The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

Revelations at the Reservation

The novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” was written by Sherman Alexie, as he depicts the struggles and challenges faced by a Spokane Indian boy, Arnold “Junior” Spirit as he travels through his first year in high school. Alexie’s adolescents inspired him to write this National Award Book winner. This novel was “banned in schools nationwide” (Alexie). “The novel was No. 2 on the American Library Association’s list of most frequently challenged books in 2010. The association listed offensive language, racism, sec education, sexually explicit material and violence as reasons for the challenges” (Alexie). Opportunities were slim to none at the Spokane Indian reservation and Junior exhibited a great

deal of promise and potential. Junior came to the pivotal crossroad when he must leave the reservation to pursue a higher education. In Sherman Alexie’s novel, Arnold has the opportunity to escape adversity, defy the odds and overcome challenges for the greater good, any Native American in his position should take advantage of that and benefit for a brighter future despite what peers say.
Sherman Alexie just like Junior is a Spokane Indian who was raise around a great deal of obstacles such as disease, racism, the issue of poverty, and the vast amount of alcoholism in the reservation. In addition from haling from the reservation and both being Spokane Indian, they both shared the disease “hydrocephalus, a life-threatening condition marked by an abnormally large amount of cerebrospinal fluid in the cranial cavity” (Cline). This disease left Alexie with an engorged skull which was a topic he was ridiculed for during his adolescents at the reservation, being picked on and tease, claiming the name “The Globe” (Cline). The disease also made Alexie have seizures and experience bed-wetting during his younger years. His mother was a clerk and sewed quilts to provide for the six children and his father was not nearly as involved as he suffered from alcoholism and “often disappeared from home for days at a time” (Cline). Alexie described his time at the Spokane Indian reservation as “miserable” (Cline), he “read everything her could get his hands on” (Alexie) and “found solace at the Wellpinit School Library, where he read every book on the shelf by the time he was twelve” (Cline). Sherman Alexie was intelligent beyond his year, and ended up leaving the reservation to go to a predominantly white high school, Reardan. Alexie blossomed at Reardan, starring as the lone Native-American player and graduating with honors. Alexie rode the highs and lows, eventually got his path straightened out and graduated from Washington State, and continued to writes stories and poetry. Sherman Alexie is devoted to his work and said, “I’m a binge writer. I used to be a binge alcoholic. I’ve substituted writing for alcohol. Writing is everything. It takes stuff away. It’s like being married. It’s a high-maintenance relationship. You can’t get lazy. I’m doing something around it everyday—reading, writing, editing, thinking. I can be staring out the window, and I’m working real hard” (Cline). Sherman Alexie escaped from the Spokane Indian reservation for a much brighter future, abandoning the alcoholism, the disease, and poverty for a higher standard of living and education.
Sherman Alexie essentially was Arnold “Junior” Spirit and they faced similar obstacles. Alcoholism runs its course through the Native American reservations and it plays a significant role in the Native American culture and in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”. The alcoholism that is involved in this novel is detrimental to those exposed to the alcoholics. In Sherman Alexie’s case, he turned that discomfort of being around alcoholism and escaped into the stacks at the local library and turned into an adventurer through page after page and book after book. By getting lost in these books in expanded his mind and made him a more intellectual person. Instead of falling into the normal cycle that he was seeing most Native Americans fall into, he found light in reading. Alexie did not get sucked into the alcoholic norms that Native Americans became accustom to and broke the trend. Arnolds sister death was tragic, “too freaking drunk to feel any pain when she burned to death” (Alexie, 205), and a drunk driver took his grandmothers life. Alcohol related deaths were significantly higher with Native Americans in comparison to a tradition white American, “Native Americans at 11% and White Americans at 3%” (Landen et. al.). Youth alcoholism can be a problem for Native Americans considering they are exposed to it at such an early age, “developing and implanting prevention programs for Native American youth include conceptualizing prevention along a continuum, using a stepped-care model to match interventions to the adolescent’s needs, incorporating biculturally adapted life skills training into programs, and maintaining extensive community involvement and collaboration in every stage of the process” (Hawkins and La Marr). Junior knew his mother and father had aspirations to getaway from the reservations but did not get the chance make there breakaway. Junior found his outlet by going to the predominantly white high school at Reardan. Junior was ridiculed for leaving the reservation to go to a different school that would provide him with a better opportunity to leave the reservation. The fellow Native American’s he was leaving behind at the reservation felt Junior saw himself on a pedestal and the white high schoolers that he was joining at Reardan did not think he was good enough to be at their school. In a situation like that it is a difficult situation to begin with, transitioning from school to school especially go to different areas and mixing into a different culture dominated background, but to include the added exclusion from your peers and the people you left makes a tough time even more difficult to deal with.
One of the very significant challenges that must be overcome in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is isolation.

