Blog Post: 3/23

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie deals with many social issues including racism, body image, family dysfunction and most importantly; identity. The protagonist, "Junior," struggles to find himself as a young and smart American Indian teenage boy.

    Throughout the story Junior struggles to understand who he is. At the beginning of the book, Junior begins by telling the reader that he is hydrocephalic, a medical condition that puts him at risk of brain damage and makes him susceptible to seizures. “I was born with water on the brain. Okay, so that's not exactly true. I was actually born with too much cerebral spinal fluid inside my skull. But cerebral spinal fluid is just the doctors' fancy way of saying brain grease. And brain grease works inside the lobes like car grease works inside an engine. It keeps things running smooth and fast. But weird me, I was born with too much grease inside my skull, and it got all thick and muddy and disgusting, and it only mucked up the works. My thinking and breathing and living engine slowed down and flooded. My brain was drowning in grease. But that makes the whole thing sound weirdo and funny, like my brain was a giant French fry, so it seems more serious and poetic and accurate to say, ‘I was born with water on the brain.’” Hydrocephalus is very important to how he sees himself – and how others see him as well. He also mentions multiple times that he is a weirdo. Another example is, “They stared at me, the Indian boy with the black eye and swollen nose, my going-away gifts from Rowdy. Those white kids couldn't believe their eyes. They stared at me like I was Bigfoot or a UFO. What was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town?” In this quote, Junior clearly mentions the ethnicity difference between him and the other students. He already sees himself as an outcast in that community, as well had his at home.

    Junior’s real name is Arnold spirit, and he struggles so much with his two identities, “‘My name is Junior,’ I said. ‘And my name is Arnold. It's Junior and Arnold. I'm both’ I felt like two different people inside of one body.”

    Junior is clearly confused as to who he is, however throughout the story, with the help of his new friends, he begins to realize who he is. He is a part-time Indian who is willing to live his life out to the fullest.