Arnold's Individuality - Lucy McElroy

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 body.(Excerpt from page 60-61, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian).

Almost immediately, Alexie draws a distinction between "Junior" and "Arnold." The events following this conversation only support this idea that he is living like two different people. Throughout the novel, he struggles with differences in culture, which only further confuses his development of individuality.

The role of graphics in the novel enhance the reader's understanding of Arnold's development. For example, on page 182, Arnold draws himself playing basketball under Rearden's team against Wellpinit. While he's in Wellpinit's gym, he's being called a "white lover," people are booing him, he has devil's horns, and a quarter is bouncing off of his head. 
He's being shunned by his family and his home community for being a traitor, but Arnold had really never been accepted into their culture prior. Actually, their disapproval of his transferring schools ultimately allowed him to rise above those cultural restraints. He realized that the alcoholism, death, poverty, and overall failure were the common characteristics of the reservation and that he didn't have to follow in their footsteps.
But at the same time, all of these problems made him feel guilty. He even considered that his sister's death was his fault, that because he'd left the reservation, she left home and it was his fault that she died.
On the other side of the graphic, he is playing in Rearden's gym. Instead of the boos, people are screaming, "Destroy them Arnold!" He is depicted as an angel with a halo and everyone is cheering. By comparing himself in this context, he sees that he's valued by the community. Instead of the sad, worried look on his face, he looks surprised. I think this helped Arnold focus on his individual thought instead of being so strongly influenced by those around him.
On page 216-217, Arnold writes of his sister:

She went searching for her dreams, and she didn't find them, but she made the attempt.And I was making the attempt, too. And maybe it would kill me, too, but I knew that staying on the rez would have killed me, too." 

This is a progression of Arnold's individual thought. He realized that he wasn't responsible for his sister's death, that his decision to attend Rearden was successful and the best thing for him.

Development of individuality is a huge transformation during adolescence. Kids leaving their parents' domain, and being exposed to opposing cultural norms causes a shift in their ways of thinking. Arnold clearly experiences this transition throughout the novel. His progression into an individual is a journey in which all adolescents can relate to with cultural norms coming at them from all sides of the spectrum, especially with the access to technology today.