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Reflection on Diary
Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was a beyond enjoyable to me with it's real world issues being mixed with the dark humor of the main character. The novel feels like an upgraded version of the Dairy of a Wimpy Kid series since they both follow a young adult protagonist and features illustrations drawn by said protagonist, but Alexie's novel feels more real. I felt that I related with Arnold in many ways as I often felt like an outcast in freshman year as well. One aspect of the novel that I find to be very emotional is how it deals with death. In the novel Arnold loses his grandmother, a father figure, and his sister and has to deal with the emotional trauma that comes with that; especially since Arnold loses his sister and the death of a young family member is always harder than that of someone who is much older than you.

Alexie did an excellent job with how a fourteen year-old kid would think and feel about many subjects with how he shares his crude humor and often writes in all capital letters to show how the character feels. I feel that Alexie did a good job of portraying adolescence with how the characters are written. In many movies and shows the popular kids are often portrayed as bad people just because they're good at sports, but Alexie writes Roger as an antagonist as first but once Arnold stands up to him he becomes his ally. The most believable relationship in the novel is the one shared by Arnold and Rowdy. The dialogue between them is fast and full of insults that carry no weight just like two teenage boys. It makes sense that Rowdy would be upset that Arnold is making his way out of the rez but he's not mad that Arnold is betraying the tribe, he's more upset that he's loosing his friend but he can't help but be proud of him doing so. The two eventually make up and become friends by the end of the book because sometimes you just need to fight your friend or beat him in a game of basketball so that you can be friends again. I think many of the other issues mentioned in the novel including how Arnold deals with death are very realistic portrayals of how a high school student might deal with them. This story deals with issues of being bulimic, the death of a family member, and losing your best friend.

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