Literary Analysis
In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, there are a few main characters, the first of which is Arnold Spirit also known as Junior. In this book, Arnold Spirit is the narrator and he tells of his adventure through high school. Our second character, Rowdy, is supposed to be Junior's best friend and protector. Rowdy has troubles with his dad and really loves reading comic books. Junior and Rowdy are each other's only friends. The third character's name is Penelope. Penelope is a girl at Reardan High that Junior has a crush on. Penelope has bulimia, so she makes herself throw up after eating too much, but Arnold sees right past this and falls for her anyway. Roger, also a student at Reardan High is the king. Roger is a senior and he picks on Arnold when he first gets to Reardan. After a while though, Arnold hits him to prove himself, and after that Roger stops picking on him.
In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie tries to point out a couple of themes, two of which being alienation and loneliness. As a part-time Indian, Arnold isn't understood at Reardan High with all of the white people because they don't have any shared experiences with him, nor do they have any experiences similar to what Arnold has had to deal with, or does deal with. Just to make things worse, at home on the reservation Junior's friend Rowdy, as well as all of the rest of Junior's tribe treat him as if he were a white person, although he did abandon them, so it could be said that the tribe's actions were justified. Due to the fact that no one in the book, not the whites that live in Reardan nor the Indian's back on the reservation, really understands what Junior is dealing with and what he has dealt with or how he deals with things past his control, no one in the book can really relate to him, and therefore, he is commonly left alone with no one else to comfort him.
In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie tries to point out a couple of themes, two of which being alienation and loneliness. As a part-time Indian, Arnold isn't understood at Reardan High with all of the white people because they don't have any shared experiences with him, nor do they have any experiences similar to what Arnold has had to deal with, or does deal with. Just to make things worse, at home on the reservation Junior's friend Rowdy, as well as all of the rest of Junior's tribe treat him as if he were a white person, although he did abandon them, so it could be said that the tribe's actions were justified. Due to the fact that no one in the book, not the whites that live in Reardan nor the Indian's back on the reservation, really understands what Junior is dealing with and what he has dealt with or how he deals with things past his control, no one in the book can really relate to him, and therefore, he is commonly left alone with no one else to comfort him.