English 485: Expedition Adolescence

Sherman Alexie's Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a wonderfully engaging piece for readers of all ages. Alexie's use of clever literary devices and playing with tropes, as well as it's deep storytelling, make it an entertaining read for the more "experienced" reader while also staying very appropriate and approachable for the younger crowd. Alexie almost brings one back to their own adolescence with a natural tone that captures the voice of our (well, most of our) inner 14 year old with talks about boners and breasts, but also managing to reach the reader in ways beyond humor and nostalgia. Diary hits all the nails on the head: crushes, puberty, and home life, with a healthy dash of Culture Shock thrown into the mix. Alexie's choice of using Arnold's in-story drawings is a very bold and interesting one that ultimately helps to bolster the narrative. We're being told this story from an extremely creative, extremely awkward teenaged boy who has trouble...

The theme that really stuck out to me most in Diary was Rowdy and Arnold's friendship and how openly and unashamedly Arnold writes about how much Rowdy means to him. I think that often for young boys (and continuing into male adulthood), expressing emotion and acknowledging love within their male friendships is something that's considered "girly," as Rowdy calls it, or embarrassing. Boys are expected to hole up in man caves, eat Cheetos, and play X-Box, talking about girls only in terms of hookups and never about anything with serious emotion. It was so striking and touching to read Arnold so honestly talk about his love and admiration for Rowdy and to see how they both reveal their true selves to each other. I think Rowdy secretly loving corny Archie comics and having big dreams that he'd never tell anyone but Arnold is something that any young boy who feels like he has to deal with the world through violence or hardness could relate to, and this book is such an ...

Okay, so I took a Native American Literature course last semester with Doctor Charles, and I absolutely loved it. Over the course of the class, we read around 4 books about Native American culture, history, and identity. Adding onto that, we watched Smoke Signals, a similar story to this book, The Totally True Diary of a Part Time Indian. After finishing Charles' class, I was weary of the subject to be completely honest, and was hesitant to read another book with similar subject matter. Identity crisis, loss of home, and parental struggles were some of the mainstays of the genre, and I was expecting more of the same. But I was completely surprised by this book, and it was the first time I picked up and finished a book within two days in such a while. I would say that I definitely agree with Sherman Alexei's portrayal of adolescence in this book. The character of Junior has got to be one of the most creative yet relatable characters in recent fiction that I've ever read. H...

            Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian tackles many important topics such as racism, death, alcoholism, and self-identity. These are all particularly heavy topics and for good reasons, as they are all issues everyone either has gone through or will go through during their lifetimes. However, Alexie is still able to deliver a comedic, irreverent novel that captures the spirit of an optimistic, ambitious teenager without coming off as hollow or condescending. This authenticity is what allows Alexie to connect with the audience and is what makes the novel so successful. The author accomplishes this through a variety of stylistic choices that set it apart from other novels.            The primary method Alexie uses to convey the protagonist’s emotions and experiences is the juxtaposition between tragedy and comedy. Throughout the novel, the main character, Junior, struggles with many diffi...

              The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie was very well written and extremely fitting for an Adolescence Literature classroom. He uses many structural elements and techniques to develop the story well, and also managed to bring about many important topics among people of all ages. Alexie used cartoons, and teenage language to relate to younger audiences. As well as a plot line that contains very chaotic and over embellished stories, like many teenagers and would see their lives. At 14 years old, the most important thing is whether or not you get your crush to like you, and Arnold has that spirit.                   Personally, I really like the fact that this book spoke about many of the hardships, and often overlooked problems within society as it relates to Indians. He talks about how poor they are, the alcoholism, the loneliness a...

The True Diary of an Absolute Part-Time Indian is an overall great story. The way that Sherman Alexie displays adolescents is a great way for a lot of adolescent to relate to the story. By providing Arnold Spirit (Junior) as a teenage kid facing a lot of problems with alcohol, grief, and dealing with social problems it makes the story even more relateable to adolescents. In fact, these are probably the most common problems adolescents face across the nation today.   If we take a look at the cover for instance the title, “the Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is enough to make someone interested and we also so that there is a native American and a cowboy on the front. While in the book we see that Arnold faces being torn between two lives. White and Native American he basically has to live a double life. He has to act one way when he is at the rez and another when he is at Reardan. This to me shows a side of adolescents that we all see today. Everyone acts different ways ...

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” by Sherman Alexie is the story about Arnold (Junior) Spirit.  Arnold is a teenage boy growing up on an Indian Reservation with his parents.  Alexie crafts this story using the language of a typical teenage boy to bring the reader into the life of Arnold.  Using graphics within the novel to give greater insight into the mind of Arnold, Alexie is able to touch on many adult subjects in way that makes them accessible to a younger audience.                 Born with hydrocephaly, Arnold is different than his peers on the reservation and suffers from their bullying because of it.  Arnold recognizes the plight of growing up on the reservation and accepts the opportunity to go to a “white” school off of the rez.  Arnold struggles to find his own identity as he doesn’t fit in with either social setting.       ...

   I honestly didn't know what to expect when we started reading this book. I thought it was going to be another one of those stuffy and boring "adolescent" books that was actually geared towards a more adult audience. I did not expect to love Arnold and his story. I honestly was hooked after the first chapter, and there is really no explanation for it except for Arnold's voice is so powerful and moving that it just compelled me to continue reading about his life. Throughout the entire novel I wanted so badly to reach through the pages and just hug Arnold and let him know that someone cared about him, and that someone heard him. He is such a strong individual that has this amazing ability to see the silver-lining although he endures so much in such a short amount of time in his young life. Also Arnold's drawings were just as captivating as his words. Many times his drawings revealed more about his feelings and thought process than his actual words did, especially ...

