‘The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian’ is a story about a kid named Junior that goes through some problems. Junior has many problems like losing his loved ones and being treated unfairly in a white school called Reardan. He is a Native American who lives on a reservation with his mum and dad, who are alcoholics, his sister named Mary and his grandma. Junior is rejected by his community in Wellpinit because he has gone to a all white school, this annoyed the other Native Americans because they think that Junior is showing that what they are giving Junior is not enough even though the other Native Americans are poor. This shows that Junior is an outsider because he acts differently when he is in Reardan but he also acts differently in the Rez. Junior feels like two different people in two different places because he wants to blend in but the one thing those two completely different people have in common is that they are both hated by other people. In this essay I will be talking about, How Junior is an Outsider.
The moment when Junior first goes to Reardan with a black eye and lots of bruises that Rowdy gave Junior when he said he was leaving the Reservation to go to a all white school and when he got to Reardan all of the white kids starred at him as if he was strange and mysterious like Bigfoot or a UFO. This shows that Junior is an outsider because he is being starred at like he was a monster and this also shows that Junior looked and was treated completely different to how the white kids were treated because the white kids never walked around the school and other places with bruises and black eyes that someone gave to them. This moment is also about how it made Junior upset that people on the Rez didn’t feel happy for him because managed to get into a better school that the Native Americans believed to give whoever went there a better life. The quote ‘Starred’ suggests that when Junior was starred at by all of the white kids he was abnormal only because the Native Americans on the Rez treated him badly but the white kids were treated well by anybody else that was white, even other white people that another white person might not know.
The moment when Junior is seen as someone that is like the school mascot shows that Junior is an outsider because a mascot is something unreal or imaginary and not important. When Junior was seen as the school mascot this shows that Junior is not important at all because a mascot is only used to represent something and nothing else, mascots are only used to represent things. This also shows that Junior is not cared about and someone that is weird to see in a all white school. This moment is also about how Junior is shown to be weaker than the white kids, this is because the thing that is represented by a logo or mascot or any other thing is more important and has more of a meaning. The quote ‘Mascot’ suggests Junior not to be important and not cared because no one cares about the logo of something, mascot of something and other things but people would really care about what the actual thing that is being represented is.
The moments when Junior comes back from Reardan show that Junior is an outsider because all of the Native Americans reject him in the Reservation because Junior left the Rez and went to Reardan. The reason why the other Native Americans hate and reject Junior is because he went to Reardan, they aren’t just annoyed with Junior because he went to Reardan, it is also because the Native Americans believed Junior left because what they were giving him was not enough to keep him happy even though everyone on the Reservation are poor. This moment is also about Junior betraying all of the other Native Americans by leaving them. The quote ‘Reject’ suggests that the Native Americans hate Junior for leaving the Reservation but instead of not allowing Junior to come into the Rez they just hate him for leaving the Reservation.
The moment when Junior wins his rematch in the basketball tournament and he then says that the Native Americans that lost the match don’t have the things that the white kids in Reardan had so Junior thought about what is going to happen to the Native Americans because they lost this match. This shows Junior is an outsider because the white kids have much more than the Native Americans but Junior is in the middle of what Native Americans have and what white kids have. Junior also says that the Reardan basketball team are Goliath and that the Wellpinit basketball team are David. This moment is also about Junior’s feelings about going up against is community after betraying them. The metaphor ‘David and Goliath’ suggests that Reardan has much more things and are more prepared because Junior calls Reardan’s Basketball team Goliath but the Wellpinit basketball team was described as David by Junior because the Native Americans have nearly nothing and are not as prepared as Reardan’s basketball team.
All of the four moments show that Junior is an outsider because of multiple reasons and evidence to support the reasons why and how Junior is shown as an outsider. The moments explain what makes Junior different to everyone else, the effects of him being the only Indian in Reardan, why his community in Wellpinit reject him and the things that Junior and all of the other Native Americans don’t have compared to all of the things that the white people have. These are explained moments in the story ‘The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian’ that show why and how Junior is shown as an outsider that goes through quite a lot of problems.
English Essay By Jose De Caires.
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