Literature Essay Example: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Growing up in a small town can sometimes be glorified. Sure, everybody knows each other, sure, it’s friendly, but it is not all rainbows and butterflies. I come from a town that is riddled with poverty and addiction. Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian highlights the struggles of being poor and living in a town where no dreams come true, and what sacrifices you’re obligated to make in order to survive. In his book, Alexie shares the thoughts behind a boy growing up in the middle of a seemingly hopeless situation. 

Sherman Alexie starts off the book by having his main character Junior or Arnold, inform the audience of his unfortunate health problems. Junior also shares that he gets bullied quite a bit for his abnormalities, but that is just the way it goes in Wellpinit, WA on the Spokane Indian reservation. The character quickly moves onto the topic of poverty and how it affects his life. Early on in the book, Alexie writes “Poverty = empty refrigerator + empty stomach” (Alexie, 9). Being without much money has contributed to Junior not being able to save his best friend and dog, his poor education, poor healthcare, and an overall sad outlook on life. Poverty becomes a pattern throughout this book, reoccurring in almost every chapter. Personally, this is extremely relatable, I’m from a small town in Iowa where nothing good ever happens. I also have quite a few health problems have put my family in some onerous situations. Being raised in such  a hopeless town, I’ve been surrounded by sad story after sad story. Arnold said it best, “You don’t get to change your life, period.” (Alexie, 40). Growing up poor really does change the way you see everything. You honestly believe that you do not deserve good things, or you can’t afford them. 

Later in the novel, Junior gets a wake-up call from his geometry teacher, his teacher tells him, “You’re going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad, reservation” (Alexie, 43). This sort of inspiration was unknown to Junior. Much like when my family told me I needed to go to college. Nobody in my family had ever gone to college, they barely graduated from high school. I would be the first person, on both sides of my family to ever go to college. When word of my future plans got around my small town I had a lot of people scoffing at the idea. I got an overwhelming amount of feedback along the lines of, “Yeah, right. I wanted to be an architect. Now I’m a bartender.” But similarly to Junior, I knew I desperately needed to do it; not just for myself but for my whole family. 

After his conversation with his teacher, Arnold realizes that it is imperative to his wellbeing that he flee the reservation. He asks his parents to transfer schools, to the nearby Rearden high school, which is predominantly white kids. Arnold’s parents agree and he is enrolled in a new school with new hope. However, kids in his town, especially his best friend, turn out to be discouraging. In the book, Arnold says “Shoot. I figure that my fellow tribal members are going to torture me.” (Alexie, 47). Alexie also incorporates Junior’s doodles in the book, and that gives the audience a sort of insight into what his life looks like. Without using extremely descriptive words, the author is able to show imagery in a different way so the audience can resonate more with the characters, especially the main character. For example, under that quote is a small drawing of Arnold’s head engulfed in an ant hill, complete with ants crawling over him and a thought bubble saying “Hope?!!??” this tells the reader that Junior really does not have much ambition yet, despite his teacher encouraging him. Unfortunately, a lack of hope and confidence is another pattern in this novel.

Throughout his novel, Sherman Alexie has shared the inner thoughts of an Indian boy from a reservation, and although I am none of those things, I can relate to him through the struggle of poverty and hopelessness. It’s not a beautiful thing, poverty. It hurts and it stings and that feeling cannot be washed away. When Arnold said sometimes we had sleep for dinner, he wasn’t kidding. But this book also showed that it doesn’t have to be all struggle and self-pity. Even if you come from nothing, it does not mean you have to stay nothing. I found the theme of rising above very relatable. I came from an absolute dirt-poor family where we could not afford anything, and it has honestly made me very different from my peers here at Northwest, but I would not trade it for anything.