I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The character was easy to like and I found myself crossing my fingers with every chapter that things would improve for Junior - the main character. While I was reading this book, I took notes on several things that crossed my mind as I read. The first was the development of Junior; the second, the stereotypes that were presented in this novel about indians and indians who live on a reservation; and third, I wondered whether or not this was a book that I could (or would) teach to my own students.
This novel was a bildungsroman in the sense where Junior leaves his home to go out and explore a new world (Reardan High School) and then comes back home a changed young man. At the end of the novel, it was clear to me that Junior was not going to be stuck on the reservation the way his family had been, nor was he going to flee the reservations in hopes of a similar life on another reservation the way his sister had. Junior was going to leave the reservation and be able to start fresh - wherever he desired. On p. 5 of the story Junior is talking about how important it is for him to draw cartoon and he writes "I draw because words are too unpredictable. I draw because words are to limited." These words really stuck out to me because Junior seemed to have a grasp on a higher level of thinking/feeling/understanding. He knew that the mere words that he associated with his everyday life and pain was not the only way of communicating with the world-he was reaching out to new people and new ideas outside of his reservation. This idea made me think of Raymond Carver's short story "The Cathedral" where a blind man comes to visit the narrator and through his short stay, the narrator has an epiphany that he is the one who is actually blind and the blind visitor helps him to open his eyes and see things in a new way. The story ends with the narrator drawing with his eyes shut, hands clasped over the blind man's so he (the narrator) can experience seeing and communicating without sight. For Junior, a young man, to come to this realization so early on in his life, made me realize how intelligent he was in the ways of the world.
In Junior's own "true diary" he kept pointing out the stereotypes behind the poor Indians on the reservation. His mother is a recovering alcoholic, his dad is a raging alcoholic, his sister is a crazy indian and they are all poor. He is very honest (in his writing, if not with his friends) how poor his family is and how he readily accepts this poverty. On p, 8 he wrote, "And sure, sometimes, my family misses a meal, and sleep is the only thing we have for dinner." This is such an honest remark. Junior (or Alexie writing as Junior) isn't whining and complaining about being hungry. He is just accepting the fact that sometimes there isn't enough food - just like sometimes he has to walk the 22 miles to school because there is no money for gas or his father is so drunk that he doesn't remember to pick him up. Alexie's voice through the character of Junior is so unassuming and non-judgmental. Junior continues to love his father throughout the entire novel and never judges him for being an alcoholic. He also never judges Rowdy. He accepts the fate that has been handed to him and to the others in the reservation and just lives with it.
While reading this novel, I kept thinking about whether or not I would teach this in the classroom. Right now I am teaching at a college level and definitely think that my students would be able to read this and pull out the important ideas and be able to have intelligent discussions based on the themes of the novel. However, I don' t know if I would be able to teach this novel to a group of younger students. The other day I was tutoring a sixth grade girl and her mother asked me for some reading recommendations. We looked up age-appropriate novels on the Internet and this book was listed, However, I hesitated to recommend the book because of the language and some of the adult themes in the novel. While I definitely think that the ideas of death, eating disorders, acceptance and more could be discussed through this novel, I don't know how young adults would take to reading (and being responsible for discussing) the scenes on masturbation, boners or even the scene where Roger gets punched in the face by Junior. The language is honest and I think that adolescents would be able to relate to it, but I don't know if it necessarily a book I could teach. Then, I started thinking about whether or not the book could be approached like House on Mango Street - where you can teach certain vignettes - but I don't know if that approach would work either since the entries (or chapters) are so closely related and really build upon one another, whereas in Mango Street the chapters each their own vignette tied together loosely by a common thread.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novel. I was proud to be an educator when I read about Mr. P convincing Junior to strive for a better education and when Coach stayed with him all night in the hospital. It made me sad for the awkward teenager when Junior was beaten up by the 30 year old triplets or jumped on Halloween. I smiled when Penelope and Roger turn into good friends to Junior after the dance. Perhaps it is a novel I would recommend to adolescents as an independent reading - where they could identify with the awkwardness of Junior, his fascination with masturbation and life on a reservation. It is a novel that brings up hard to discuss topics and can open the lines of communication in a situation that might otherwise go undiscussed.
