The Rez Sisters

Alexie Sherman’s The Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian tells a very interesting story about a boy named Junior, who throughout the entire novel, is trying to gain the acceptance of those around him while telling a story about Native Americans as a whole. There is a very comical tone that is very consistent throughout the entire novel that makes it seem much more personal, and allows to reader to relate to junior and understand his situation. This coming of age story brings about many themes

widened Junior’s horizon by exposing him to the extreme poverty on the reservation, and encouraged Junior to grow the courage to leave the “rez,” to move on to the actual world. “You have to leave the rez forever,” he tells Junior. "You were right to throw that book at me. I deserved to get smashed in the face for what I've done to Indians. Every white person on this rez should get smashed in the face. But, let me tell you this. All the Indians should get smashed in the face, too." He portrays wisdom when

“There is freedom waiting for you, on the breezes of the sky, and you ask ‘what if I fall?’ Oh but my darling, what if you fly?”—Erin Hanson. In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the main character, Junior, learns that he needs to let go of his culture to get a chance of living life to the fullest and having new experiences. Since he is a Native American, he has a disadvantage compared to the white kids from the town of Reardan. Junior decides to move schools

drinking and the things he was capable of doing when he was drunk.But as the story goes on his father is not the only thing only one junior has to worry about. He ends up loosing his sister who he would of never thougt would leave him so early and his grandma who was always there for him when he needed advice.When Junior sister died it really hit me because I could relate,I know what its like to lose a sibling too.It took me back to the time when my brother passed away. I didn't know how junior was able

already setting a difference between him and the Wellpinit community, as most of Wellpinit is not accepting of this. “Everybody on the rez calls [him] a retard about twice a day. They call [him] a retard when they are pantsing [him] or stuffing [his] head in the toilet or just smacking or just smacking [him] upside the head...Do you know what happens to retards on the rez? [They] get beat up” (4). Through calling Junior “retard” and violently harming him, the people of Wellpinit harass Junior. Harassment

Another important theme shown from throughout the book is that alcohol causes more grief and death than joy. After Juniors’s grandma was hit by a drunk driver, Junior reflects on what his grandma used to say about why she didn’t drink. “‘Drinking would shut down my seeing and hearing and my feeling’, she used to say. ‘Why would I would I want to be in the world if I couldn’t touch the world with all of my senses intact?’”(Alexie 156). This moment illustrates that Junior’s grandma knew the dangers

his race anymore. Resulting from his choice to leave the reservation, Junior struggles to fit in at Reardan, but not leave his identity behind, since for him living on the reservation is entwined with being poor. “Reardan was the opposite of the rez. It was the opposite of my family. It was the opposite of me. I didn’t deserve to be there. I knew it; all of those kids knew it,” (page 56) saids Junior on page 56, after attending Reardan for a couple days. Here Junior fears that both his socioeconomic

anyone’s life. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, alcoholism is a large problem within Native American communities that affects their lives in extremely negative ways. To start, the novel shows that alcoholism on the rez is normalized and is a problem for many Native-American’s lives. Firstly, Junior says about his dad on Christmas, “He took what little money we did have and ran away to get drunk”

school, Reardan, Junior is an outcast and he is also estranged by his fellow people on the reservation because he chose to attend a white school. Prior to Junior transferring schools, he is seen as an Indian at Reardan and seen as too white on the rez. Junior tries to come with a conclusion of where he stands in both societies. Through the middle of the novel,the feeling of separation and uncomfortableness grows at his new school and on the reservation, which he deals with in order to achieve his

Penelope and Roger. Like as he explains to Penelope, he has to sometimes walk many miles to get to the rez. When he reveals that he’s poor to Roger, it’s when Arnold didn’t have enough money to pay off some pancakes at a diner that they went to. With being bullied and poor, it doesn’t help that some people that were really close to him have died. His Grandma dies, family friend Eugene dies, and his Sister was burnt to death. Seeing how the family had to pay with money to arrange these funerals probably