True Diary Final Essay

Zak Gainor

DeWit

English

March 5, 2014

Float On

In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, written by Sherman Alexie, the main character Junior lives on an Indian reservation ravaged with alcoholism. Junior displays several ways of keeping his head above water as he faces the struggles of living on the reservation. As the story continues, it is clear that it would be very easy for someone in this situation to give up all hope, and essentially “drown” in his circumstances. Junior is able to endure and overcome thanks to a few very important people and experiences. He is continuously encouraged to make positive changes in his life, and in the end Junior is able to accept the situations he has had to overcome and use them constructively.

In the beginning of the book, junior is outraged to see that the same geometry book he has been given was the same book his mother has used many years prior. Junior throws the book at his teacher Mr. p, and is suspended. While junior’s family is disappointed in him, surprisingly Mr. P comes to visit him. Mr. P says, “…You kept your hope. And now, you have to take your hope and go somewhere where other people have hope… You're going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation "(163-168). Junior realizes he must find a way off the reservation, and asks his parents “who has the most hope”, and they tell him white people. Junior decides he wants to go to Reardan, even though it is a rich, white, and very racist school. Mr. P describes Junior as a fighter, which contributes to the idea that Junior will not be submerged by the challenges he faces. He is resilient, and instead of accepting his fate on the reservation, he decides to Rearden because he believes it will give him the best chance of getting off the reservation.

Later in the book, junior begins to date Penelope. They attend the winter formal but Junior is forced to wear his father’s suit from the 70’s, Junior is embarrassed but Penelope doesn’t care and seems to find humor in it, “Oh, my, god!” She yelled for everybody to hear. “That suit is so beautiful. It’s so retroactive that it’s radioactive!” (121-122). After the dance they go to a pancake house with some of their friends. Junior only has five dollars, not nearly enough to cover Penelope and himself. He lies to Roger and says he forgot his wallet, and Roger lends him forty dollars. After they finish eating, Junior and Penelope are talking and Penelope asks if Junior has less money than he makes it seem. Junior admits to this, and Penelope tells him that Roger had that feeling. She asks if he has a ride home, but he can’t lie. Roger and Penelope give Junior a ride home, and continue to do so whenever he needs it. Junior realizes that Penelope and Roger must really care about him. They lent him money, gave him rides, and showed him hope. Not only was Junior nervous about starting at Reardan, he felt that in order to survive there he had to lie and cover things up. Penelope and Roger accepted him the way he was.

This same feeling of support is displayed again later in the story. After Eugene is killed, Junior falls into a depression, and doesn’t attend school for some time. Junior falls so far behind that he thinks about dropping out, but finally decides to return. When he does, his teacher chastises him in front of the entire class, “Oh, class,” she said. “We have a special guest today. Its Arnold’s spirit. I didn’t realize you still went to this school, Mr. Spirit” (175). However, Junior could not predict what was about to happen, “then all of my classmates walked out of the room. A spontaneous demonstration” (175).  If this situation has gone any differently, it could have been detrimental to Junior’s future. He could have chosen to drop out and not show up again, essentially sinking.  Instead he gained the support of his entire class, thus encouraging him to continue at Rearden.

Junior recalls a day years ago when he and Rowdy decided to go to Turtle Lake. On the way there, Rowdy notices a rather large pine tree and insists that they climb to the top. Junior is reluctant at first, but eventually gives in. once they get to the top Junior cannot believe he actually succeeded. They can see the entire reservation and Junior is captivated by its beauty, “I was scared, sure, terrified… but it was also fun, you know? We were more than one hundred feet in the air. From our vantage point, we could see for miles. We could see from one end of the reservation to the other” (225). Soon they decide to get down, and looking back on the memory now Junior is thankful he climbed the tree because if it hadn’t then he never would have been able to see how beautiful the reservation truly was. In correspondence to Junior climbing the tree and transferring to Rearden, is the idea that in order to get a reward, you must first take a risk. Junior had no idea how beautiful the reservation would be until he reached the top of the tree, and at the same time he had no clue how beneficial Rearden would be to his future until he transferred. While both terrified him at first, each experience served a major role in keeping Junior afloat.

Throughout the novel there were many incidents that Junior had faced that could have easily caused him to give up and accept his fate on his reservation. However, Junior chooses to stay afloat and consciously makes decisions to better his future. He first shows resilience when he refuses to accept the same textbook his mother had previously used. His teacher notices this and encourages him to get off the reservation, which gave him hope that Rearden would be his best chance for a successful future. Although, transferring to Rearden was intimidating at first, he soon meets Penelope and Roger. They all become friends, and Junior realizes he has found friends who accept him no matter what. Later Junior reflects on a memory he has of climbing a pine tree at Turtle Lake with Rowdy. At first he was terrified but eventually gives in, and couldn’t be happier once they reached the top. Similar to the feeling he had after transferring to Rearden. The risk he took paid off in the end, helping junior stay afloat. Had any of these experiences been different, we cannot know if Junior would have ever successfully gotten off of the reservation.