The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Key Facts:
full title · The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
author · Sherman Alexie
illustrator · Ellen Forney
type of work · Novel with illustrations
genre · Bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel); autobiographical fiction; young adult fiction
language · English
time and place written · Early 2000s in and around Seattle, WA
date of first publication · 2007
publisher · Little, Brown (Hachette)
narrator · The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is narrated by Arnold Spirit, Jr. The novel unfolds like a diary, with each entry (except the first, which narrates Junior’s early childhood) narrated just after it is meant to have occurred.
point of view · Junior narrates the story in the first person, sticking closely to his own experiences, but he occasionally re-tells stories that have been told to him by others or includes his sister Mary’s messages. Junior mostly describes characters objectively (i.e. with physical and sensory details) but he does not hesitate to give his opinions about other people’s appearances and actions.
tone · Junior’s tone his humorous and sincere. He is not always a completely reliable narrator, but his unreliability is usually a result of youthful naiveté rather than malice.
setting (time) · Around 1980
setting (place) · The Spokane Indian Reservation and the town of Reardan in Washington state.
protagonist · Arnold Spirit, Jr.
major conflict · The major conflict of the novel is Junior’s struggle to find acceptance and belonging in two vastly different communities, the Spokane reservation and Reardan High.
rising action · Junior decides to leave the high school in the reservation town of Wellpinit and attend school in the neighboring white town of Reardan. Junior’s Indian friends feel betrayed and abandoned, while, at Reardan, Junior is treated like an unwelcome outsider.
climax · Junior experiences three tragic deaths in rapid succession, his grandmother, family friend, Eugene, and his sister Mary all die. For Junior, Mary’s death is the most traumatic.
falling action · As Junior’s family mourns the recent deaths of loved ones and Junior completes a successful first year at Reardan, the Spokane community seems to realize it has treated Junior unfairly, and Junior finds unsuspected support among the new friends he has made at Reardan.
themes · Individual Ambition versus Communal Obligation; Poverty and Privilege; Racism
motifs · Sports and Competition; Alcoholism; Physical Violence, Domestic Abuse, and Bullying
symbols · Oscar; Junior’s dad’s last $5; Turtle Lake
foreshadowing · When Junior is so insistent, early on, that he and Rowdy are inseparable—that Rowdy is closer to him than family—Junior’s insistence foreshadows the rift in his and Rowdy’s friendship. Junior’s good moods and high expectations—his excitement for geometry class, for example—usually foreshadow a negative turn of events—hitting Mr. P in the face with the textbook. Junior’s anxiety and fear—like that Mr. P will punish him or he won’t make the basketball team—are often followed by unsuspected positive events—Mr. P’s apologizing to Junior, Junior’s making varsity. Likewise, Mary’s overly-optimistic view of her depressing life in Montana foreshadows her coming, tragic death.
author · Sherman Alexie
illustrator · Ellen Forney
type of work · Novel with illustrations
genre · Bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel); autobiographical fiction; young adult fiction
language · English
time and place written · Early 2000s in and around Seattle, WA
date of first publication · 2007
publisher · Little, Brown (Hachette)
narrator · The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is narrated by Arnold Spirit, Jr. The novel unfolds like a diary, with each entry (except the first, which narrates Junior’s early childhood) narrated just after it is meant to have occurred.
point of view · Junior narrates the story in the first person, sticking closely to his own experiences, but he occasionally re-tells stories that have been told to him by others or includes his sister Mary’s messages. Junior mostly describes characters objectively (i.e. with physical and sensory details) but he does not hesitate to give his opinions about other people’s appearances and actions.
tone · Junior’s tone his humorous and sincere. He is not always a completely reliable narrator, but his unreliability is usually a result of youthful naiveté rather than malice.
setting (time) · Around 1980
setting (place) · The Spokane Indian Reservation and the town of Reardan in Washington state.
protagonist · Arnold Spirit, Jr.
major conflict · The major conflict of the novel is Junior’s struggle to find acceptance and belonging in two vastly different communities, the Spokane reservation and Reardan High.
rising action · Junior decides to leave the high school in the reservation town of Wellpinit and attend school in the neighboring white town of Reardan. Junior’s Indian friends feel betrayed and abandoned, while, at Reardan, Junior is treated like an unwelcome outsider.
climax · Junior experiences three tragic deaths in rapid succession, his grandmother, family friend, Eugene, and his sister Mary all die. For Junior, Mary’s death is the most traumatic.
falling action · As Junior’s family mourns the recent deaths of loved ones and Junior completes a successful first year at Reardan, the Spokane community seems to realize it has treated Junior unfairly, and Junior finds unsuspected support among the new friends he has made at Reardan.
themes · Individual Ambition versus Communal Obligation; Poverty and Privilege; Racism
motifs · Sports and Competition; Alcoholism; Physical Violence, Domestic Abuse, and Bullying
symbols · Oscar; Junior’s dad’s last $5; Turtle Lake
foreshadowing · When Junior is so insistent, early on, that he and Rowdy are inseparable—that Rowdy is closer to him than family—Junior’s insistence foreshadows the rift in his and Rowdy’s friendship. Junior’s good moods and high expectations—his excitement for geometry class, for example—usually foreshadow a negative turn of events—hitting Mr. P in the face with the textbook. Junior’s anxiety and fear—like that Mr. P will punish him or he won’t make the basketball team—are often followed by unsuspected positive events—Mr. P’s apologizing to Junior, Junior’s making varsity. Likewise, Mary’s overly-optimistic view of her depressing life in Montana foreshadows her coming, tragic death.
