The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is a first person narrative written by Sherman Alexie in 2007. It is a story about hope and how hard life can be when it leaves and takes you on a journey of both heart rendering and also uplifting moments. The novel is written in diary form to give the reader a direct insight to Junior’s life and his daily struggles. It also uses humour to soften the tough and emotional story and cartoons drawn by Junior because he believes “words are to limited” (pg. 5) The story is one that is funny and very relatable to many people in different ways. It could relate to someone of another race who is struggling with discrimination or poverty, or even teenagers who are finding it hard to fit in at school. Junior describes himself as a lanky weirdo, with an overly large head, too many teeth, a lisp and goofy glasses who gets beaten up daily. He comes from a very poor family with parents who are alcoholics and feels like he will never quite fit in. Race, poverty, discrimination and self-esteem are all themes that are present throughout this novel and play a role in Juniors life.

Junior refers to his family’s Poverty a lot throughout the story through his visual and verbal presentation. Junior and his family came from the Spokane reservation which judging his sarcastic tones was not the nicest of places to live as it consisted of a lot of poverty, abuse, and alcoholism. The poverty his family face is a never-ending cycle. Junior decides that he is going to be the one to break this cycle as he cannot stand to be poor his whole life. “Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teachers you how to be poor” (pg. 13). This is the turning point in the story...

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...u’re a different colour” (pg. 13). After many meetings and marches the new law was set and aboriginals became equal citizens. The passing of the new law acted as a milestone in Diggers life and also in the story as he felt as if he had grown from being a boy to a man. The novel can relate quite closely to “The Little Refugee” as he too was discriminated against for being of different culture and being directly affected by the Vietnam War.
The story of Digger J Jones is create a fantastic insight into his life and creates a childish view on very serious issues, such as war, death and discrimination. Discrimination being one of the main focuses of the novel along with the referendum and diggers personal problems is still one of the biggest issues that many people face in today’s society. The author has created a very witty short story that many people can relate to.

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