The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Plot Summary
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (2007) is a novel for young adults written by Sherman Alexie. It is told in the first-person, from the viewpoint of Native American teenager and budding cartoonist Arnold Spirit, Jr. (better known by the nickname "Junior"). Detailing Arnold's life on the Spokane Indian Reservation and his decision, upon encouragement from a reservation high school teacher, to go to an all-white high school in the off-reservation town of Reardan, the novel deals with issues such as racism, poverty, and the following of tradition.
Plot
The novel opens with Amold's explanation of the fact that he was born with an excess of cerebral spinal fluid inside of his skull (an event that he describes as being "born with water on the brain"). The brain damage that resulted from this and the surgery that he went through in order to remove some of the fluid has left Arnold with many physical problems: He has forty-two teeth, is skinny, has an over-sized head, hands, and feet, has poor eyesight, experiences frequent seizures, and stutters and lisps. Mistreated by others on the reservation because of these problems, Arnold is regularly beaten up and given such nicknames as "retard" (for the brain damage that he has sustained) and "globe" (for his large head). His family, like the majority of the other reservation families, is incredibly poor: This point is emphasized when Arnold's adopted dog Oscar begins to suffer from intense heat exhaustion and Arnold's father is forced to kill Oscar with a rifle to avoid having to pay the expensive veterinary treatment necessary to save him.
Arnold's life on the reservation is brightened by his friend Rowdy, described by Arnold as being "the toughest kid on the rez." That's why his name is Rowdy. Rowdy's father abuses his son and wife; thus they are constantly and noticeably covered in bruises (Rowdy describes the wounds as "war paint"). Despite the hardships that he experiences and his cold, tough attitude, Rowdy is one of the few Spokane Indians on the reservation that treat Arnold with respect, and would care if he were to be gone (something that "he'd never admit").
On Arnold's first day of high school, he speaks of his concerns of losing Rowdy's friendship to the other high schoolers that Rowdy will most likely meet if he successfully tries out for the school's varsity basketball team (a feat that Arnold is sure Rowdy will accomplish), but is enthusiastic about his geometry class. However, when his teacher, Mr. P, begins to hand out textbooks to the students, Arnold realizes that his book is the one that had been used by his mother, who was thirty years old when she gave birth to him, thus making the textbook at least thirty years older than Arnold himself. Angered and saddened by the fact that the Spokane reservation is so poor as to be unable to afford new textbooks for its high school and feeling that all of his hopes and enthusiasm have been crushed, Arnold violently throws the book, which ends up colliding with Mr. P. He is given a suspension from school, something that brings criticism and disappointment from his family.
A week into Arnold's suspension, he is visited at the front porch of his family's house by a bandaged Mr. P, to whom Arnold apologizes. They speak about various things, such as why Arnold threw the textbook and about the fact that Arnold's sister (Mary Spirit, who is often referred to by the nickname "Mary Runs Away" and who spends most of her time in Arnold's home's basement) had a desire to write romance novels. Mr. P, having seen many bright Spokane Indians (among them Arnold's sister) lose hope and a desire to succeed after experiencing life on the reservation, believes that Arnold, a relatively bright student, deserves more than what he will get from continuing to live where he is now. He goes so far as to suggest that Arnold leave the reservation in search of a better future. Arnold, prompted by Mr. P's suggestion that he leave the reservation, gets some words of advice: "You can't give up. You won't give up. You threw that book in my face because somewhere inside, you refuse to give up." Hearing that, he decides to transfer to Reardan-the school full of rich white kids in the countryside. asks his parents if he can transfer high schools to the high school in the rich, mostly white, off-reservation town of Reardan. Though Arnold's mother is an ex-drunk and his father a drunk, they do not wish for their children to end up like them, and, like Mr. P, believe that there is hope for Arnold off the reservation; thus they allow him to transfer to Reardan's high school. Arnold's decision brings harsh criticism and violence from Rowdy, who declares Arnold a "white lover" and attacks him.
On Arnold's first day at Reardan, his father drives him the twenty-two miles from the reservation to the school. The only Indian to attend the school, he is treated somewhat as an outcast by the other students, and taunting and threatening remarks from a group of boys eventually drive Arnold to violence. Despite his troubles, Arnold begins to enjoy Reardan, developing a crush on a white girl, Penelope, and making friends with a student named Gordy. Junior tries to talk to Rowdy, who he had been friends with at Wellpinit, and since they had been little kids growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation. He tells him about how he's falling in love with Penelope: "Hey Rowdy," I wrote. "I'm in love with a white girl. What should I do?" "Hey Asshole," Rowdy wrote back. "I'm sick of Indian guys who treat white women like bowling trophies. Get a life." They had been fighting ever since Junior had left and Rowdy has gotten mad everytime they had communicated, even when Junior went to knock on Rowdy's door to give him a picture he drew of the 'good old times'. His father answers the door and is just as rude as Rowdy himself, saying: "Yeah, I'll give it. Even if it is a little gay."
As time goes by, Arnold and Penelope develop a closer relationship. He makes it on the varsity basketball team, something that isn't common for a freshman.
Eventually, though, he is struck by more tragedies - his sister, who eloped and moved to Montana, dies in a trailer fire, his father's friend Eugene is killed, and his grandmother is run over by a drunk driver.
At the end, though, the author implies that Arnold will have a bright future someday.