Sherman Alexie’s, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” is the account of Arnold Spirit, also known as Junior. Junior is the novel’s narrator and while he is witty and seemingly proud of his heritage in the beginning of the story, it appears the point of the novel is to show us Junior’s transformation. He begins life on the reservation, attending school in Wellpinit, Washington. Eventually, he transfers to an all-white high school twenty-two miles from the reservation in Reardan, where he begins to change. A shallow reader may think the novel is only about Junior’s journey, but actually, Alexie has managed to show us the difference between Arnold Spirit and Junior as two separate people. There was not so much a transformation, as
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He is Junior on the reservation in Wellpinit, and Arnold at his new school in Reardan. He maintains two different identities, only one of which sustaining its Native American heritage. He admits on the page that he felt like a stranger when traveling between the two places and goes on to state, “I was half Indian in one place and half while in the other (Alexie 96).” After a time claiming this duality, he began to look at being Indian not as his heritage, and being on the reservation not as being at his home, but at being Indian as his job. The people on the reservation bully Junior and pick on him. They call him names and physically abuse him. Arnold, however, earns respect at Reardan. Eventually, Arnold decides it is time to cut ties with Junior and the reservation. We see here, as Junior and Arnold battle in the same body with their respective guilt, that they are and are not the same person. Junior feels immense guilt for leaving his hometown and what he feels to be his heritage. He is only later consoled by the remaining respect he has from his friend, …show more content…
While they are the same person, they are also different in their respective ways. Similarly, we begin to see how Alexie views marginalization, and the unity that is satisfied or not by belonging to a tribe. Arnold reveals himself to be a loner and a nomad within the first few pages of the story. While he is many things that contradict the depression that may be inflicted on such an individual in his position, he is also a walking contradiction in himself, as he is a boy from many different tribes, and also a loner. He decides on his own he is not simply an Indian, and not only white. The novel ends with a conversation between himself and Rowdy wherein Rowdy support Arnold being a nomad and understands the dualism that comes from being from different places. With Rowdy’s reassurance and support, Arnold begins to feel more comfortable with himself and realizes it is okay to have a diverse background and be from different places at the same time. He begins listing off the tribes he belongs to, including Spokane Indians, bookworms, American immigrants, cartoonists, and small-town kids, among others. It becomes abundantly clear that Alexie understands identifying yourself as accepting yourself, as we see Arnold go from identifying himself as a weird kid who compares his brain to a greasy French fry, to a person of many tribes with ease and comfort. He understands what makes him, him, and there
He is Junior on the reservation in Wellpinit, and Arnold at his new school in Reardan. He maintains two different identities, only one of which sustaining its Native American heritage. He admits on the page that he felt like a stranger when traveling between the two places and goes on to state, “I was half Indian in one place and half while in the other (Alexie 96).” After a time claiming this duality, he began to look at being Indian not as his heritage, and being on the reservation not as being at his home, but at being Indian as his job. The people on the reservation bully Junior and pick on him. They call him names and physically abuse him. Arnold, however, earns respect at Reardan. Eventually, Arnold decides it is time to cut ties with Junior and the reservation. We see here, as Junior and Arnold battle in the same body with their respective guilt, that they are and are not the same person. Junior feels immense guilt for leaving his hometown and what he feels to be his heritage. He is only later consoled by the remaining respect he has from his friend, …show more content…
While they are the same person, they are also different in their respective ways. Similarly, we begin to see how Alexie views marginalization, and the unity that is satisfied or not by belonging to a tribe. Arnold reveals himself to be a loner and a nomad within the first few pages of the story. While he is many things that contradict the depression that may be inflicted on such an individual in his position, he is also a walking contradiction in himself, as he is a boy from many different tribes, and also a loner. He decides on his own he is not simply an Indian, and not only white. The novel ends with a conversation between himself and Rowdy wherein Rowdy support Arnold being a nomad and understands the dualism that comes from being from different places. With Rowdy’s reassurance and support, Arnold begins to feel more comfortable with himself and realizes it is okay to have a diverse background and be from different places at the same time. He begins listing off the tribes he belongs to, including Spokane Indians, bookworms, American immigrants, cartoonists, and small-town kids, among others. It becomes abundantly clear that Alexie understands identifying yourself as accepting yourself, as we see Arnold go from identifying himself as a weird kid who compares his brain to a greasy French fry, to a person of many tribes with ease and comfort. He understands what makes him, him, and there