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Brady Brock
Mrs Breunig
English II
09 April 2018
Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian Book Essay
In this book “Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” written by Sherman
Alexie, Junior faces many things that make his life on the reservation in Washington hard
for such a little boy. Not only does he face death and loss, he also has to make the
decision of staying on or leaving the reservation in order to get himself a better future,
and going to a school in Reardan, Washington. He puts his crazy friendship at the stakes.
Rowdy is Junior’s best friend on the reservation and they have a love hate relationship.
He begins to realize that he needs to succeed and to show people that he could do it, by
trying to achieve his goals. He learns he needs to let people in and figure out how to
overcome his hardships. Junior uses the hard times to push himself forward and achieve
greatness. In the novel, Junior’s poverty, death/loss, and avid mindset to change his life
controls his complicated situation on the reservation. He forces himself to make such
tough decisions in order to find hope.
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To begin, let's talk about Junior’s death and loss problems, Junior hopes to save
his dog and begs. In the beginning of the book, Junior’s dog, Oscar has to be put down.
“We have to take Oscar to the vet, he’ll be okay.”(9) Junior’s mom said that they can’t
afford it and he will be okay. He knew she was lying to him. Her eyes got wide and her
face got red. They are a poor family, so needless to say, Junior’s dad had to put down
their dog down, the old fashion way…he had to shoot Oscar. That was the most
convenient way to put their beloved dog down. Bullets were cheaper than a vet bill on the
reservation, and Junior’s family just didn't have the money for th...
