Analysis of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Essay Sample

Musician Billy Cox once said, “Life will only change when you become more committed to your dreams than you are to your comfort zone.” These words can relate to Sherman Alexie's book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian which is a story about the life of Junior living on a Spokane Indigenous reservation who develops courage, initiative, and independence when he realizes it is impossible to be successful on the reservation. In the novel, we learn that no one's life is perfect, but it's what we choose to do with our life that makes the difference. From the decisions of when Junior transfers schools, Mary Runs Away moves to Montana to start a new life, and when Mr. P apologizes to Junior, they are all actions that make a difference in their lives. 

Initially, when Junior decides to leave his school on the reservation so he could transfer to Reardan (an all-white school), it changes his life because not only will he be the first person on the reservation to ever leave, but he will also be closer to finding hope and success. For example, on the reservation, the majority of Indigenous people no longer believe they have a purpose in life. They cannot go to college, be hired, or make enough income to support their families, which then leads them into alcoholism, depression, and despair. Thus, this issue can be backed up by the conversation Mr. P and Junior share. Mr. P states, “You kept your hope. And now, you have to take your hope and go somewhere where other people have hope” (Alexie 43). So even though Junior is poor, has few friends, gets bullied by other students, and is born with congenital hydrocephalus, he is the only person on the reservation who still has dreams and hope. Adding on, since white people have more privileges than others, the students who attend Reardan probably have great hopes for their future. If Junior continues to go to school on the reservation, his current hope, and dreams are likely to disappear. Furthermore, the people whom you surround yourself with can either positively, or negatively affect the way you view your life, and your possible future. 

In the same way, Mary Runs Aways’ perspective of life changes when she moves to Montana with her boyfriend because she decides to start writing a book. Like Junior, Mary also has a dream, which is to become a romance story writer. This surprise is evident during Junior and Mr. P’s conversation:

When Junior found out his sister's dream was to become a writer, he thought, “had she been hanging on to her dream of being a writer, but only barely hanging on, and something made her let go? That had to be it, right? Something bad has happened to her, right? I mean, she lives in the fricking basement. People just don't live and hide in basements if they're happy” (Alexie 39). 

Junior states that Mary Runs Away lived in the basement before moving to Montana. He also says how he never knew that her dream was to become a writer and was always isolating herself in the basement. So, something was stopping her from achieving her dream. Although when she moves to Montana after meeting her boyfriend, all of a sudden, she becomes very open about her dream; stated in a letter written to Junior by Mary, she writes “I have started to write my life story. I think I'm going to call it how to run away from our house and find your home” (Alexie 133). From living in a rundown basement with despair to moving to a new state and following your dream once again, this quote shows readers that meeting the right person can change your life completely, and to never give up on your dreams. Likewise, Mary Runs Away can be compared to Junior. Living on the same reservation, they both decide it is best for a change. Junior transfers schools, while Mary moves states. And at the end of the day, they are both closer to hope and freedom than the rest of the Indigenous people living on the reservation. 

Lastly, the novel shows changing your life can make a difference when Mr. P opens up about his past and apologizes for his mistakes. In addition, we can conclude Mr. P feels guilty and wants an Indigenous person to forgive him, and also let them realize that he is not the same person as he was in the past, drawn from his apology to Junior where he says,  “It was a different time, a bad time. Very bad. It was wrong. But I was young and stupid and full of ideas”(Alexie 36). This confession is quite relatable. Often, when people are young they are unable to see the truth of reality because they believe whatever their elders/others say. However, years later Mr. P realizes the terrible actions he had done towards his students; showing deep regret and the burden of guilt. Similarly, he adds “I can't apologize to everybody I hurt, but I can apologize to you” (Alexie 35). Here, we see that Mr. P cannot entirely fix his past. He knows that apologizing to his former students will not help or remove their past experiences of racism. Though instead, he apologizes to Junior in the hope he can also forgive himself as well. Moreover, this proves that your past does not define you. Often, people will learn and educate themselves from their mistakes and improve for the future. 

Furthermore, when Junior leaves his school on the reservation to find hope, Mary Runs Away and her boyfriend move to Montana, and Mr. P opens up about his past as a reservation teacher to Junior, we learn that even if you do not have a perfect life, nothing will change if you do not try. Similarly, no one is able to revert their past. However, you can always change the present so that your future will be different.