Themes:
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
Individual Ambitions and Communal Obligations
Junior has great personal ambition. He wants to become a famous cartoonist and to make money. Becoming rich and famous, Junior reasons, will help him to escape the Spokane Indian Reservation. The problem is that, from Junior’s perspective, what seems like better opportunity and freedom might, to the eyes of people in his larger community, look more like abandonment and betrayal. Once Junior decides to attend high school off the reservation at Reardan, he finds himself struggling both to discover his own personal identity and to relate back to the Spokane community. Junior has struggled, and often failed, to find acceptance there his entire life. He feels a responsibility to prove himself to Rowdy and the other Indians that see him as a traitor. At the same time, Junior tries to make a new name for himself at the all-white Reardan High School. At Reardan, Junior gains fresh perspective on the things that are bad about life on the reservation—alcoholism, hopelessness, and a lack of tolerance. But, with the help of friends and family, Junior is also able to relate his personal ambitions back to his Indian heritage.
By wandering farther from home, Junior better understands his roots. Thanks to his dad and his dad’s friend, Eugene, Junior is able to see leaving the reservation and going to an all-white school as courageous. He isn’t a coward, but a warrior. Likewise, Rowdy helps Junior to see how his going to school off the reservation can be linked back to the nomadism—the wandering from place to place—that was a part of his tribe’s culture for centuries. It is the people wasting their lives getting drunk on the reservation, Rowdy suggests, that have forgotten their community. As time goes on, Junior also finds belonging in other groups, like the Reardan basketball team, and he realizes that he is part of many less apparent communities, other “tribes,” like the tribe of poor people and the tribe of tortilla chip and salsa lovers. Junior takes comfort in the fact that he belongs to these groups. They strengthen his identity. At the same time, he hopes that, by asserting himself in the right ways, he can bring good things back to the communities that support him.
Poverty and Privilege
One of the main differences between life on the reservation and life in Reardan is that most of the families on the reservation, including Junior’s, are poor. This means that Junior often misses meals and school because his parents have no money for food or gas. Embarrassed by his poverty, Junior does everything he can to keep his Reardan classmates from understanding the true state of affairs. He often invents excuses or lies to his friends by saying he accidentally left his wallet at home. The white students at Reardan are financially better off, but Junior is surprised to learn that the privilege that accompanies wealth and white skin doesn’t insulate his friends from pain and problems. Penelope, despite her popularity and beauty, is bulimic, and Gordy, despite his shining intellect, is emotionally isolated and has difficulty relating to others. These problems of privilege are no less real than the problems of poverty, but the main difference—the thing that makes poverty so challenging—is that poverty prohibits people from pursuing hope and opportunity. And, what’s more, poor people often find themselves without the privilege to sort through or find help for their own equally real emotional struggles.
Racism
Junior always uses the term “Indian” to describe himself and the others on the Spokane Reservation. He never explains why he favors this term over the arguably more politically correct “Native American.” One can argue that “Indian” is more direct, less sugarcoated. Reardan’s white football star, Roger, certainly does not celebrate Junior’s heritage when he tells Junior that, “Indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo.” Using the term Indian, then, is also a concession to the racism in Junior’s social environment. The net effect of the racism and bigotry levied against Junior and his tribe on personal, institutional, and national levels is a collective disempowerment that stands in stark contrast to the unconscious privilege and opportunity in the neighboring white communities. But, Junior comes to realize, he participates in these same structures of prejudice. Junior sometimes uses homophobic language, for example, as a way to relate to and communicate with people like Rowdy for whom such language is the norm. Junior’s friends, likewise, show him that he pays so much attention to Penelope in part because she is white. Junior’s realization that he, too, has some racial biases is a key part of his moral education.
Individual Ambitions and Communal Obligations
Junior has great personal ambition. He wants to become a famous cartoonist and to make money. Becoming rich and famous, Junior reasons, will help him to escape the Spokane Indian Reservation. The problem is that, from Junior’s perspective, what seems like better opportunity and freedom might, to the eyes of people in his larger community, look more like abandonment and betrayal. Once Junior decides to attend high school off the reservation at Reardan, he finds himself struggling both to discover his own personal identity and to relate back to the Spokane community. Junior has struggled, and often failed, to find acceptance there his entire life. He feels a responsibility to prove himself to Rowdy and the other Indians that see him as a traitor. At the same time, Junior tries to make a new name for himself at the all-white Reardan High School. At Reardan, Junior gains fresh perspective on the things that are bad about life on the reservation—alcoholism, hopelessness, and a lack of tolerance. But, with the help of friends and family, Junior is also able to relate his personal ambitions back to his Indian heritage.
