Three Vignettes From the Novel "The Diary of a Part-Time Indian"

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Final Essay
Part 1
Sherman Alexie's book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian follows the journey of young Native American Arnold Spirit Jr. as he transfers from his community school to a predominantly white high school in a neighboring town. The struggle to find one's place in the world and concerns about identity, poverty, and racism are all themes dealt with in the book. Through Arnold's struggles and triumphs, the novel paints a powerful picture of the complex and often painful realities of life on a reservation and the challenges faced by Native American youth in modern society. It is a powerful and thought-provoking novel that offers a unique and important perspective on contemporary Native American life. In this essay, three vignettes from the novel that can help one appreciate the entire book are discussed.
The first vignette that is a significant representation of the entire work is a scene in which Junior describes how he is treated by other children in the white school:
“None of those guys punched me or got violent. After all, I was a reservation Indian and no matter how geeky or weak I appeared to be, I was a potential killer. So mostly they called me names. Lots of names (Alexei 63).”
The vignette details the experience of Junior in a school where he is the only Native American child. In the vignette, Junior punched one of the kids following a disagreement, but the kid does not fight back as the school is highly prestigious and students did not rely on first to solve their problems. The vignette reveals the role of identity in shaping how Native Americans were viewed by members of other races. One would think that the fact that Junior was not physically abused by other students was positive, but the vignette reveals that Junior does not appreciate the fact that other children failed to consider him a normal child who wanted to be a part of the school (Davis-Delano, Gone, and Fryberg 620). At the same time, the vignette reveals the theme of racism that is prevalent in the writing. The fact that Junior was an Indian meant that he was assigned identities that were largely constructed from the stereotypes that the children at the school had heard about Native Americans. Even though junior describes himself as a weak child in the vignette, he is considered a potential killer as that was the prevailing image of the Native Americans among the White Americans.
The second vignette that captures the message of the entire novel is the scene that involves the death of Junior’s dog. Oscar. In the scenes, Junior describes how his dog was killed by his father as the family could not afford to pay the fees required to take Oscar to a veterinarian:
And I carried him out to the lawn, and I laid him down beneath our green apple tree. “I love you, Oscar,” I said. He looked at me and I swear to you that he understood what was happening. He knew what Dad was going to do. But Oscar wasn’t scared. He was relieved. But not me. I ran away as fast as I could. I wanted to run faster than the speed of sound, but nobody, no matter how much pain they are in, can run that fast. So I heard the boom of my father’s rifle when he shot my best friend. A bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that (Alexei 14).”
The vignette reveals the impact of poverty on the lives of Native Americans. From the vignette, Junior describes how the Native Americans contend with the issue of poverty in their daily lives. Junior’s parents cannot afford to pay for the medical care for Oscar and finds themselves in a situation where they have to put him down. In addition, to the vignette, there are multiple instances where junior describes the effect of poverty on his life, especially how it affects his access to education. Going from the community school to attending a predominantly White school was a significant challenge for junior, owing to the fact that the school was located miles away from Junior’s home. Going to school was a challenge and there were instances when Junior did not go to school because he did not have money. In addition, Junior describes feeling inferior to other students as he wore a cheap outfit and could not afford to pay for most of the activities that other children engaged in. The vignette is located at the beginning of the novel and alerts the reader about the key role that poverty play in the understanding of the story.
The third vignette that enhances the reader’s understanding of the novel was a scene describing the death of one of his dad’s friends. In the vignette, Junior explains:
“A few days later after I gave Penelope a homemade Valentine (and she said she forgot it was Valentine’s Day), my dad’s best friend, Eugene, was shot in the face in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven in Spokane. Way drunk, Eugene was shot and killed by one of his good friends, Bobby, who was too drunk to even remember pulling the trigger. The police think Eugene and Bobby fought over the last drink in a bottle of wine (Alexei 169).”
In the vignette, the theme of death is associated with poverty in the sense that the vignette reveals the sadness of someone dying due to an argument about a drink. Notably, the book is filled with instances where junior had to attend the funeral of his fellow tribesmen who lost their lives due to avoidable circumstances. Eventually, Junior loses his sister Mary, and this had a profound impact on his life. All the deaths...