The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian:

Before I began reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian I found out that Sherman’s novel is an autobiographical depiction of the life he lived on the reservation. I am very familiar to the reservation he relocates to during his journey. Reardan Washington is a town I have passed through thousands of times. I have to pass through Reardan on the way to my lake cabin on Lake Roosevelt.  I have grown up around this town and stop in often on my ay to and from the cabin. Because I was able to make this connection I became fascinated by he story. The narrator of the novel is a fourteen-year-old native kid named Arnold Spirit Jr. a character based on Alexies’s experiences growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit Washington.  The narrator displays a teenage boy going through the usual changes during a fourteen year olds stage of life. Arnold is also a hydrocephalic with a stutter and a lisp. These three characteristics cause Arnold to be harassed by other kids cruelly. Needless to say Arnold is known as the reservation outcast and is beaten to a pulp on a regular basis. Arnold decides to leave the reservation and attend the affluent white school 22 miles away in Reardan Washington home of the Indians. Now he is known as the traitor who gets caught between two different lives. One life is one on the reservation the other at the white high school he attends. Due to the feeling of feeling like a nobody, Arnold decides to make a reputation for himself as he tries to discover a new identity. This would be a great book to teach because it is so relatable to high school students. He author is also local so I believe that is also another reason to read this novel.