In Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Arnold Spirit (Junior) struggles with the identity of Indians as alcoholics. He has to cope with the alcohol-related deaths of three of his family members in the span of only a few months. (Eugene counts as family. Since he's the dad's best friend, he would be like an uncle). His grandmother is hit by a drunk driver. Eugene is killed by his own friend while they are drunk. Arnold's sister's house burns down after a drunken party, and she is too drunk to even wake up. And all that happens after Arnold decides that he has to change his identity. With a little nudge from Mr. P, he realizes that he has to get off of the reservation so he doesn't end up like all of the others in his tribe.
While Arnold stuggles with trying to figure out his identity (half-white, half-indian, artist, basketball player, teenager, son, brother, friend), he also struggles with many levels of family drama. His dad is a drunk, his mother is an ex-drunk, his best friend hates Arnold after he switches schools, his whole tribe hates him after he switches schools, and his sister runs away to Montana. And he even he forms a new family of peers at Reardon who grow to love and respect him.
1. Why is it so important to Arnold that he get away from the reservation and go to Reardon?
2. Arnold feels like the betrayal of his tribe (a form of family) is the cause of the deaths of his loved ones. Is Arnold justified in thinking this way? Why else would so many bad things happen all at once?
3. Which member of Arnold's family has the biggest positive impact on him? His mother, father, sister, or grandmother? Or maybe his friend Rowdy, or Eugene, or maybe even his coach at Reardon?
1. I felt like Arnold had always had the urge to leave the reservation in order to make something of himself, but it wasn't until he saw how old his textbook was and after the visit from his teacher that he actually saw going to Reardon as a possibility. His parents didn't fight the idea because I think they wanted more for their son than what life on the reservation provided. Arnold simply wanted to be somebody, and that simply wasn't possible staying on the "rez."
ReplyDelete2. Arnold probably feels guilty for leaving his "rez" family and his guilt causes him to think the deaths are some sort of punishment. Of course this is a justified thought, however, he would hopefully realize that he is not to blame. Maybe this is stereotypical, but Native Americans tend to be superstitious, which I'm sure contributed to his thinking that way.
3. This is a tough one...I feel like without the combination of all of these people, Arnold may not have followed his dream, or that he may not have succeeded. Without learning about his sister's desire to write romance novels, he may not have had the courage to ask to go to Reardon...without his parent's having dreams that were unrealized due to living on the reservation, they may not have allowed Arnold to leave...without Rowdy he may not have had the competitive spirit to keep going...
I agree with Ashley, I can’t help but feel that it was the perfect combination of these people that inspired Junior to break the destructive cycle he was about to be swallowed by. On the other hand, I really think that it was ultimately up to Arnold to make the decision to leave and to thrive the way he did. It kind of relates back to the saying that you can help someone all you want, but only they can help themselves. This was Arnold’s (Alexie’s) case, and he possessed enough grit, determination, and happened upon enough opportunities in order to surpass the life his parents had settled for.
ReplyDelete2. I think that Arnold leaving the tribe was in no way connected to the deaths of his loved ones and I got the feeling from the book that deaths occurred quite often in the tribe even before Arnold had left. Perhaps he gave many people, like his sister, a lot to think about which could have been the reason his sister left, but that does not make him the reason she died. She made her own decision, I think in an attempt to find the same courage Arnold had shown by leaving the rez. I do not think he should feel guilty for doing something that the rest of his tribe is probably truthfully too scared to try, however I can see how this guilt would cause him to blame himself, especially in the case of his sister’s death.
ReplyDelete3. I think this is an interesting question, which family member had the biggest positive impact on Arnold and I also think that it is a very difficult question to answer. He was influenced by so many different characters, his teacher that he threw the book at, his family and friends, or his white schoolmates. I would say that his sister had a very large impact on him. He admired her free spirit, yet feared becoming like her. I don’t think there was really one single character that had the most influence on Junior because so many had an impact on him in so many different ways. I think it took a culmination of events and interactions to finally pull him off of the reservation. I found it interesting how different his friendships were with his non-reservation friends versus the reservation friends. On the reservation he really only had one friend and he was the brunt of everything, but off the reservation he was a basketball star with many friends; of course I realize it did not start out that way but I find it interesting how much quicker he seemed to make friends off the reservation.