BLOG #6

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Reflection

            I think Junior is already a very mature adolescent. Junior is on the road to his coming-of-age moment, and he is moving rapidly towards it. Junior recognized how his reservation was suffocating and held him back from making something big of his life, even if that only means getting off the reservation and getting a decent job - or, perhaps, going to college. Junior’s math teacher, Mr. P, was part of the reason that Junior eventually left the reservation to go to school at Reardon. However, Junior still recognized the nature of the “rez”. He watched his best friend getting beat by his own father and do nothing about it, except become angrier and angrier. Also, Mr. P would not have approached Junior if he had not thrown a book at Mr. P’s face. Junior was feeling so trapped by the reservation, and so depressed about the fact that they could not afford new text books for the students and instead had to use textbooks that were more than thirty years old. Junior was the one that started the conversation Mr. P had with him. He was the one that always wanted to get of the reservation.  

            In addition to recognizing the stifling nature of his home, Junior made the valiant decision to attend Reardon, even though he knew that the kids back home would torment him for it [USING THOUGH TO INTERRUPT A MAIN SENTENCE]. He isolated himself from both communities. However, he knew attending Reardon was the way to make something of his life. Even though Junior is semi-conscious of what other people think of him, and worries about getting beat up for being an Indian or a book nerd, he also doesn’t really care [USING THOUGH TO INTERRUPT A MAIN SENTENCE]. On his first day of high school, he said “I know the other kids are going to give me crap about being so excited about school. But I don’t care” (Alexie 28). It takes a very mature adolescent to know that they are going to be made fun of for something, yet still go through with it because it’s what they care about.

            I would even say that Junior has had some defining moments already; he may not have had his true coming-of-age moment, but he has made some strong decisions that have helped lead him on the path to coming-of-age. One instance was when he decided to go to Reardon, even if it meant losing his best friend and isolating himself. Another was when he punched Roger for being so racist and mean to him. What Junior’s grandmother said was true; Roger even respected Junior for standing up to him, even though he was much larger than him. Junior even said it himself – even though to most kids what Junior did wouldn’t be so much of a big deal, to Junior it was because he was in a way telling the world he was not a human punching bag [USING THOUGH TO INTERRUPT A MAIN SENTENCE]. Junior’s other defining moments were when he stood up to his “fake science teacher” and became friends with Gordy. Junior could have sat down in his seat and skated by, but instead, he stood up to the teacher. He decided to reach out to Gordy. Because he befriended Gordy, Junior is happier [START A SENTENCE WITH A "BECAUSE" CLAUSE]. 

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Even though Junior is making moves toward having a better life, he is still stuck in his white and Indian world; there is no medium [SENTENCE USING A SEMI COLON WITH TWO DIFFERENT LENGTH SENTENCES]. He even shows signs of racism when he is obsessing over Penelope. He thinks she is absolutely perfect, when she is bulimic and egotistical. Nor does she have a very redeeming personality [STARTING A SENTENCE WITH NOR]. Junior recognizes she has these qualities, but doesn’t care because she is so beautiful and so 'white' [ENDING A SENTENCE WITH BECAUSE]. He even described her 'white-ness' with great detail. Although Junior is rapidly maturing, and almost every chapter discovers something new about his world and how to live in it – not as an Indian, but as a person – he still cannot get the idea of race separation out of his head. Maybe he won’t be able to, because he lives in a community where Indians and white people feel so segregated; I think Junior’s “who am I and what am I going to do about it” moment is going to be overcoming the race barrier, and helping his friends and family do the same [SENTENCE USING A SEMI COLON WITH MIRRORING SENTENCE LENGTHS]. Until then, Junior is continuing down that path and on the road to adulthood.