The Absolutely True Diary... Response #1

The Absolutely True Confessions of a Part-Time Indian
Reflections and reactions

I read this book after discussing it for over an hour with classmates – that is to say, I did not finish my homework on time. Coming to this text with so much knowledge ahead of time no doubt colored my response to the piece, but many of the pieces that had an impact on me were not discussed at length in class.
I found myself often engaging with the characters’ relationships with others. We talked in class about trusting the narrator out of the gates when he talked about being such a huge loser on the rez, by being liked by so few people and picked on by so many. In class, while listening to others speak, I was quick to assume that Junior was putting us on a little – either exaggerating for effect, or remembering things inaccurately. In reading, however, I did not have a hard time believing these details. In recollecting the beating he took from the triplets, the detail seemed very authentic to me – their being thirty years old, and Rowdy’s retribution. Then, later in the book, I found a detail which helped me to better understand how/why Junior had such a tremendously difficult time on the rez with others, and why he was more able to successfully find friends at Rearden.
On page 133, Gordy tells Junior about how anybody who is considered “weird” gets cast aside and trampled by the society that they do not fit in with. This phenomenon is not specific to Junior’s experience, but transcends time and culture. I think this helps Junior understand himself a bit better as he struggles with his own identity, and the inner conflict of “becoming white.” This kind of revelation helped me to understand why Junior was able to make friends outside of the rez at his new school. All the same, it helped to create a new kind of tension and conflict for the protagonist, insomuch as his alienation from Rowdy became highlighted, and his basketball win over his peers from the rez seemed to act as a kind of climactic point which provided very interesting contrast to the walk-out scene in class.
Because of this, I had no trouble accepting Junior’s account of being picked on and bullied (black eye of the month club, etc) as being accurate. As a matter of fact, I took this detail as being crucial for setting the tone with Rowdy. In Rowdy, we have a fiercely loyal and protective friend who cares so deeply for Junior that it scares him, and makes him feel weak and vulnerable. His being protective helps to set the tone for their relationship, and his nearly kicking Junior before trashing the minivan (near the opening of the book) helps to establish the weakness/vulnerability of his character. These are necessary details, I think, in establishing what becomes one of the book’s central relationships.
I have had relationships that included elements of Rowdy’s and Junior’s. Not to the extreme level that it is presented in the text, but relationships where loyalty and abandonment lived in the same place. When I read the final recapturing that Junior tells about playing basketball one-on-one, I liked that he respected the reader enough to know how hugely important a game of basketball was at that moment without knocking us over the head with it. The game was bigger than itself, and it fit well. The conversation that they had did stray from what we could expect from Rowdy, but it was not too much of a stretch for me. Actually, it kind of reminded me of the ending to Good Will Hunting.