Perma Red and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: A Comparison and Analysis

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Recommended: essay on the first 5 chapters of the absolute true diary of a part time indian

Perma Red and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Over the course of the past semester we have read several books about Native American’s and their culture. The two books I found to be the most interesting were Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. In each story we see a young person from a reservation dealing with their Native Identities, Love, Loss and everything in between. Both of these novels have their similarities and their differences, but I believe they both offer insight into Native American culture that would be hard to come across elsewhere.
Native Identity issues are a common theme throughout both Perma Red & The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (ATDPTI). In ATDPTI we see Arnold Spirit Junior struggle to find his place in both the reservation where he lives, and the primarily white Reardan High School where he attends school. When Arnold transferred from the school on the reservation to Reardan High his fellow tribe members from Wellpinit called him a traitor and didn’t bother to acknowledge his attempts to escape the cycle of poverty and oppression that is often associated with reservation life. They call him names like “apple” (Alexie 131), meaning he may be red-skinned on the outside, but he wants to be white on the inside.
In the story of Perma Red, we see one of the main characters, Charlie Kicking Woman struggle to associate with his people and lose touch with his native identity over time (Earling 267). We also see Louise’s character struggling to find her own identity when she thinks about leaving the reservation in the future. However, when she stays on the reservation and becomes more in touch with her roots she gr...

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...nge relationship I do believe that in the end Penelope really did love Arnold. Not just to spite her father, but because she saw what a strong “warrior” he truly was and saw his strength in overcoming the oppression he faced in every aspect of his life.
In the end, the stories of Perma Red and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian have their similarities and their differences. Both stories tell the tale of two young people from reservations in search of a better future. Whether they succeeded we will never know, but what we do know is that they both advanced as people because of the love they received, the losses they incurred and the trials they overcame.

Works Cited:
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diaries of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2007. Print.
Earling, Debra Magpie. Perma Red. Colorado: BlueHen Books, 2003. Print

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