The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

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Luc Nguyen 8 purple Humanities The Part-Time Absolute Truth In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a book by Sherman Alexie, a young Spokane Indian boy named Junior writes about his life. Junior's story demonstrates "absolutely true" elements through the reality of death and grief, the humanization of all characters and the style of writing, and is "part-time" in how multiple characters live double lives. Junior's story, though fictional, evokes a truth of life through the depiction of death and its aftermath. Many characters die in the story:Junior's dog, ("Oscar died," pg 15), grandmother, ("she [grandma Spirit] died during emergency surgery." Pg 157), uncle, ("Eugene was shot and killed..." pg 169) and sister ("'Your …show more content…

In real life, nobody is definitively evil, but often in fiction characters are vilified for no reason. In this story, there are no real villains. Roger, at first, seems to be an antagonist, but he turns out to be nice. Penelope first seems like a shallow pretty girl, but she has dreams and fears. '"I want to go to Stanford and study architecture.... Because i want to build something beautiful. Because I want to be remembered.'" Most heartbreaking is the development of Rowdy's character. Originally just an angry kid, it becomes clear he fears that Junior will abandon him. The emphasis on character development makes this story "absolutely true" because the readers can relate to the genuine …show more content…

Junior lives as a part-time Indian, going to the white school Reardan, and returning home to an Indian reservation. Junior sums it up himself when he says "Traveling between Reardan and Wellpinit, between the little white town and the reservation, I always felt like a stranger." Penelope also lives as a part-timer, though in a subtler way. When she is alone with Junior, they talk heart to heart about their dreams and their problems. However, in the presence of her friends, Penelope is cold and rude to Junior. "She looked at [him] and sniffed... 'Do I know you?'" Gradually, she becomes more open about her friendship with Junior and reveals that she cares about him when "she kissed [him]" after he tells her he was poor. This shows that Junior was her friend regardless whether he was poor or rich. By giving many characters two sides to their life, the story shows people living

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