By wandering farther from home, Junior better understands his roots. Thanks to his dad and his dad’s friend, Eugene, Junior is able to see leaving the reservation and going to an all-white school as courageous. He isn’t a coward, but a warrior. Likewise, Rowdy helps Junior to see how his going to school off the reservation can be linked back to the nomadism—the wandering from place to place—that was a part of his tribe’s culture for centuries. It is the people wasting their lives getting drunk on the reservation, Rowdy suggests, that have forgotten their community. As time goes on, Junior also finds belonging in other groups, like the Reardan basketball team, and he realizes that he is part of many less apparent communities, other “tribes,” like the tribe of poor people and the tribe of tortilla chip and salsa lovers. Junior takes comfort in the fact that he belongs to these groups. They strengthen his identity. At the same time, he hopes that, by asserting himself in the right ways, he can bring good things back to the communities that support him.
Poverty and Privilege
One of the main differences between life on the reservation and life in Reardan is that most of the families on the reservation, including Junior’s, are poor. This means that Junior often misses meals and school because his parents have no money for food or gas. Embarrassed by his poverty, Junior does everything he can to keep his Reardan classmates from understanding the true state of affairs. He often invents excuses or lies to his friends by saying he accidentally left his wallet at home. The white students at Reardan are financially better off, but Junior is surprised to learn that the privilege that accompanies wealth and white skin doesn’t insulate his friends from pain and problems. Penelope, despite her popularity and beauty, is bulimic, and Gordy, despite his shining intellect, is emotionally isolated and has difficulty relating to others. These problems of privilege are no less real than the problems of poverty, but the main difference—the thing that makes poverty so challenging—is that poverty prohibits people from pursuing hope and opportunity. And, what’s more, poor people often find themselves without the privilege to sort through or find help for their own equally real emotional struggles.
Racism
Junior always uses the term “Indian” to describe himself and the others on the Spokane Reservation. He never explains why he favors this term over the arguably more politically correct “Native American.” One can argue that “Indian” is more direct, less sugarcoated. Reardan’s white football star, Roger, certainly does not celebrate Junior’s heritage when he tells Junior that, “Indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo.” Using the term Indian, then, is also a concession to the racism in Junior’s social environment. The net effect of the racism and bigotry levied against Junior and his tribe on personal, institutional, and national levels is a collective disempowerment that stands in stark contrast to the unconscious privilege and opportunity in the neighboring white communities. But, Junior comes to realize, he participates in these same structures of prejudice. Junior sometimes uses homophobic language, for example, as a way to relate to and communicate with people like Rowdy for whom such language is the norm. Junior’s friends, likewise, show him that he pays so much attention to Penelope in part because she is white. Junior’s realization that he, too, has some racial biases is a key part of his moral education.
Plot:
Arnold Spirit Jr. (“Junior”) tells about his early life on the Spokane Indian reservation. How doctors predicted he would die from complications of hydrocephalus—his being born with excess spinal fluid on the brain. But, of course, Junior survived. The early condition, however, left Junior with a lisp and stutter. He had too many teeth and had to have some removed, and he is far-sighted in one eye and near-sighted in the other. Worst of all, as a small child he had seizures. Even today, other Indians on the reservation or, as Junior calls it, the “rez,” bully him and call him names like “hydrohead.” Junior’s best friend, Rowdy, often promises to protect him, but Rowdy’s own violent tendencies sometimes prevent him from being all that helpful. Junior’s parents are alcoholics and his sister, Mary, spends all her time in the family basement. Junior loves drawing cartoons, and many of his drawings are included in the book. Rowdy is extremely supportive of Junior’s art, and Junior thinks this proves his and Rowdy’s friendship.
In the summer before their freshman year of high school, Rowdy convinces Junior to go with him to the Spokane powwow. Junior is fourteen. Rowdy promises to protect Junior from any bullies, but, soon after they arrive, Rowdy trips into a van, embarrassing himself. Rowdy takes out his anger by attacking the van with a shovel, but the vandalism scares Junior. Junior runs away into a set of mean, drunk, thirty-year-old triplets. They push him around and beat him up. Later, to make up for having let Junior down, Rowdy sneaks into the triplets’ camp at night and cuts off their long braids, emasculating them. Junior sees it as more proof that Rowdy does the best he can. Soon thereafter, Junior and Rowdy begin their first year at Wellpinit High. Junior is excited to get started and is especially looking forward to his geometry class. But his geometry teacher, Mr. P, gives Junior a textbook that Junior sees was signed by his mother, Agnes Adams, thirty years previously. He throws the textbook in a fit of rage. It hits Mr. P in the face, breaking his nose.
