Assignment 10

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

1. Why did Mr. P say, "Son, you're going to find more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation"?

In the reservation people couldn't find jobs. They were poor and learnt to forget your dreams and hope. Mr. P saw that he still had hope apart from the rest and knew he was smart. So he told him to go somewhere where white people lived, because there was hope and he could be succesful if he went there.

2. Give 2 examples of "black comedy" in the book. Give quotes and page numbers.

Chapter 8: How to fight monsters

 

“Hey, Chief,” Roger said. “You want to hear a joke?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Did you know that Indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo?”

Chapter 18: Don't trust your computer
“The people at home,” I said. “A lot of them call me an apple.”
“Do they think you’re a fruit or something?” he asked.
“No, no,” I said. “They call me an apple because they think I’m red on the outside and white on the inside.”
“Ah, so they think you’re a traitor.”
“Yep.”

3. Explain the significance of the use of drawings in the book.

  The drawings make the book funnier, it also makes it more understanding, and drawing was something Arnold liked to do so it also shows a part of how Arnold is.

4. Explain how Arnold is caught between two worlds and how this is connected to the title of the book.

The title of the book "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian" shows that Arnold is caught between two worlds. You can see that in the part where it says"Part-time Indian" ,it means that he was an Indian before he went to a school of white people and after school he returns to the reservation.

5. There are several themes in the book. Choose 3 from the list (see assignment 12) and give detailed explanations and analysis for each.

  Identity is one of the themes in the book. He first lives on a reservation and also goes to the school on that reservation, later in the book he goes to a school for white people and finds out who he is. Another theme in the book is Home. He first thinks the reservation is his home but he finds out later he also belongs with the white people. Hopes and dreams is also a theme in the book. Mr. P said to Arnold that he needs to find a place with hope becaus he knew Arnold was smart and could change his future by finding another place than this reservation.

6. How would you characterize the relationship between Rowdy and Junior at the end of the novel? Can the two ever really be best friends again? Are they part-time friends or real friends?

  I think they can be friends again, because Rowdy was first mad at Junior for leaving the reservation and leaving him alone. At the end it seems that Rowdy isn't mad at Junior anymore, but I don't think they are going to be best friends because Junior also has white people as friends and I don't think Rowdy is going to accept that.

7. While the Pow-wow sounds like fun, Arnold wants nothing to do with it. Why?
  Arnold is afraid bullies are going to beat him up because that always happened when he went to the Pow-wow.

8. "Ever since the Spokane Indian Reservation was founded back in 1881, nobody in my family ever lived anywhere else. We Spirits stay in one place. We are absolutely tribal. For good or bad, we don't leave one another. And now my mother and father had lost two kids to the outside world." Explain how Arnold's parents had lost two children to the outside world.

Arnold's sister moved to another place with her husband. While they had a party in their caravan they died becaus of a fire. And Arnold went to a school for white people.

9. Mary describes her experience eating fry bread at a restaurant in an email to Arnold. Why is it significant that Mary can still get fry bread even though she's no longer on the Spokane Reservation?

Mary said in her email that she could order fry bread outside the reservation which she didn't expect and it almost tasted as good as grandma's fry bread.

10. What does it mean to "kill the Indian to save the child"? [5.40]
It means that the Indian culture needs to dissapear because that isn't the right way according to the people of Europe. The stole the kids from their parents and thought them the culture of the white people.