Native American Teens in Fiction
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
A very determined teen makes a difficult choice in 2007 National Book Award Winner illustrated YA novel
Award-winning adult author writes for teens
The book’s author, Sherman Alexie, has won numerous awards for his literary works for adults. Now he turns his attention to the younger generation with this illustrated YA novel that is anything but coy about the harsh realities of life. Alexie is known for his fiction (Reservation Blues, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven) and for his film (Smoke Signals, The Business of Fancydancing).
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, for which he won the 2007 National Book Award in Young People's Literature, employs some of the themes found in his earlier works, including: life on reservations, manhood, what it means to be an Indian and father-son conflict.
Because the protagonist, Arnold Spirit, is a budding cartoonist, the narrative is augmented with cartoon representations of the life as Arnold sees it. The cartoons (drawn by illustrator Ellen Forney) are both amusing and poignant.
Leaving the reservation
The resilient Arnold has survived childhood illness to grow to be regarded as bit of an oddity on the Spokane Indian Reservation where he lives. The people closest to him include his heavy-drinking parents, listless sister, wise grandmother, and best friend, Rowdy, who is full of rage. After a violent and uncharacteristic outburst in school, a teacher tells Arnold that leaving the reservation is his only hope.
Life on the reservation is not exactly pretty: poverty, unemployment and alcoholism run rampant. However, as Arnold’s family demonstrates, there is a lot of love as well. This is a close-knit community, which can be both good and bad. It is good when people are intimately involved in each other’s lives; it is not so good that this intimacy means that one is punished for trying to leave.
Arnold learns this when he decided to take his teacher’s advice. Arnold Spirit decides to attend a mostly white school in another town. He is considered a traitor for trying to get more from life. The volatile Rowdy turns on him and he can only count on his family’s support.
Though stuck between a rock and a hard place, Arnold presses on. He wins respect as a basketball player. Sometimes he has to walk over 20 miles to school because he has no ride. After time, he makes friends and just toughs it out. The books title refers to how torn Arnold feels over the choice he makes to attend school away from the reservation.
The book has some heavy situations, but it is never without hope. Over a very short period of time, Arnold faces the deaths of several people that were very close to him. There is language that some readers will find vulgar or even offensive, but it is not gratuitous. This book will work for teens who will feel validated to read a book that does not shy away from the crass ways in which teens (and some adults) address each other. Teens for various walks of life will appreciate the books honesty and Arnold's tenacity.
