True Diary Preliminary Assignment Questions PDF

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1. Why does Alexie call his book the diary of a “part-time” Indian? In what ways does the book emphasize or dramatize the split in the protagonist's identity? 2. Arnold misses is best friend, Rowdy, after he starts his new school. But Rowdy doesn’t seem to want to join him there. How do Arnold’s and Rowdy’s views of the reservation—and their own lives— differ? What do you think Alexie is trying to show you through those differences? 3. At his new school, Reardan, Arnold gets to know a book-lover named Gordy, who says that “life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.” How does this idea relate to Arnold’s life? How does it describe what most teenagers go through? 4. What’s the purpose of the humor in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian? Why does Alexie use it when Arnold is clearly angry about a lot of things?

Alexie calls his book the diary of a “part-time” Indian because Junior doesn’t go to the school on the reservation with the rest of the kids there, he goes to the white kid school farther away and has to hide bits of his identity as a native american in order to fit in more. Part of the time he’s pretending not to be indian, and the rest of the time he may feel like he doesn’t fit in with the other indian kids so he’s only an indian part-time. The book emphasizes this by pointing out the differences between how he acts when he’s at the white school vs. the school on the reservation. Junior misses Rowdy, but Rowdy sees leaving the reservation to go to Reardan as a betrayal. Arnold views the reservation as a rock tied to his leg dragging him down, but Rowdy sees it as a safe place where he fits in. Alexie may be trying to show how the reservation can be both a comfort and a burden at the same time. Junior has to decide where he sees himself in the world, what parts of his personality are him and which parts are from being raised the way he was? It’s difficult for every teenager to find the balance between fitting in and not feeling constantly ostracized by your peers, and having the freedom to express yourself. The story is full of humor and jokes because that’s one of the ways a lot of people make it easier to digest difficult truths. It’s easier to laugh at the stereotypes and disadvantages of his upbringing but constantly facing that reality can be extremely depressing and may make it hard to be motivated to make any changes....