After the textbook incident, Junior is suspended from school. Much to Junior’s surprise, Mr. P comes to Junior’s house to apologize to Junior. Mr. P tells Junior that there is no hope on the reservation, and that the best thing Junior can do for himself is to get off the reservation as quickly as possible. Mr. P says that Junior is smart, but that Mary was even smarter and more talented than Junior until the reservation crushed her spirit. Junior takes Mr. P advice, and, when his parents come home, he tells them he’s decided to go to school in the all-white town of Reardan, some twenty-two miles from home. Junior’s parents agree, and he starts school the next day. Because his family is very poor, sometimes without any money for gas, Junior often has difficulty getting to Reardan. He hitchhikes or gets rides from people like his dad’s friend, Eugene. On his first day, Junior meets his future girlfriend, Penelope. A few days later, the toughest jock, Roger, insults Junior with a racist joke, and Junior punches him in the face. Junior is surprised to find that his action earns him Roger’s respect. Then, Junior’s future friend, Gordy, sticks up for Junior in class.
On the reservation, however, Rowdy and the other Indians feel betrayed. Most react by ignoring Junior, but some are angrier than that. To impress Penelope, Junior decides to raise money for the homeless while trick-or-treating. But, after Junior starts going door-to-door, word gets around that he is carrying money. Junior gets jumped by three boys in masks. Junior fears that Rowdy is one of them. Penelope finds out and donates money in both her and Junior’s names. Then, around Thanksgiving, Mary gets married to a Montana poker player she meets at the Spokane casino, and she moves with him to Montana without saying goodbye to her family. Junior wonders if Mary is competing with him because he managed to get off the reservation. Junior hears from Mary occasionally thereafter by email and letter. In her messages, Mary says she is struggling to find a job, but she remains optimistic.
Later that fall, Junior tries out for the Reardan basketball team and has to play one-on-one against Roger, who is 6’6” and can dunk. It’s a tough match up, but Junior holds his own and is rewarded with a spot on the varsity team. Junior’s team plays an early game against Wellpinit on the reservation where the entire crowd turns its back on Junior when his team enters the gym. While Junior is checking into the game for the first time, a fan throws a quarter at him, hitting him in the head. Junior asks Eugene, an EMT, to stich him up in the locker room, but, just after he checks back into the game, Rowdy fouls Junior so badly he gives Junior a concussion. Reardan loses badly, but, weeks later, in the teams’ next match up at Reardan, Junior’s strong defense leads Reardan to decisive victory. Wellpinit’s season is ruined, and Reardan loses, later, early in the state playoffs.
Then the tragedies begin. Junior’s grandmother, whom Junior admires for her tolerance and generosity, is struck and killed by a drunk driver as she is walking home from a powwow. A white billionaire named Ted makes a pompous speech at her well-attended funeral, and the Indians laugh him off the reservation. Then, Eugene’s friend, Bobby, shoots Eugene in the face over the last sip of a bottle of wine. Later, just when Junior thinks things can’t get any worse, the school guidance counselor calls him into the hall to tell him that Mary has died. Junior’s dad picks him up from school and tells him that Mary and her husband’s trailer caught on fire while the two were passed out from excess drinking. Rowdy blames Junior for Mary’s death, but Junior somehow manages to finish the school year and get a decent report card. He and his family begin to heal, and he promises his Mom that he will never drink. That summer, Rowdy comes to Junior’s house to see if Junior will hang out. The book ends with the two playing a game of one-on-one in the summer heat.
In the summer before their freshman year of high school, Rowdy convinces Junior to go with him to the Spokane powwow. Junior is fourteen. Rowdy promises to protect Junior from any bullies, but, soon after they arrive, Rowdy trips into a van, embarrassing himself. Rowdy takes out his anger by attacking the van with a shovel, but the vandalism scares Junior. Junior runs away into a set of mean, drunk, thirty-year-old triplets. They push him around and beat him up. Later, to make up for having let Junior down, Rowdy sneaks into the triplets’ camp at night and cuts off their long braids, emasculating them. Junior sees it as more proof that Rowdy does the best he can. Soon thereafter, Junior and Rowdy begin their first year at Wellpinit High. Junior is excited to get started and is especially looking forward to his geometry class. But his geometry teacher, Mr. P, gives Junior a textbook that Junior sees was signed by his mother, Agnes Adams, thirty years previously. He throws the textbook in a fit of rage. It hits Mr. P in the face, breaking his nose.
After the textbook incident, Junior is suspended from school. Much to Junior’s surprise, Mr. P comes to Junior’s house to apologize to Junior. Mr. P tells Junior that there is no hope on the reservation, and that the best thing Junior can do for himself is to get off the reservation as quickly as possible. Mr. P says that Junior is smart, but that Mary was even smarter and more talented than Junior until the reservation crushed her spirit. Junior takes Mr. P advice, and, when his parents come home, he tells them he’s decided to go to school in the all-white town of Reardan, some twenty-two miles from home. Junior’s parents agree, and he starts school the next day. Because his family is very poor, sometimes without any money for gas, Junior often has difficulty getting to Reardan. He hitchhikes or gets rides from people like his dad’s friend, Eugene. On his first day, Junior meets his future girlfriend, Penelope. A few days later, the toughest jock, Roger, insults Junior with a racist joke, and Junior punches him in the face. Junior is surprised to find that his action earns him Roger’s respect. Then, Junior’s future friend, Gordy, sticks up for Junior in class.
