Life off the Reservation

Life Off The Reservation

We are first introduced to Sherman Alexie’s character, Arnold “Junior” Spirit, in the first few pages of his book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. As we continue to read his story we gain a picture of how growing up poor and Indian has impacted his life. Throughout the story he tells how he has had to struggle with many physical disabilities that were a result of a birth defect. However the care he received from Indian Health Services resulting in how he looks are not the more difficult challenges he confronts. At times he may seem to be overwhelmed by what he is up against but he gives it everything he’s got to overcome what he faces. As a teenager he tackles the daily experience of living on the reservation where alcohol and hopelessness appears to be widespread. As he describes what his parents could have been had they been giving the opportunity, he feels his situation might have been different. "Seriously, I know my mother and father had their dreams when they were kids. They dreamed about being something other than poor, but they never got the chance to be anything because nobody paid attention to their dreams" (Alexie 11). Encouraged by his geometry teacher Mr. P, Junior dreams of being more and realizes that a better education is outside the landmarks of his reservation. As a result he will decide to leave the rez and attend school, at nearby Reardan. He compares the two schools and the kids who attend the two schools, to the opening line of Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. “We Indians were the worst of times and those Reardan kids were the best of times” (Alexie 50). Reardan was considered one of the best small schools in the state. It had a great deal more to offer than the schools on the rez. With computers, science labs and books to teach with, Junior believes he will get the opportunity that he doesn’t have if he stays at the school on the reservation. His parents both realize and share with him that his attending school in Reardan will present challenges. No school bus will come out to the reservation to transport him twenty-two miles away and there isn’t always money for gas to transport him themselves. Nonetheless he knew that his parents loved him and wanted to help him in any way possible. They will support his decision to go. His mother will tell him, “The Indians around here are going to be angry with you” (Alexie 47). But like Junior had said, “I am running to find something” (Alexie 46). The conversation he has with his father on the way to his new school that first morning reveals his dad’s support. His father tells him, “those white people aren’t any better than you”