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| Book cover retrieved from author's website at http://fallsapart.com/novelsandshortstories |
Alexie, S. & Forney, E. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York, NY: Little, Brown, and Company.
ISBN: 978-0-316-21930-3 (ebook version)
Plot Summary
Junior, a smart young Native American from the Spokane Indian Reservation, feels stuck: here on the reservation, no one ever breaks out of poverty, no one ever moves on, and no one ever escapes alcoholism - until Junior decides to attend the all-white high school several miles up the road. Junior learns some important lessons about who he is as a member of the white school, a member of the basketball team, a member of his family, and a member of the Spokane tribe as he navigates high school and the relationships in his life.
Characters
The main character in this story is Arnold Spirit, who goes by Junior. The story is told from his perspective, giving the reader plenty of insight into Junior’s personal life. Alexie’s familiar, conversational tone immediately disarms the reader, and Junior’s humor and sense of hope makes him immediately likable. Junior’s relatability allows readers to empathize with him when he is teased for his heritage, his name, or his health condition. Developing empathy with Junior is an important way that the author supports diversity: it is easier to understand and appreciate Junior’s perspective as a Native American when the reader can relate to him.
Another important character is Rowdy, Junior’s best friend and a fellow member of the Spokane tribe. A loud, tough kid with a very bad attitude, Rowdy is an interesting counterpoint to Junior. Junior softens the reader’s view of Rowdy by reminding us repeatedly that Rowdy uses his tough facade to help him cope with an abusive alcoholic father. While there is a lot of boyish banter between the two boys, Rowdy also shows his tender side to Junior, but just a little; just enough to know it’s there. By providing the reader with two very different personalities in Junior and Rowdy, Alexie helps counter the stereotype that all native people have the same, serious attitude: neither boy is serious, and they each hold very different world views.
Setting
This story is set in a poor, rural area of Washington on the Spokane Indian Reservation. This setting allows the author to describe life on a reservation in a very authentic way. For the most part, Alexie’s telling of the story is also a way in which he shares with the reader his own experiences growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Alexie is accurate in portraying the sense of family and camaraderie between the members of the tribe: Junior, more often than not, is able to catch a ride home from school with any tribe member who happens to drive by, and hundreds upon hundreds of people show up to pay their respects at his grandmother’s funeral.
Illustrations
Ellen Forney’s artwork is a perfect fit for depicting Junior’s perspective in the story. Hiring an illustrator for a young adult novel that is over 400 pages doesn’t immediately seem like an obvious choice, but Forney’s cartoons add a great deal of realness to Junior’s character. Primarily comprised of black and white stick figures, Forney’s cartoons find an ironic or wry way to express the ideas most important to Junior. In the book, Junior tells the reader that he uses his illustrations to understand the world and to be heard. This helps the reader relate to Junior - he is portrayed as a typical teenager who makes jokes and draws cartoons about life, directly contradicting the stereotype of the stoic native, wise and silent. Forney’s cartoons are a long way from stoic and wise!
Theme
The theme of this book is belonging. Much of Junior’s time is spent trying to find where he fits in. He struggles with his desire to go to a predominantly white school, wondering if this group affiliation makes him less of a Native American. Junior is torn between two worlds: he wants to be valued by the tribe and the sense of family it conveys, but he also knows that living life the way his fellow tribe members are perpetuates the cycle of alcoholism, illiteracy, and violence. No matter where Junior is, he worries about being bullied for being different. In the end, Junior realizes an important lesson: there is overlap and intersection in the groups to which one belongs and it is okay to have one foot in each world.
Cultural Markers
Alexie is uniquely qualified to discuss the Spokane Indian experience because he grew up on the same reservation where the novel takes place. Alexie’s website explains that this book is “semi-biographical, which means, of course, that it is completely autobiographical” (FallsApart Productions, n.d., para. 3). In an author’s note following the story, Alexie explains that he was born with hydrocephalus and was bullied throughout his childhood, just like Junior. He also had a best friend who behaved very much like Rowdy, and Alexie also left the reservation school to travel to a nearby white high school to further his education. The biographical elements of this novel lend authenticity to Alexie’s writing.
While both Junior and Rowdy seemed well developed as characters, all of the adults remained fairly one-dimensional in the novel. This could be problematic, as many of these adults portrayed common stereotypes. Both Rowdy’s and Junior’s fathers were alcoholics; Junior’s grandmother was viewed as a wise sage; Rowdy’s father was abusive to his son; and Junior’s sister died in a fire because she was too drunk to escape the burning building. Each of these characters brings up a stereotype about native people, and while Junior and Rowdy both show a different perspective to the audience, the lack of character development in the adults could lead the reader to think that all Native Americans grow up to fit one of these stereotypes.
Of particular interest is the portrayal of alcoholism within the Native American community. Alexie has faced some criticism for perpetuating harmful stereotypes of Native people, especially in regards to alcoholism and violence (Reese, 2016). This story does include an excessive amount of alcoholism within the tribe, which Junior mentions several times as a typical part of the native experience. Others have argued that Alexie is merely telling the story the way he lived it, as the reader learns from the backmatter of the book that he also came from a Spokane Indian family plagued by alcoholism. In this interpretation, Alexie is not trying to present a stereotype, but rather is just sharing his personal experience. However, this perspective is problematic because of the dearth of authentic Native American literature available today. Alexie’s book may be the only exposure many children have to native culture, and so his portrayal of Native Americans becomes what children believe about this group of people, whether Alexie intended it or not.
Connections/Activities
Have students view the Facebook feeds for several Spokane Indian groups from Wellpinit, Washington, where the story takes place. Two good Facebook groups are the “Spokane Tribe of Indians ‘Children of the Sun’” page, a Facebook page curated by tribal members, or “Rawhide Press,” a local newspaper owned and operated by the Spokane tribe. Then, have students discuss their findings:
- What did you find interesting?
- What surprised you?
- What sort of people make up the Spokane tribe, based on the types of posts on their social media?
References:
Reese, D. (2016, March 28). Eric Jennings, Sherman Alexie, and damaging perceptions about alcohol use amongst native peoples. Retrieved from https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2016/03/eric-jennings-sherman-alexie-and.html
FallsApart Productions. (n.d.). Novels & short stories & picture book. Retrieved from http://fallsapart.com/novelsandshortstories
Follow the links below for more of my Native American book reviews:
Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith
In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III
Follow the links below for more reviews of other diverse books:
We Were Liars by Elizabeth Lockhart
Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match by Monica Brown
George by Alex Gino
Follow the links below for more of my Native American book reviews:
Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith
In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III
Follow the links below for more reviews of other diverse books:
We Were Liars by Elizabeth Lockhart
Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match by Monica Brown
George by Alex Gino