On the reservation, however, Rowdy and the other Indians feel betrayed. Most react by ignoring Junior, but some are angrier than that. To impress Penelope, Junior decides to raise money for the homeless while trick-or-treating. But, after Junior starts going door-to-door, word gets around that he is carrying money. Junior gets jumped by three boys in masks. Junior fears that Rowdy is one of them. Penelope finds out and donates money in both her and Junior’s names. Then, around Thanksgiving, Mary gets married to a Montana poker player she meets at the Spokane casino, and she moves with him to Montana without saying goodbye to her family. Junior wonders if Mary is competing with him because he managed to get off the reservation. Junior hears from Mary occasionally thereafter by email and letter. In her messages, Mary says she is struggling to find a job, but she remains optimistic.
Later that fall, Junior tries out for the Reardan basketball team and has to play one-on-one against Roger, who is 6’6” and can dunk. It’s a tough match up, but Junior holds his own and is rewarded with a spot on the varsity team. Junior’s team plays an early game against Wellpinit on the reservation where the entire crowd turns its back on Junior when his team enters the gym. While Junior is checking into the game for the first time, a fan throws a quarter at him, hitting him in the head. Junior asks Eugene, an EMT, to stich him up in the locker room, but, just after he checks back into the game, Rowdy fouls Junior so badly he gives Junior a concussion. Reardan loses badly, but, weeks later, in the teams’ next match up at Reardan, Junior’s strong defense leads Reardan to decisive victory. Wellpinit’s season is ruined, and Reardan loses, later, early in the state playoffs.
Then the tragedies begin. Junior’s grandmother, whom Junior admires for her tolerance and generosity, is struck and killed by a drunk driver as she is walking home from a powwow. A white billionaire named Ted makes a pompous speech at her well-attended funeral, and the Indians laugh him off the reservation. Then, Eugene’s friend, Bobby, shoots Eugene in the face over the last sip of a bottle of wine. Later, just when Junior thinks things can’t get any worse, the school guidance counselor calls him into the hall to tell him that Mary has died. Junior’s dad picks him up from school and tells him that Mary and her husband’s trailer caught on fire while the two were passed out from excess drinking. Rowdy blames Junior for Mary’s death, but Junior somehow manages to finish the school year and get a decent report card. He and his family begin to heal, and he promises his Mom that he will never drink. That summer, Rowdy comes to Junior’s house to see if Junior will hang out. The book ends with the two playing a game of one-on-one in the summer heat.
The Cast:
Arnold Spirit Jr. (Junior) - A young cartoonist and the narrator/protagonist of the novel. Junior is a 14-year-old Spokane Indian who decides to go to the mostly white high school in nearby Reardan, Washington in order to have better opportunities in life. His cartoons help him to make sense of his experiences on and off the reservation. They also help him to cope with the untimely deaths of friends and family members. Junior is a good student and, while at Reardan, he discovers he is a strong basketball player.
Rowdy - Junior’s best friend on the reservation. Rowdy is a star basketball player for the Wellpinit high school. He has anger problems and often gets physically violent with Junior and others. He feels betrayed when Junior decides to leave Wellpinit. Junior’s attempt to win back Rowdy’s friendship and trust is one of the central dramas of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Mary Spirit (Junior’s Sister) - After graduating from Wellpinit, Mary takes refuge in the Spirit family’s basement. She closes herself off from the world until Junior decides to attend Reardan. Then, all of a sudden, she marries an Indian poker player and moves with him to Montana where the two die in an accidental trailer fire.
Junior’s Dad (Arnold Spirit Sr.) - An alcoholic who nonetheless does his best for Junior. Despite being unreliable, Junior’s dad often drives Junior the twenty-two miles to and from Reardan, and he does his best, in a flawed way, to care for Junior, Mary, and Junior’s mom. If he had had more opportunity in life, Junior says, Junior’s dad would have been a jazz musician. He plays the saxophone.
Junior’s Mom (Agnes Adams Spirit) - The main provider for the Spirit family. Like Junior’s dad, Junior’s mom is an alcoholic, though her alcoholism figures less prominently in the story. She is traumatized by Mary’s death, and makes Junior promise never to drink. Junior says that, if his mother had had better opportunity, she would have been a community college professor.
Junior’s Grandmother - A well-liked woman who gives Junior good advice. Junior’s grandmother is one of very few Indians Junior knows who never drinks. Junior sees a link between her and the ancient traditions of the Spokane Tribe. Namely, he thinks she is tolerant toward all people, even social outcasts. She helps Junior understand the unwritten rules of the white world at Reardan. After she is struck by a drunk driver on her way home from a powwow, she uses her dying breath to ask her family to forgive the man who killed her.
Penelope - Junior’s girlfriend. Penelope is beautiful, popular, and, not insignificantly for Junior, white. Junior wonders if he is attracted to her or to her whiteness, and is surprised to discover that Penelope is bulimic. Penelope is supportive of Junior, socially conscious (she raises money for charity), and motivated.
