The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Lauren Valenzuela
1-20-14
Per. 3
The central idea of the book , “ The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian” is to go out of your comfort zone and do what is best for you despite how hard the journey may be.
In the book the main character is Jr. (aka Arnold). He was determined to get a good education despite many draw backs that he experienced throughout the book. Jr. is Native American living in a reservation full of poverty and other social problems as well. Jr. decided to get an education he deserved. Jr. left the school in his reservation as well as his best friend Rowdy to attend an all white school. This caused people including Rowdy from his old school to perceive Jr. as a traitor. Jr. later experienced prejudices from the white people in Reardan ( the new school). Jr. pushed through and ignored mean looks and unfair treatment. Jr. eventually learned to be friends with many of the white kids. Later on in the book Jr experienced, the deaths of people whom were a big part of his life. Including, His grandmother, his dad’s friend who was like an uncle, and his older sister. Despite all of this , Jr. approached life with humor and determination. In the end junior succeeded the first year of his new school even though he had many set backs. Jr. was also able to be friends with Rowdy again.
Dialectical Journal:
This Book contains a similar subject to a book we are reading as a class,”Warriors Don’t Cry”. These books both share a similar idea of going out of what you are comfortable with to find what is best and what you deserve. This book also shares many qualities and ideas with many speeches from integrationist and people who believe that you should always believe in yourself and dream big. One example is like when Dr. King said his “ I Have A Dream” speech.
I had some questions I had in while reading the book. When Jr. explained a lot of indians who lived in poverty because they usually got drunk and made wrong decisions. I wondered, why did these indians drink all the time? Why didn’t they stop? I also questioned how it was so easy for Jr. to become friends with all the white kids so quickly and how hard it is for the Little Rock 9 to become friends with the white kids.
There were a few words that came up during my reading that I didn’t understand. Some of which were, ambidextrous, decrepit, and contemplate. There were not cry many words i didn’t know because the story was pretty “straight forward”. I learned that ambidextrous meant able to use both hands. Decrepit meant the state of being weak or frail. Lastly, I learned that contemplate meant to exam or inspect.
A discrepancy that I noticed comparing this book to "Warriors Don’t Cry” is that the whole process of integrating to an all white school was much less dramatic for Jr. then for Melba and the other 9.
Some differences in perspectives of others is that everybody thought Jr. was a traitor. They all felt betrayed because Jr. was the only one who wanted to leave his school and go to an all white school. Despite this, his parents supported him and were proud of his brave decisions.
