Native American Literature

           If you haven’t yet read Sherman Alexie’s novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, it is a must read.  However, since this is a book about life, it is not without its disconcerting moments: masturbation, domestic violence, racism, alcohol related deaths, bullying, and the ill effects of poverty all figure into the text.  It also makes readers face the harsh truth: “That reservations were meant to be death camps” (217).

In spite of those moments, this is mostly a book about empowerment and hope.  It dispels some myths: “Hunger is not the worst thing about being poor” (8).  In addition, it helps readers see with new eyes: “The greatest gift is tolerance” (155). 

Through the main character, Arnold Spirit, a Spokane Indian a.k.a. Junior, readers further learn about resilience and about triumphing over handicaps.  Arnold reminds us all that life is laden with pain: “We all have pain.  And we all look for ways to make the pain go away” (107).  Some people turn to addictive behaviors, like alcoholism or eating disorders, but Arnold reminds us not to give up on the world; instead, we should find healthy escapes, like drawing:

I draw all the time. . . .

I draw because words are too unpredictable.

I draw because words are too limited. 

If you speak and write in English or Spanish or Chinese or any other language, then only a certain percentage of human beings will get your meaning.

But when you draw a picture, everybody can understand it (5).

And for Arnold, a stuttering, lisping, hydroencephaliac, communication is fraught with challenges, but important:

    

     So I draw because I want to talk to the world.  And I want the world to pay attention to me. 

     I feel important with a pen in my hand.  I feel like I might group up to be somebody important.  An artist.  Maybe a famous artist.  Maybe a rich artist (6). 

Thus, Alexie reminds us of the value of nurturing dreams, of paying attention to dreams.  Arnold’s dreams are not only about communication; they are connected to his desire to escape poverty.   Arnold knows his mother, given the chance, would have gone to college, his sister would be a writer of romance novels, and his father would have been a musician, but “nobody paid attention to their dreams” (11):

We reservation Indians don’t get to realize our dreams.  We don’t get those chances.  Or choices.  We’re just poor.  That is all we are.

It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor.  You start believing that you’re poor because you’re stupid and ugly.  And then you start believing that you’re stupid and ugly because you’re Indian.  And because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor.  It’s an ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance.  No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor (13).

Alexie also talks about anger, about how “volcano mad” or “tsunami mad” is a symptom of poverty.  Many of his characters exhibit such anger: Rowdy, Rowdy’s father, the Andruss brothers, even Arnold, who throws a book at Mr. P when he discovers his reservation school, Wellpinit High, is using books that are 30 years old or more.  His anger leads to his choice to attend the off-reservation school, Reardon.  Thus, Alexie invites readers to think about anger as a life-changing power.  Sometimes, anger provides the first step in making a dream come true; after all, activism has its roots in anger. 

This book also reminds us of the power of laughter as catharsis and the power of affirmation:

Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from an adult?  Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from anybody?  It’s one of the simplest sentences in the world, just four words, but they’re the four hugest words in the world when they’re put together.

                        You can do it (189).