Arnold “Junior” Spirit is not like his fellow Spokane Indians, Junior has aspiration to get out of the reservation and make something out of his life. This is a difficult task for Junior considering the environment he was raised in, surrounded by alcoholism, as well as poverty and racism. Junior was able to succeed once he was able to escape from his reservation and go to Reardan High School. When Junior elects to go to Reardan, his close friend Rowdy does not react well to his decision. Rowdy comes from a very dysfunction and abusive household; Rowdy loses his best friend to the predominately white school. Rowdy is even more isolated than he normally is considering he has just exiled his best friend. When Arnold “Junior” Spirit makes the decision to go to Reardan it was a very difficult transition, going from a school where it is mainly Native Americans, to the generally white school, not only did Rowdy not react well to the news, but the surrounding Spokane Indians did not take kindly to his decision to pursue a brighter future. The Spokane tradition is so culturally rich, and they stand by what they believe in. When Junior does decide to leave the reservation he is criticized being exploring anything outside of the reservation is out of the norm. The Spokane community continuously scrutinizes Arnold “Junior” Spirit, referring to him as an

“apple”, the Native American skin tone has been characterized as red, as the outside of an apple is, and white on the inside, accusing Junior to not being Native American enough. His decision to go against the grain; aspiring to be more than just another drunk Indian, being an intelligent and breaking the mold that his fellow Spokane Indians are used to. Getting the opportunity to leave the reservation is the most beneficial thing for Native Americans. When they are able to leave they can expand their minds and get out of just thinking as a Native American. “The Bureau of Indian Affairs currently has twelve relocation offices set up across the country” (Editorials). With outside resources lending a hand to provide Native Americans outlets to other opportunities will go a long way towards benefitting their culture. The relocation project finds housing, job opportunities as well as schooling for children. “Only 25 percent of the Indians who broke out of the “concentration camps” have gone back home. Mostly, the reason is loneliness or lack of acceptance but the community of choice” (Editorials). In addition, “Indian employment records are good and perhaps a little better than those of their fellow workers on absenteeism, contact with police, and alcoholism. They save money, go to church and maintain decorum generally” (Editorial). With the development of these relocation projects for the Native Americans, they could end up finding reservations to be obsolete. The downfall to the reservations becoming extinct is it removes the rich Native American tradition that they are known for and that is displayed in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”.
In conclusion, in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, Arnold “Junior” Spirit faced many challenges during his journey out of the Spokane Indian reservation.

Arnold overcame poverty, death, disease, racism, and educational barriers that many Native Americans do not get to defy. When Arnold through that geometry book in Mr. P’s nose, the spark of desperation to leave the reservation and become more than just another poor, drunk Native American was brought to attention. It is difficult for fellow Native Americans to find that spark and the outlet like Arnold did in this novel. The vicious cycle that Native Americans have found themselves in is a problem that is almost insurmountable. When a person need to relinquish their culture and traditional values to become more than a statistic. The Native Americans that have found themselves stuck on the reservations need the attention and opportunity that Arnold and his parents looked for when they were growing up. When that opportunity arises they should not be scolded for doing well, and should strive to achieve greater heights like Arnold and Sherman Alexie both

did.