It Was The Obnoxious Cover For years this book has taunted me. I could walk into my middle school library and show you where and on what shelf this book sits. I picked it up loads of times, it shared shelf space with many of my favorite books; but I could never bring myself to read it. I was entirely prejudiced against this book because of its cover. I couldn't stand the way Sherman Alexie's name looked like it was written in green crayon and I couldn't stand the plastic men. It looked like a clip art project and it bugged me. Either way, I wish I hadn't been such a cover snob because the book is hilarious. And I really wish I had read it when I was 10 because I would have found it even more hilarious then.  All this little bits of off kilter humor dealing with Penelope and boners really got to me. The general tone of all the humor in the story is raw and forward. The jokes are easy and the jokes are gross and they are exactly the kinds of jokes ...

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie is an absolute thrill.  The work is beautifully balanced as the author shows his sometimes questionable wit just to turn around and smack you in the face with a dead serious situation.  This writing style blends perfectly with the protagonist which only strengthens the “Diary” aspect of the novel.  The expertly designed cartoons work to pull us deeper inside his mind.  Not once did I question whether or not a passage felt authentic to the character of Arnold Spirit. I find the portrayal of poverty in the novel extremely familiar.  Growing up I had many of the strange experiences and emotions that Arnold describes.  A perfect example is early in the book when Arnold’s parents decide to put his dog down.  I had a similar experience except our dog had been injured.  Someone had shot her but we did not have the money to go to the vet.  My father and his best friend at the time...

In my opinion  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time  Indian  was written very well. Throughout the novel it  made me  wonder   whether or not it was a   true stor y because, Alexie's  ability to write from the point of view of a teenaged boy made it seem as though he experienced not only the details given about Arnold's life and relationships but the emotions as well; for example, laughing after finding out his sister died.   T he way Alexie describes Arnold's feelings about losing his grandmother, his father's best-friend, and his sister has to be one of the most honest interpretations of grief. Arnold's reaction to his sister's death , previously mentioned,   is real and defines  what it means to   laugh   to keep from crying. While reading, I couldn't help but wonder why Rowdy was his best friend .   I ts true that Rowdy was taking his anger out on other people as his father did to him, but did Arnold really ...

After I finished reading Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” I was astonished and also amazed of the quality of his work once again. I’ve read some of his other works and also watched his movie “Smoke Signals” and each time I’m always left with the same feeling. He is an amazing author and his work leaves you with no other option than to be engaged and you won’t ever want to put the book down. The way that Alexie structured the book was amazing. The diary set up was very effective and authentic. You are able to get inside of Arnold’s mind and know exactly what he is feeling throughout the entire text. I enjoy the fact that he uses graphics throughout the text. It gives you a break from the reading and as he said, “When you draw a picture, everybody can understand it.” (5) Through text we can use their description and form a picture in our head, but in the diary the picture is already there for us to match up with his thoughts and feelings. Finding out ...

My overall experience with this book was absolutely great. My first thoughts on the book before I even started to read was that I would not be able to connect with it or spark up an interest. But boy was I wrong. Not only did Junior but Alexie as well made me laugh, cry, contemplate over things I've never contemplated over and overall make me feel good about reading this book.  As the book progressed on I got a look into Junior's life and just how he comes in contact with numerous events and people who make a big impact on his life. Although he is only fourteen, Junior has a very self-aware and mature mindset to the events he comes in contact with. From him being dirt poor to him loosing three extremely important people in his life. Throughout the book he takes these events and found different ways to cope with them. Alexie did an amazing job with writing this book on a level that young adults today can definitely relate to. Although the book is writ...

The biggest challenge Sherman Alexie poses throughout The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian  is Arnold's development of individuality. He is in a constant battle with his identity, teetering between comparing himself to the Indian community of the reservation and comparing himself to the white community of Rearden. Both perspectives have their positive and negative impacts on his sense of self. This conflict of identity became evident to me from his first day of school at Rearden, when Mr. Grant called his name. "I thought you said your name was Junior," Penelope said. She accused  me of telling her my real name. Well, okay, it wasn't completely my real name. My full name is Arnold Spirit Jr. But nobody calls me that. Everybody calls me Junior. Well, every other Indian  calls me Junior." "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 bod...

              I'm going to start this blog the way everyone else did.  I LOVE the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  This novel was so well written and captivating that I accidentally read the entire book in one sitting.  WHOOPS.   I will admit that I was very skeptical going into the novel.  I’m one to judge a book by the cover, and it did not seem interesting to me.  Even the title kind of put me off to the novel.  So I heaved the biggest sigh I have ever heaved and opened the book.  How wrong was I?             I loved the novel.  From the quirky tone of Alexie’s protagonist, Arthur, to the his every day struggles of social acceptance.  I related to this book because I had a friend just like this in high school.  He was autistic and had a hard time with bullying and being social.  I was kind of like his Penelope and helped hi...

     What I enjoyed most about The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian was that Arnold felt like a real teenage boy. The voice that Sherman Alexie gave him made him sound authentic and relatable. I also liked how Alexie addressed the issues that a minority student faces in a predominately white high school. He wasn't apologetic about depicting various ways that people are racist, whether they intend to be or not.      There were moments like where Roger said that horrible joke but there were subtler mentions of racism too. Arnold addresses white privilege especially when he talks about how a lot of his friends at Reardan do have their own issues but they aren't faced with death on a regular basis which is something Junior, living on a reservation and being around alcoholism, having to walk miles back and forward to school is faced with. I also liked the part with Ted, the guy who clearly just wanted to be 'special' by giving this dancer'...