Gordy - Junior’s best white friend. Gordy is the smartest kid at Reardan. Junior decides to make friends with Gordy after Gordy defends one of Junior’s answers in class against an (incorrect) teacher. Gordy is intellectually gifted but, sometimes, socially tactless.
Eugene - Junior’s dad’s best friend. Eugene gives Junior a ride to school once on his motorcycle, impressing Roger and the other Reardan boys. He becomes an EMT and stitches up Junior’s forehead after Junior is injured during the first Reardan vs. Wellpinit basketball game. Eugene is shot in the face by his friend Bobby over who will get the last sip of a bottle of wine.
Roger - A senior at Reardan and football/basketball star. Roger insults Junior with racist comments when Junior first arrives at Reardan, but, after Junior socks him in the face for it, Roger respects Junior more and the two gradually become friends.
Mr. P - A white geometry teacher at Wellpinit. Junior hits Mr. P in the face with a geometry textbook after discovering that it is the same book his Mom, Agnes Adams, used thirty years previously. Mr. P, surprising Junior, apologizes for the unequal opportunity given to Indian students, and he advises Junior to get off the reservation.
Coach - Junior’s basketball coach. Though Coach never gets a name, he is an important role model for Junior. He visits Junior in the hospital after Rowdy concusses Junior in the first Reardan vs. Wellpinit basketball game.
The Andruss Triplets - Thirty-year-old triplets who bully Junior and beat him up at the Spokane powwow.
Earl - Penelope’s racist father. Earl makes a number of inappropriate remarks to Junior after discovering that Junior is dating his daughter.
Ted - A white billionaire. Ted comes to Junior’s Grandmother’s funeral in order to return a powwow dance outfit he believes belonged to her. Junior’s mom corrects Ted’s mistake, and the tribe laughs him off the reservation.
Dawn - Junior’s first crush.
Mr. Dodge - Junior’s geology teacher. Mr. Dodge argues petrified wood is wood, and Junior corrects him that the wood has been entirely replaced by minerals.
Mr. Grant - Junior’s homeroom teacher.
Mr. Sheridan - Junior’s history teacher.
Miss Warren - Guidance counselor who tells Junior about Mary’s death.
Rowdy - Junior’s best friend on the reservation. Rowdy is a star basketball player for the Wellpinit high school. He has anger problems and often gets physically violent with Junior and others. He feels betrayed when Junior decides to leave Wellpinit. Junior’s attempt to win back Rowdy’s friendship and trust is one of the central dramas of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Mary Spirit (Junior’s Sister) - After graduating from Wellpinit, Mary takes refuge in the Spirit family’s basement. She closes herself off from the world until Junior decides to attend Reardan. Then, all of a sudden, she marries an Indian poker player and moves with him to Montana where the two die in an accidental trailer fire.
Junior’s Dad (Arnold Spirit Sr.) - An alcoholic who nonetheless does his best for Junior. Despite being unreliable, Junior’s dad often drives Junior the twenty-two miles to and from Reardan, and he does his best, in a flawed way, to care for Junior, Mary, and Junior’s mom. If he had had more opportunity in life, Junior says, Junior’s dad would have been a jazz musician. He plays the saxophone.
Junior’s Mom (Agnes Adams Spirit) - The main provider for the Spirit family. Like Junior’s dad, Junior’s mom is an alcoholic, though her alcoholism figures less prominently in the story. She is traumatized by Mary’s death, and makes Junior promise never to drink. Junior says that, if his mother had had better opportunity, she would have been a community college professor.
Junior’s Grandmother - A well-liked woman who gives Junior good advice. Junior’s grandmother is one of very few Indians Junior knows who never drinks. Junior sees a link between her and the ancient traditions of the Spokane Tribe. Namely, he thinks she is tolerant toward all people, even social outcasts. She helps Junior understand the unwritten rules of the white world at Reardan. After she is struck by a drunk driver on her way home from a powwow, she uses her dying breath to ask her family to forgive the man who killed her.
Penelope - Junior’s girlfriend. Penelope is beautiful, popular, and, not insignificantly for Junior, white. Junior wonders if he is attracted to her or to her whiteness, and is surprised to discover that Penelope is bulimic. Penelope is supportive of Junior, socially conscious (she raises money for charity), and motivated.
Gordy - Junior’s best white friend. Gordy is the smartest kid at Reardan. Junior decides to make friends with Gordy after Gordy defends one of Junior’s answers in class against an (incorrect) teacher. Gordy is intellectually gifted but, sometimes, socially tactless.
Eugene - Junior’s dad’s best friend. Eugene gives Junior a ride to school once on his motorcycle, impressing Roger and the other Reardan boys. He becomes an EMT and stitches up Junior’s forehead after Junior is injured during the first Reardan vs. Wellpinit basketball game. Eugene is shot in the face by his friend Bobby over who will get the last sip of a bottle of wine.
Roger - A senior at Reardan and football/basketball star. Roger insults Junior with racist comments when Junior first arrives at Reardan, but, after Junior socks him in the face for it, Roger respects Junior more and the two gradually become friends.
