When I was mulling around books to choose from, I noticed one word jumped off the cover of this book; Indian. Today, we know to use more appropriate terms like Indigenous or Native American, but the fact that this was a diary drew me towards it. This Native American person was calling himself an Indian? Compulsively, I sifted through the general summary of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” and could not put it back down. This book follows Arnold Spirit Jr., who goes by Junior. Junior was born on the Spokane Indian reservation (“the rez” as they call it) in Wellpinit, Washington with a rare condition called hydrocephalus. Excess cerebrospinal fluid puts very harmful pressure on Junior’s brain and leads to often seizures. Junior is a brilliant student and a very talented artist, expressing himself and his feelings through cartoons. However, he grew up on the rez being bullied, with an alcoholic dad, and with practically no friends. He did have one friend, though, and he was Junior’s best friend in the whole world, Rowdy. Rowdy and Junior were polar opposites, apart from their shared love of basketball. Rowdy could’ve beaten up anyone on the rez, and Junior could’ve been beaten up by anyone on the rez. They were perfect for each other. Until Junior decided that he needed to leave the rez to truly live. So, Junior enrolled in Rearden High, the white-dominant high school outside the rez, and effectively became a traitor. It was a collision of worlds when Junior transferred to Rearden. He learned that you couldn’t solve everything with violence like the rez, that people are racist, mean, and even more racist, and most importantly, that among those mean and racist people, there are some great humans. Throughout the entire book, Junior overcomes struggles with deaths in his close family, being around alcoholism, and struggling with poverty. Junior summarizes the physical and figurative differences between Rearden and Wellpinit with this quote on page 199: “I’m fourteen and I’ve been to forty-two funerals. That’s really the biggest difference between Indians and white people.” “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” surprised me mostly due to my naivety about Native Americans in the United States. The thing that shocked me the most wasn’t the impoverishment, it wasn’t the alcoholism, it wasn’t even the 42 funerals Junior attended. It was how similar yet so different our lives are. We all go about our days so similarly. We wake up in the morning, go to school, sit through our classes, go to practice after school, do our homework, and repeat it the next day. On the rez, they do all of this with so little given to them. They create every opportunity leading to where they are. This is why Junior left the rez, he was making an opportunity for himself. It challenged the way I thought about Native Americans to see this new narrative. We’ve always been taught of their tribe-like behavior as if they still live in tipis. So we don’t think often of them, while silently they draw every legal short stick. Strength and resilience are two words that have been instilled in my character for as long as I can remember. Growing up I’ve always prided myself on being a strong and resilient person, but I can’t even begin to imagine being as strong as Junior was throughout his upbringing. The lessons about strength and resilience explored in this book had a very profound impact on me. Junior faces many challenges as he strives to break the cycle of impoverishment within his family on the rez. I discovered, through Junior’s trials and tribulations, that strength is not just physical, but emotional and intellectual. Junior’s literal and figurative escape from the rez shows how resilience holds true throughout even the most adverse situations. I am beyond glad that I picked this book up, and will forever carry the lessons it taught me about constituent resilience and strength through all circumstances. - Trevor K.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
All
Archives
November 2022
|