Caroline Graham The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

 I really enjoyed reading The Absolutely True Diary. Alexie depicts a very real and poignant portrayal of adolescence. I can't imagine why it would ever be beneficial to ban this novel. Of course it deals with tough (and perhaps taboo) subjects such as racism, poverty, and alcoholism but it's important to have a dialogue and be educated about these things. These are the problems that most adolescents deal with in one way or another. 

Alexie's style of writing and many of his (very intentional) decisions in crafting the novel help to make it that much more powerful and relateable. For example, even though some teens may not feel directly connected to Arnold's issues regarding racism or alcoholism, you can bet there is still something in the novel they can relate to. Alexie frequently closely intertwines the bigger societal issues Arnold is up against with the smaller day-to-day struggles of adolescence. He also uses Arnold's unique (adolescent) view of the world to color how he sees bigger problems. I think that this interweaving serves to make the bigger societal issues seem sadder and the situation more desperate. I certainly empathized with Arnold having to navigate fitting in at school (which is hard enough for anybody) while the cards are stacked against him. One example of this that stood out to me in the novel was Arnold's fight with Roger. Arnold narrates a whole section of the novel about the "Unofficial and Unwritten Spokane Indian Rules of Fisticuffs." Of course, in the end, Roger has no set "rules of fighting" and he reacts in a strange way according to Arnold. Through this scene Alexie shows Arnold's struggle with cultural clashes (the bigger societal issue) through the lens of this normal, everyday concept of a schoolyard fight. 

Perhaps the most powerful and interesting facet of the book are the drawings Alexie decides to include. These drawings serve so many purposes in the novel. In Alexie's efforts to show how Arnold goes through a lot of stereotypical adolescent "growing pains" he includes the drawings as Arnold's outlet for processing the things he goes through. Stylistically, I also think they convey a sad irony in the fact that Arnold sees his problems with the maturity level of an adolescent. He sees his day to day issues at school as just as huge and relevant as the entire societal problem of poverty or racism itself. The drawings really show how one bigger problem affects so many smaller aspects of Arnold's life. Thirdly, the drawings are occasionally humorous and convey a societal commentary from Alexie. For example, the drawing below not only shows Arnold processing his struggles with poverty and how they interweave with his desire to fit in, but this drawing also pulls out a sliver of dark humor and hints at the greater societal problems of racism and cultural clashing. In the last square Arnold jokes that to avoid spending money he can always say there's an "important Indian ceremony." This to me reflects the general ignorance of the white people about Indian culture. It signifies that Arnold is forever an "other" and it's slightly humorous that Arnold uses his culture as an excuse in such a flippant way that it reveals there's not much Indian culture left on the reservation.

Overall, I think this novel would be an extremely beneficial text to teach to middle/early high schoolers. No matter that your students are dealing with, this novel addresses so many issues relevant to adolescence. I think reading such a real and raw portrait of the struggles of adolescence would make kids feel less alone and perhaps help them to process their own struggles.