Arnelope is not a Caged Bird: The Dichotomy of Loss vs. Hope in "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian"

What struck me the most in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian  is the thematic dichotomy of loss and hope within the novel.  Both are pervasive themes, and often seem at-odds with one another.  Throughout the book, we see Arnold reeling between feelings of hopelessness and hopefulness, often within the same chapters or even the same sentences.  Arnold’s feelings of hopelessness throughout the novel are almost always in relation to a loss that he has suffered.  But the hopelessness that Arnold experiences is unable to overpower his tenacity and resilience.  Indeed, the losses that Arnold experiences throughout the novel galvanize him to cling to hope—to chase his dreams despite the odds.  Or, perhaps more precisely, he clings to hope in order to spite the odds.   In The Absolutely True Diary, the themes of loss and hope are constantly pulling Arnold in seemingly different directions—however, as I’ll explore in my blog response, the existence of both loss and hope in Arnold’s life is vital to his growth as a character.

 We see the thematic dichotomy of loss and hope at play within Arnold’s relationship with Rowdy, in Arnold’s decision to go to Reardan and the ensuing loss of part of his sense of self, and within Arnold’s relationship with and loss of his grandmother, his sister, and Eugene.  All of these things represent hope in some way for Arnold:  He is hopeful that he will mend his friendship with Rowdy; Reardan presents a path toward a better future; his grandmother is the only person in his life who encourages him without reservations.  His sister’s hope, however short lived, inspires Arnold.  Eugene is one of the only Indians on the reservation who still thinks highly of Arnold after he leaves for Reardan, which reassures Arnold.  As we can see, Arnold finds hope in several different aspects of his life.

Without hope, Arnold wouldn’t have set out on his own to go to Reardan.  We can see this when we look at Arnold’s attitude toward the future and compare it to Rowdy’s at the beginning of the novel.  Although Arnold is scared to transfer to a school full of white people as the only Indian, he knows that his only chance at hope is to leave the reservation and go to Reardan.  However, Rowdy rejects this idea: “Man, I was scared of those Reardan kids, and maybe I was scared of hope, too, but Rowdy absolutely hated all of it” (51).  As illustrated within this exchange, Arnold is hopeful about his own life in a way that Rowdy is not hopeful.  Arnold, thus far in his life, has not internalized the hopelessness surrounding him in the same way that Rowdy already seems to be doing.  Thus, we can see that at the outset of the novel, Arnold is hopeful—but this is a reserved hope, which is often trampled by feelings of uncertainty, fear, and shame surrounding Arnold’s own identity as an Indian as well as a Reardan student.  

Arnold’s dynamic change as a character throughout the school year can be traced through the thread of confidence that Arnold develops toward his decision to cling to hope in his life in order to better himself.  One significant symbol of Arnold’s growing confidence to claim hope for himself  is symbolized by his relationship to, and identification with, Penelope.  After learning about Penelope’s struggle in her own life, Arnold sees that she is hopeful despite external pressure; although the pressures that Arnold and Penelope face are incredibly different, they both are being told in some way that they shouldn’t be hopeful for their futures.  In identifying himself within Penelope, he sees that she deserves to be hopeful—so why shouldn’t he deserve it, too?  He draws a direct comparison between he and Penelope on page 113 after she tells him about her dreams when he says “We were supposed to be happy with our limitations.  But there was no way Penelope and I were going to sit still.  Nope, we both wanted to fly” (113).  He illustrates this with a metaphor of a bird, calling the bird an “Arnelope,” with “ancillary tail feathers…perfectly suited to long distance flying at great altitudes” (113).   This is important because it marks a significant change in the novel where Arnold is beginning to claim hope for himself in a direct way; he is recognizing that he has just as much right to be hopeful in his life as Penelope is in hers, despite all of the odds against each of them.  And this is pivotal, I believe, to Arnold’s ability to withstand the overwhelming loss that he will face in the end of the book.  As I mentioned in my introduction, the tool that Alexie utilizes to underscore the importance of hope within Arnold’s life is the other major theme of the novel, loss.   The loss that Arnold suffers galvanizes Arnold against any uncertainty he had previously felt about his decision to leave, and it gives him full license to chase his dreams without wondering if he is doing the right thing.

Without the loss in Arnold’s story, his hope wouldn’t have the kinetic force behind it that we can see he has at the end of the novel.  He is shown through loss that hope is vital if he wants to seek a better life for himself.  He has seen firsthand how hopelessness within his community has wreaked havoc.  He witnesses how little hope his tribal members have for their own lives, such as his father’s alcoholism and Rowdy’s refusal to see himself as deserving of a better life at Reardan.  Arnold is at a major risk to lose hope after the loss of his grandmother, sister, and Eugene, but he knows, because of what he has already been through thus far and because of what he has learned about himself by attending Reardan, that giving up because of all of the loss that he has experienced would mean resigning himself to the very thing that has caused him so much suffering to begin with: a hopeless and lonely life on the rez.   If he wasn’t sure whether he was making the right decision to leave at the beginning of the novel, we can tell that he knows he is doing right for himself by the end of it.  He becomes more certain of himself and his decision than ever before.  He wants his community to have hope in themselves, as it is the only way to end the cycle of suffering; by making the choice to claim hope for himself, Arnold has taken the most difficult step toward healing not only his own suffering but also healing a larger pattern within his community, which is illustrated in the closing chapter of the novel.  

As hinted in the closing chapter, the hope that Arnold has seems to have made a significant impact on Rowdy.  This is indicative that Arnold’s journey through loss and toward hope is not just important to his own growth as an individual, but that the choice he has made has the potential to inspire hope in the members of his tribe, even if that manifests in a different way than it has for Arnold.   For example, we see that Rowdy has grown to understand why Arnold is choosing to leave the reservation, which is a stark contrast to his reaction to Arnold at the beginning of the book.  Rowdy says, “I always knew you were going to leave us behind and travel the world.  I had this dream about you…you were standing on the Great Wall of China. You looked happy.  And I was happy for you.” (229). Although he doesn’t say it outright, readers can tell that Rowdy admires Arnold for having the courage to leave, and this parallels the inspiration that readers might feel after reading Arnold’s story of loss and hope—they might reframe how they think about the loss in their own life and the hope they have for their future, as Arnold is an excellent example of choosing hope in the face of extreme loss and adversity.  The theme of hope is emphasized in the last chapter of the novel, but this time, it’s a different kind of hope:  Arnold says “I hoped and prayed that [my tribe] would someday forgive me for leaving them.  I hoped and prayed that I would someday forgive myself for leaving them” (229).  This quote underscores the overwhelming difficulties that Arnold has had to face, and will continue to face, because of the decision he has made to leave the reservation; but he chooses to remain hopeful that his tribe, like Rowdy, will come to forgive him for leaving.  

Because of its willingness to dive deeply into profound loss and death in order to emphasize its thematic message of hope, The Absolutely True Diary does something little other YA novels do: it unflinchingly and unapologetically goes there and comes back triumphant in its message, illustrated in Arnold’s decision that he can leave.  He decides that he will not be caged by the suffering and loss around him—like the Arnelope daring to fly, Arnold dares to cling to hope.