Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a semi-autobiographical story that partially channels Alexie's own childhood experiences and views on life through the novel’s main character, Junior Spirit.
Junior’s “diary” offers readers a glimpse at the emotional and often entertaining Native American teen’s outlook on life as he is trying to navigate and survive an “all white” high school. Junior chooses to attend this school because he wants to broaden his educational experiences and step outside of the cultural box and destructive cycles his family and people have been accustomed to on the reservation.
“But we reservation Indians don’t get to realize our dreams. We don’t get those chances. Or choices. We’re just poor. That’s all we are.” (p. 13)
Junior soon learns that this new school is full of challenges, but through his experiences and eventually with the help of his new friends, he realizes that he possesses the power to break the cycle of destructive reservation life and rise above it.
“We were supposed to be happy with our limitations. But there was no way Penelope and I were going to sit still. Nope, we both wanted to fly.” (p. 112)
Junior has his own unique way of communicating with the world around him. He doesn’t hesitate to use biting sarcasm, foul words, or even exaggerated cartoon depictions of his family and friends in order to express his thoughts.
While attending his new high school, Junior and his friend discuss the idea of extensively analyzing and reading books, as well as Junior’s drawings and their importance in his life.
Junior tells Gordy, “I draw cartoons…. I take them seriously. I use them to understand the world. I use them to make fun of the world. To make fun of people. And sometimes I draw people because they’re my friends and family. And I want to honor them…”
Gordy reassures Junior that this method of expressing thoughts through a different language technique is nothing to be ashamed of, and points out, “…If you’re good at it, and you love it, and it helps you navigate the river of the world, then it can’t be wrong.” (pg. 95)
Discussion Questions:
1. Why is getting off the reservation so imperative for Junior, and not important for other characters (like Rowdy)?
2. Is it important that Alexie’s life could have been very close to Junior Spirit’s? How does the fact that it’s “semi-autobiographical” affect the language and format of the novel?
3. From the Discussion Guide in the back of the novel (pg. 232):
Cultural outsiders who write young adult fiction tend to romanticize the impoverishment of Indians. Junior is having none of this: “It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you’re poor because you’re stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you’re stupid and ugly because you’re Indian. And because you’re Indian you start believing that you’re destined to be poor. It’s an ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about it. Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.”
How does Junior’s direct language address this stereotypical portrayal of Indians? What about his language draws the teen reader into the realities of his life?
In response to question 1:
ReplyDeleteI think it was imperative for Junior to leave the reservation because like Mr. P says, “[he] can’t give up” (43). Junior had the spark, the hope, the will power to change the cycle of Indian culture. He had parents—even if they had some problems—who did their best to support and respect their children. He had the opportunity and the talent to “make something of himself.” In terms of why not Rowdy or other characters, we have to consider the comment Rowdy makes in the end about nomadic.
“’I’m not nomadic…Hardly anybody on this rez is nomadic. Except for you. You’re the nomadic one…I’m serious. I always knew you were going to leave. I always knew you were going to leave us behind and travel the world’” (229).
Junior had the motivation. It was expected of him. We put a lot of emphasis on expectation. We are ten times more likely to do something if it is expected of us. The rez expected to Junior to leave—they may not have liked it, but they did expect it. Rowdy wasn’t expected to leave. No one else had the motivation to change the cycle. No one else had the motivation to leave, so no one else left. And because no one else did it, Junior was seen as a traitor, but maybe it wasn’t real anger. Maybe it was jealousy. Rowdy knew it would happen, but like Mr. P said, he wasn’t ready to give up on Junior. No one wanted to admit that a fourteen year old was “changing the world” while they just sat by and watched.
I don’t know that it’s important for Alexie’s life to have been similar to Junior’s, however I do think that it would have been much more difficult to write the novel the way he did stylistically if he hadn’t lived some of it. Most novels are broken into paragraph form and these paragraphs are usually long and contain little repetition. Alexie’s novel, however, reads how its spoken and felt. Most people don’t think in complete sentences and I, probably along with many others, repeat things to myself if I’m in a heightened emotional state. These aspects of the novel show that the feelings of isolation or fear or anger were felt by someone.
