time. As a reader, I was on a roller coaster of mood swings. Presenting the ups and downs, the struggles and the victories, the history and the present, from a humors teenager's point of view contributed in delivering realistic feelings to me. Junior demonstrated that one needs to leave his comfort zone to pursue the goals that one has always dreamed of. I’ve learned that no matter how much I comprehend about the richness of the Native American culture; it is almost impossible to understand it as a native person would do. The native people cope with their lifestyle and manage to make even terrifying incidents like death as chances to unify the tribe and its people. This novel provides an opportunity to a wide range of readers to be charmed by the spirits of the Native American culture in the most brilliant and appealing narrative.
In conclusion, The Absolutely True Dairy of Part-time Indian gives an inspiration of the valuable qualities of Native American culture. All themes that appear in the book including poverty, alcoholism and tribe spirits stand as significant aspects of the Native American community. Although this was not a historical book, the journey of survival that native people had been through was demonstrated between the storylines. All in all, this is a story of searching for hope when hope is almost not there.