The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

I found The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie to be a book full of tragic events about a boy caught between two worlds, but never giving up hope that things will get better.  The main character/ narrator, Arnold Spirit, Jr., who was born with a condition called hydrocephalus, had a rough start in this world.  When he was six months old he had to have surgery because of his condition and suffered from seizures as well.  He also suffered from a host of other ailments that he finds to be humiliating.  At one point he even call himself, “…the biggest retard of the world.”

We also learn that he comes from a poor family who lives on a reservation in Washington State.  There were times when he recalls experiences of hunger, how his father shot his dog because they couldn’t pay to take him to a vet, and how he wants to put the blame of being poor on his parents but his love for them prevents him from blaming them.  Things begin to change for him when he considers and then makes the move to leave the reservation so that he can attend a school twenty miles away in Reardon (a white school).  This deeply upsets his best friend Rowdy because they spend so much time together, because Rowdy’s dad is an alcoholic and beats him, and he feels betrayed that his best friend would want to leave him.

Towards the end of the novel, more tragic events fall upon Arnold.  His grandmother is hit by a drunk driver and his sister dies in a fire, not to mention how he’s shunned at a basketball game because he joined the Reardon team, are just a few of the horrible experiences he goes through.  I’ll admit these events made me very sad and have made me not like the book so much.  

However, I can see why some teachers decide to use it in their classrooms.  As teachers we need to realize that are students come from a variety of backgrounds, and some students might easily relate to this book.  I think that you can use a variety of Arnold’s experiences on being shunned as use it as teachable moments on how treating others like they are outsiders can have a lasting impact on someone’s life.  Granted there are some themes and events that can be considered a little disturbing, but I don’t think we should keep it from students because of that, since they are exposed to far worse things at home and through social media.