Thoughts On ‘The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian’

This book is about the struggles of a tennager, Junior, but even more so the struggles of a Native American on a reservation. Through his development he has a problem, how to better his future and find acceptance within his reservation and his new school at the same time.

Junior has a mom, a dad, and a sister, Mary. Mary has graduated high school but now spends all of her time in the basement of their home. The family is poor, along with many other families of the reservation. Junior had hydrocephalus and was said not to survive, but he did. The effects of the disease left him with a lisp, stutter, and too many teeth for his mouth. These disabilities caused Junior to get bullied and teased a lot. However, Junior does have one close friend, Rowdy. Rowdy is to be Junior’s protector from bullies, and he is, well, rowdy. He tends to fight more than talk and has a hard time not acting out. Junior is going to start high school, and he is very excited for this. He forms a relationship with Mr. P, Mr. P tells Junior that he is very bright, but that his sister was bright too, then she stayed on the reservation and now she just stays in the basement all day. Mr. P tell him that he needs to leave the reservation as soon as he can in order to succeed in life.

Junior expresses to his parents that he would like to go to Rearden, the neighboring all white town about 20 miles away. His parents agree and he starts at Rearden the very next day. He has struggles at Rearden too, since he is the only Indian who attends there. It isn’t till he punches the biggest jock in school that Junior gains some respect. However, now everyone on the reservation feels that Junior betrayed them by leaving them to go to a different school. At Rearden, Junior makes a new friend, Gordy, Gordy is kind of a nerd and may seem a bit strange, but a friend nonetheless. In the fall, Junior tries out for the basketball team, to make the team he has to go one on one with the biggest jock, Roger, who is 6’6”. Junior works hard to hold his own in the matchup and is given a spot on the varsity team. When Rearden plays the reservation team, in Wellpinit, one of the spectators throws a quarter so hard at Juniors head that he has to get stitches. Then while playing, Rowdy fowls him so hard that Junior gets a concussion, the message is clear that Junior is not welcome here. Rearden loses the game, but beats Wellpinit later in the season. Rearden’s season ends, however, in an early playoff round. After this, tragedy starts to take place through the reservation, Junior’s grandmother dies, someone Junior looked up to greatly. Another person gets shot in the face. Then finally, Mary, Juniors sister dies from a fire. Mary ended up getting married to a man she met at the casino and left without saying anything to her family. Her husband and herself passed out from too much alcohol so they were unable to escape the flames.

Dealing this loss is never easy, losing his grandmother and sister. Junior is overcome with sadness and grief. This would have a negative effect of his development. “The psychological, social and physical effects of loss are articulated through the practice of grief. ” Nature attributes in Junior’s life would be his disease, hydrocephalus, which is an excess of fluid is cavities in the brain.

Although the cause is not completely known, it could be caused by a genetic abnormality. His physical appearance would also be one, he gets bullied and beat up because of it, receiving this abuse would have substantial impact on Junior. Nurture attributes would be that his family has little money, realizing and understanding this, that he can’t have everything, teaches Junior to live off of little money. He may even see this as normal since most families in the reservation also have little money. Another would be that he lives on the reservation, with many cultural powwows, and a close community. Junior seems to be pretty good at basketball, this would be nurture because he played on the reservation with friends from a young age building up this ability. Since he has been friends with Rowdy, who is quite violent, maybe that’s why Junior punches the Roger the jock when he goes to the new school, because he’s observed things like this so many times from his friend.