Mr. P - A white geometry teacher at Wellpinit. Junior hits Mr. P in the face with a geometry textbook after discovering that it is the same book his Mom, Agnes Adams, used thirty years previously. Mr. P, surprising Junior, apologizes for the unequal opportunity given to Indian students, and he advises Junior to get off the reservation.
Coach - Junior’s basketball coach. Though Coach never gets a name, he is an important role model for Junior. He visits Junior in the hospital after Rowdy concusses Junior in the first Reardan vs. Wellpinit basketball game.
The Andruss Triplets - Thirty-year-old triplets who bully Junior and beat him up at the Spokane powwow.
Earl - Penelope’s racist father. Earl makes a number of inappropriate remarks to Junior after discovering that Junior is dating his daughter.
Ted - A white billionaire. Ted comes to Junior’s Grandmother’s funeral in order to return a powwow dance outfit he believes belonged to her. Junior’s mom corrects Ted’s mistake, and the tribe laughs him off the reservation.
Dawn - Junior’s first crush.
Mr. Dodge - Junior’s geology teacher. Mr. Dodge argues petrified wood is wood, and Junior corrects him that the wood has been entirely replaced by minerals.
Mr. Grant - Junior’s homeroom teacher.
Mr. Sheridan - Junior’s history teacher.
Miss Warren - Guidance counselor who tells Junior about Mary’s death.
Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Sports and Competition
Sports play a significant role in Junior’s life before and after his transition to school in Reardan. On the reservation, Junior is never a stand-out player. The other kids refer to him as “retarded” because he grew up stuttering and physically awkward because of his hydrocephalus. Once Junior steps off the reservation, however, he discovers he can be a stand out athlete. Junior becomes a freshman starter on Reardan’s varsity basketball team. He argues that his new success is based on attitude, not ability. He didn’t wake up one day to discover he was secretly a great basketball player. On the contrary, the support and encouragement Junior receives from Coach and his teammates gives Junior unanticipated confidence. In this sense, sports demonstrate the importance of community in helping individuals reach their ambitions. Junior often uses sports competitions in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to present moral lessons. From his try-outs for the Reardan team, for example, Junior realizes that success can be more about persistence than skill. And, when Reardan beats Wellpinit in the teams’ second match, Junior is reminded how much Reardan’s success depends, not on skill, but on largely unnoticed social privileges.
Alcoholism
Junior says that alcoholism is what all unhappy families on the reservation have in common. Junior’s own dad, Arnold Spirit, Sr., is an alcoholic who disappears for days at a time. But, unlike Rowdy’s father, Junior’s dad is not physically abusive. Eugene, Junior’s dad’s friend, is an alcoholic who is shot in the face over the last sip of a bottle of wine. Alcoholism is directly or indirectly responsible for most of the tragedy that the Spirit family experiences. Junior’s grandmother, for example, is struck and killed by a drunk driver. And Mary suffocates in her trailer after she and her husband black out from binge drinking. But is alcoholism the cause of these tragedies or the symptom of previous ones? In other words, is drinking so prevalent on the reservation because Indians have been disenfranchised—abandoned by, and cut out from, society at large? Junior refuses to let past suffering serve as an excuse to justify present mistakes. After Mary’s death, he promises his mom he will never drink.
Physical Violence, Domestic Abuse, and Bullying
From an early age, Junior is bullied because of the complications of his hydrocephalus—his lisp, stutter, and ungainly stature. This bullying follows Junior into his teenage years when, worried he will get beat up, Junior avoids participating in community events like the Spokane Powwow. At least until Junior leaves for Reardan, Rowdy is Junior’s protector. Rowdy scares Junior’s bullies away. But, however bullied Junior is, Rowdy seems to have it worse. Like Junior’s parents, Rowdy’s parents are alcoholics. The difference is that, when Rowdy’s father gets drunk, he beats his son. This kind of domestic abuse is more common on the reservation than it is in Reardan. Indeed, physical violence in general is an expected and encouraged part of reservation life, and it unfolds according to unwritten rules. In fact, physical confrontation is so common on the reservation that, once Junior starts attending Reardan, he is shocked to discover that physical fights are completely taboo. That is, no matter how much Reardan kids insult each other, their confrontations almost never come to blows. The different relationship to violence on the reservation and in Reardan is further indication of the opportunity gap that exists between the two communities.
Symbols
Oscar
Oscar is a symbol of the powerlessness that accompanies poverty. Junior tells the story of Oscar, the Spirit family’s pet dog, to explain why hunger is not the worst aspect of being poor. Hunger is no fun, but there’s a way in which going hungry for a while makes one appreciate food more—it even makes food taste better. For Junior, however, the worst part about being poor is not being able to help others. Junior says that Oscar is his best friend. He says that Oscar is more reliable than any of the people in his life, including his parents and his grandmother. Yet, when Oscar gets sick, the family has no money to take Oscar to the vet. What’s more, Junior realizes that, as an Indian boy on the reservation, there is no chance for him to get a job to make money to pay for Oscar’s veterinary care. Junior is not only incapable of helping Oscar in the present, he sees no way of helping Oscar in the future. Junior’s parents see no other options either. Junior’s dad takes Oscar into the back yard and shoots him. Oscar death, then, also represents the harsh realities faced by those living below the poverty line.
