Later, when Junior and his parents go to the cemetery to care for Mary, Eugene, and Grandmother s graves, he comes to a realization that he will be able to leave the reservation, and although he will be lonely, he won t be completely alone he actually can and will always be a member of many tribes, from the tribe of cartoonists to the tribe of people who have left their homes. Dodge deeply resents it when Junior corrects his statement about petrified wood, but thanks Gordy for saying the same thing. An avid reader with an extraordinary memory for information, she would have gone to college if given the chance. Eugene encourages Junior when he transfers to the Reardan school and always tells him You can do it! With blond hair, pale skin, and an all-white volleyball uniform, Penelope embodies both the hope and the unattainability that Junior associates with the color white. As Indians, his family has, for generations, not had the same opportunities as white families, and that has meant that nobody could escape from poverty and thereby create better opportunities for future generations. Metaphorically, figuring out his own name who he is, what his goals are, the kind of man he will become is the goal of Junior s decision to go to school in Reardan, and one of the driving forces in this coming-of-age novel. CONFESSIONS, REVENGE, AND FORGIVENESS Confessions, revenge, and forgiveness are central to the plot of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Note: all page numbers for the quotes below refer to the Little, Brown and Company edition of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian published in 2009. Rowdy can be mean and he's opposed to any dreams about the future because they seem, to him, unrealistic (and, therefore, indulging in such dreams would make you vulnerable to them inevitably not coming true). The current institutional framework is such that EACC carries out investigations. Yet just as his true identity includes both Junior and Arnold, the divided extremes he describes often turn out to be blurred. He punches Junior in the face, screams that he hates him, and walks away. He also feels guilty for having that desire, since it seems to require him to betray his tribe and falsely act as something he is not.
Beginning in the late 19th century, thousands of children were taken from their families to attend these schools on and off the reservation, with enrollment reaching a peak in the 1970s before ongoing complaints and investigations into the schools led Congress to pass the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 and to many of these schools closing. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format. Junior is close to his grandmother, and turns to her for advice when he believes Roger is going to attack him. Related Characters: Junior (Arnold Spirit, Jr. ) (speaker) Related Themes: Page Number: 31 Explanation and Analysis This is a pivotal moment in the book because finding the geometry book that once belonged to his mother is a concrete example for Junior of the ways in which he, as a poor Indian, is being denied opportunities that he would 2017 LitCharts LLC v. 006 Page 10. Book Description Paperback. However, by the time he gets to know Penelope, a girl at the Reardan high school who becomes Junior s almostgirlfriend, he s begun to see this kind of thinking as childish, 2017 LitCharts LLC v. 006 Page 4. finding it a bit melodramatic when she claims she was born with a suitcase ready to leave her hometown. DRAWING, WRITING, AND JUNIOR S CARTOONS One unique aspect of Absolutely True Diary is the way that images are incorporated into the text. In The Absolutely True Diary of a PartTime Indian, a novel by the Spokane author Sherman Alexie, a basketball player at an all-White high school is the persistent target of racist slurs. My hopes and dreams floated up in a mushroom cloud. He admires Junior s attitude of commitment and empowers him with his belief in Junior s strength, talent, and potential. His first collection of short stories and poetry was published in 1992; since then, he has published more than fifteen books and received numerous awards. And often lack role models and mentors who themselves got out of poverty. Suddenly furious that the reservation school is so poorly funded that it must use old and outdated books, Junior throws the textbook across the room accidentally hitting Mr. P in the face and breaking his nose. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.
Junior is an aspiring cartoonist who uses his drawings to tell his story, and the cartoons work throughout the novel in several different and important ways. THEMES In LitCharts literature guides, each theme gets its own colorcoded icon. In this winner of the National Book Award, Junior, aka Arnold Spirit, has had a hard first fourteen years of life.
And there s the fricking booze: the reason, according to Junior, that all Indian families are unhappy, with too many people dying young. Chapter 25 - In Like a Lion. Like 2017 LitCharts LLC v. 006 Page 3. Alcohol has also been incorporated into Indian traditions such as powwows and wakes, so that ironically, even celebrating the lives of people who have died as a result of alcohol abuse can lead to further heartbreak. Otherwise, the culture of defeat, depression, and alcoholism on the reservation will force him to give up his dreams, just as his older sister Mary who, Mr. P reveals, used to want to be a romance writer, but now spends all her time alone in the family s basement and the other adults in his life have done. Chapter 24 - Valentine Heart.
Gordy Junior s friend and the class genius at the Reardan school, who loves computers and books. Mary s romance novels are more complicated, though. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export. Rowdy always protects Junior, though, and the two boys share a special bond, telling each other their secrets and dreams. And because you re Indian you start believing you re destined to be poor.
In his double life in Reardan and on the reservation, he feels like a magician slicing himself in half, with Junior living on the north side of the river and Arnold living on the south. There's a sense throughout the book that Junior feels that the world is sending him the message that he doesn't have a future to look forward to as he grows up, and Junior is rebelling by having hope and making radically different choices than his community to see if they result in a different outcome. He also loves playing basketball, discovering he has unexpected talent when he joins the Reardan team and 2017 LitCharts LLC v. 006 Page 2. receives the support of his coach and teammates. Mary Runs Away Junior s older sister, nicknamed Mary Runs Away because of her unpredictability. P is one of many weird and lonely characters in the novel, such as Mary, Junior, and Gordy, and is known in Wellpinit for frequently falling asleep and forgetting to come to school. It makes sense that Junior is a good student and a dedicated cartoonist, because his precision with words shows that he is someone who wants to communicate his experiences to others. Even so, when Junior lists the people he will always love and miss, he includes Rowdy, his reservation, and his tribe as well as his loved ones who have died a telling indication that in some ways, following his hopes and dreams ultimately means the loss of his friends, his family, and his home.
Rowdy gets into an accident and embarrasses himself. Some reveal Junior s attitude toward other characters; he takes special care in sketching his friends Rowdy, Gordy, and Penelope, and these portraits help to characterize both the artist and the subjects. By the end of the novel, Rowdy and others have made peace with Junior s decision to go off in search of hope like an old-time nomad that is, like one of his Indian ancestors. Later, Rowdy sneaks into the triplets' camp at night and cuts off their long braids, emasculating them for hurting Junior earlier. Even so, it s important to note that this symbolism speaks more to Junior s frame of mind at this particular moment in the novel than it does to the final outcome. Late in the novel, Junior also refers to the fact that reservations were first established as prisons: beginning with the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the U. S. federal government systematically forced tribes off their ancestral lands into designated areas, with many reservations established by executive order throughout the 1850s and 1860s. Gerald The drunk driver who strikes and kills Grandmother Spirit as she is walking home from a powwow. Dad Junior s father, who sings when he gets drunk, treasures an old saxophone from high school, and could have been a talented musician. MINOR CHARACTERS The Andruss Brothers Thirty-year-old triplets who beat Junior up when he and Rowdy go to the powwow. After getting in trouble at school, Junior decides to go to a different school.