ReplyDeleteWithout having the background of living on the Spokane Indian reservation, it would have been difficult to know specifics about the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the correct regionalisms such as using ‘trading post’ instead of ‘general store’ or ‘convenient store.’ These things could have been learned by non-Indians, but they would probably be less likely to write this story.
Question 3 -
ReplyDeleteI think his language takes a step towards breaking the romantic view that many people have towards the poor and modern Indians. The common view sometimes sees poor people as tortured artists. They are portrayed as destitute geniuses with a heart of gold. They either constantly struggle against their economic state, but fall prey to calamity and oppression, or they lovingly accept their state and make a bubble of familial love and support against an unfair outside world.
Alexie's writing shows us that poor people are not necessarily better or worse than other people, they are simply poor. They have the same dreams, motivations, flaws, and addictions as other poeple. The only difference is what they can do about it (partly because of their money). Arnold's father sometimes spends gas money on alcohol and Arnold walks to school. This assures us that his dad is not some sort of flawless victim of circumstance. His dad also supports Arnold's decision to go to a better school, so he is not poor because he is some sort of evil low-life. He is a normal person who is capable of making good and bad decisions.
Alexie also sheds some light on modern Indians. I think a lot of sympathetic Americans tend to think of Indians in the romantic way that they have been viewed since we were finished with the genocidal phase of conquest. After that phase, Indians posed no real danger to Americans either culturally, politically, or physically. As a result of their harmlessness, we are allowed to regret what we have done. In this effort, we have highly romanticized the Indian as a paragon of virtue. We see them in the past as wise and peaceful environmentalists. Our view of modern Indians is not much different. Most people only imagine updated clothes and leave the rest as the same. Alexie shows us that reservation Indians are similar to other people. They act similarly to other people in their economic sphere. They are poor and don't like it. They spend the money they have to stay alive and to have fun when they can. The idea of the 'Noble Savage' applies no more now than it did in the past.
The reality is that being poor is a disadvantage in every way and that some poor people have what it takes to rise above it and some do not. Violence exists in close proximity to the poor; they do not live in some sort of bubble of love and support. Being poor is what it is. It is an economic state that may or may not be brought upon to whatever extent by the people themselves and by circumstances beyond their control.
I thought Alexie's novel was excellent in dispelling some of these myths about Indians and the poor in America.
- Japheth
In response to question 3
ReplyDeleteJessica, I am glad you choose to include this question. Poverty is such a big theme in Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. In my opinion, it is the catalyst that starts the entire story; without the ancient textbook, Junior would not have thrown it at Mr. P, who would not have suggested he try a different school. If Junior had just been a “normal” lower economic class, opposed to the extreme poverty, he might not have reacted in the way that he did. It is the extreme poverty that gives him his outlook on life. When he tells Rowdy that he is going to transfer to the Reardan school, he asks him to go with him. Rowdy responds, “And when are you going on this imaginary journey?” It is so unrealistic that he can not imagine his friend going there. Poverty is an ugly cycle; but, it is an ugly cycle that Junior breaks. Poverty teaches him how to appreciate the important things in life, like friends and belonging.
1.) I think that for Junior getting off the reservation was the only way he was ever going to escape the vicious cycle that so many of the reservation Indians seem caught in. What I never really understood was why leaving the reservation was not important to Rowdy. I liked Rowdy's character. To me he was both the saddest and most genuine character in the book. I wonder if he just did not think it was possible for someone like him to escape. Although he never really crossed the line separating the reservation from the outside world, I think he pushed the line more than any of the others. He worked hard to be the best player on the team and he turned his team into champions, but Rowdy's fate seems to parallel the ultimate fate of his basketball team. They lost the last game. No matter how hard Rowdy pushes, he knows he cannot really succeed on the reservation but I think he knows he is also too afraid to ever try.
ReplyDeleteI like all of the useful connection to the actual work. I feel so many times we just answer based on emotion derived from our reading instead of actually digging into the language within the text. The addressing of stereotypes is so important for this work because Alexie focuses on it so much. Great Job!
ReplyDelete