Junior’s dad’s last $5
Junior’s dad’s last $5 represents the ambivalence—the double aspect—of human nature. Few characters in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian are wholly bad or wholly good. Junior’s father is no exception. Around the Christmas holidays of Junior’s first year at Reardan, Junior’s dad disappears for a little over a week. Junior knows his father is on a drunken bender, and, when Junior’s dad returns after New Year’s and tells Junior to fish the last $5 he saved for him out of his boot, Junior recognizes how easy it would have been for his dad to have spent those $5 on a bottle of booze. Junior marvels at the self-control it must have taken his dad to save him this Christmas gift. He calls it “a beautiful ugly thing.” Accordingly, Junior’s dad’s gesture is both pathetic and heroic. The amount itself is also significant. $5 is not enough that it can change Junior’s life, but just enough that the gift is not an entirely empty gesture. Junior’s dad’s $5 shows the extent both of his faults and of his love.
Turtle Lake
Turtle Lake, at the center of the Spokane Reservation, is unfathomable—no one, not even scientists using a small submarine, has been able to measure its depth. In this way, it represents the deep mystery that resides with the Spokane people. Junior learns a frightening story about Turtle Lake from his father. A dumb, white horse nicknamed Stupid Horse drowned in Turtle Lake, only to wash up later on the shores of another nearby lake. When some people took Stupid Horse’s carcass to the dump to burn it, Turtle Lake caught on fire and Stupid Horse’s burnt body once again appeared on its shore. In light of this story, one might argue that Turtle Lake represents the incomprehensible and supernatural as they exist within nature. The divide between the “spiritual” and “natural” world is, after all, a European Enlightenment concept. For many of the American Indian groups displaced by white American settlers, the body and soul—the natural and spiritual—were indivisible. Turtle Lake, and its haunting presence at the center of the Spokane Reservation, points back toward that largely lost way of seeing the world that exists deep in the memory of the Spokane people.
Oscar is a symbol of the powerlessness that accompanies poverty. Junior tells the story of Oscar, the Spirit family’s pet dog, to explain why hunger is not the worst aspect of being poor. Hunger is no fun, but there’s a way in which going hungry for a while makes one appreciate food more—it even makes food taste better. For Junior, however, the worst part about being poor is not being able to help others. Junior says that Oscar is his best friend. He says that Oscar is more reliable than any of the people in his life, including his parents and his grandmother. Yet, when Oscar gets sick, the family has no money to take Oscar to the vet. What’s more, Junior realizes that, as an Indian boy on the reservation, there is no chance for him to get a job to make money to pay for Oscar’s veterinary care. Junior is not only incapable of helping Oscar in the present, he sees no way of helping Oscar in the future. Junior’s parents see no other options either. Junior’s dad takes Oscar into the back yard and shoots him. Oscar death, then, also represents the harsh realities faced by those living below the poverty line.
Junior’s dad’s last $5
Junior’s dad’s last $5 represents the ambivalence—the double aspect—of human nature. Few characters in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian are wholly bad or wholly good. Junior’s father is no exception. Around the Christmas holidays of Junior’s first year at Reardan, Junior’s dad disappears for a little over a week. Junior knows his father is on a drunken bender, and, when Junior’s dad returns after New Year’s and tells Junior to fish the last $5 he saved for him out of his boot, Junior recognizes how easy it would have been for his dad to have spent those $5 on a bottle of booze. Junior marvels at the self-control it must have taken his dad to save him this Christmas gift. He calls it “a beautiful ugly thing.” Accordingly, Junior’s dad’s gesture is both pathetic and heroic. The amount itself is also significant. $5 is not enough that it can change Junior’s life, but just enough that the gift is not an entirely empty gesture. Junior’s dad’s $5 shows the extent both of his faults and of his love.
Turtle Lake
Turtle Lake, at the center of the Spokane Reservation, is unfathomable—no one, not even scientists using a small submarine, has been able to measure its depth. In this way, it represents the deep mystery that resides with the Spokane people. Junior learns a frightening story about Turtle Lake from his father. A dumb, white horse nicknamed Stupid Horse drowned in Turtle Lake, only to wash up later on the shores of another nearby lake. When some people took Stupid Horse’s carcass to the dump to burn it, Turtle Lake caught on fire and Stupid Horse’s burnt body once again appeared on its shore. In light of this story, one might argue that Turtle Lake represents the incomprehensible and supernatural as they exist within nature. The divide between the “spiritual” and “natural” world is, after all, a European Enlightenment concept. For many of the American Indian groups displaced by white American settlers, the body and soul—the natural and spiritual—were indivisible. Turtle Lake, and its haunting presence at the center of the Spokane Reservation, points back toward that largely lost way of seeing the world that exists deep in the memory of the Spokane people.