Danielle Jago Blog Post #2

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I absolutely love The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. As I was reading, I felt so connected with Junior. I think Alexie is a master of projecting his character’s feelings and experiences to his audience. I thought the way Alexie portrayed loss was particularly meaningful as well. When Junior lost his grandmother, I started crying adult tears, honestly. Years ago, I lost my grandma (she was not really my grandma, but we called her grandma), and it all just seemed so similar to his portrayal. She was such a pure, happy woman who everyone loved, like Junior’s own grandma, so I felt myself relating to the story so much in that moment.

In terms of this text connecting to others, I found myself relating this to Tillie Olsen’s Yonnondio: From the Thirties in my head. Both works center around families who seem to be more or less trapped in this cycle of poverty. My brain really went into high gear with the comparisons between the two when I read the line on page 14 where Junior says “A bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that” because both works address how violence can perhaps manifest itself from poverty (although that specific quote was in the context of the family mercy killing the dog, I felt it could be extended to a broader context). Here is more about Yonnondio if you are interested: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/230865.Yonnondio

While reading, I had a question about Mary’s larger purpose in the story. I thought it was interesting that even before she moved to Montana, she seemed to be absent. I noticed that of all of Junior’s family members, we heard the least from her. She was there but not at the same time. I was wondering if that was supposed to be meaningful outside of just character development.

Overall, I think Alexie communicates the process of adolescent development through the mismatched eyes of Junior well. The way Junior struggles to find his niche in his school can be applied to any adolescent anywhere. Early adolescents especially struggle with conformity in the school environment, and I think Alexie showed that well particularly through the function of Junior’s name since he goes by Junior on the reservation and Arnold at Reardan. I think that alone epitomizes his internal struggle to adapt to his two different environments in an effort to fit in.

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