The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian Essay

Junior: The Loyal Native American

Prompt: “It has been argued that Junior is an ‘assimilationist Native

American’ who has abandoned his people.

In the novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, a Native American name Junior transfer from a reservation school Wellpinit to mainly caucasian school Reardan.  From the time Junior transfers to Reardan to the death of his grandmother, Junior was considered a traitor to his tribe on the reservation except for his family members and close friends of the family. In the novel, Junior build friendships in Reardan and earned respect from most of the students and staff of the school once Penelope started dating him in the chapter Hunger Pains (Page 104). Many theories Junior mention in this chapter that may be the reasons why Penelope starred dated, but the outcome was more acceptance from the people of Rearden as his popularity grew due to his odd relationship with the noted “beautiful and perfect” Penelope. Junior joins the basketball team at Reardan in the chapter Reindeer Games (page 135) and fought against his former school twice. The second game between Reardan and Wellpinit ended with Reardan winning against Wellpinit, but also Arnold feeling ashamed to be part of a team who had defeated his former school.

Junior had partially assimilated into culture but he never abandoned his tribe at the reservation. Junior remained on the reservation after transferring to Reardan, coming back each day to live with his family in their house. Junior in the novel indeed took part and adapted to new cultures in his new school including going to more social events, creating friendships with other students at Reardan, and change his approach to bullies from fighting to more passive approaches. However, Junior did not leave his tribet. In the chapter In Like A Lion,  Arnold expressed empathy with Wellpinit knowing some of the very terrible situations that most of the players in the wellpinit team goes through each day. There situations, included alcoholic relatives, hunger some days, and mainly close to nothing compare to all the opportunities and devices that most Reardan basketball players had access to at anytime. Junior in that chapter was acknowledging the hardships of his tribe even when his team had losted the game.

In the novel, there have been mentions and hints of the some of the residents of the reservation considering Junior a traitor for leaving Wellpinit or a basically white school. These incidents and behavior of shunning Junior by the tribe lead to some people believing that Junior was infact a traitor if his people considered him to have abandon his tribe over the stronger white people in their eyes. A overall definition of abandoning a person, place, and any other possession is leaving the say possession completely and never returning to the possession. Clearly, in the novel, Junior stayed in the reservation. Junior never left the reservation to live outside the reservation with white people, not physically abandoned the reservation. Going on a more indirect definition of abandonment involving culture, abandonment means in this term means to completely leave one culture to assicurate oneself in another culture. Junior, however, was both Native American and White when starting to build friendships in Reardan. The novel states that junior felt he was Native American at the reservation with his family and felt white at Reardan with his friends at the school. He was experiencing two cultures, not abandoning his native culture as he learns of a new culture.

Junior began to pave a path at Reardan to avoid being emotional forced to give up due to the suppressing surroundings of Wellpinit in which mostly everyone had given up on life. Junior slowly endures the beginning struggles of change from ignorant teachers of his native traditions to being singled out discriminately. He later becomes part of the school and for the first time in his life be accepted by the community, not just his family. Junior’s tribe never took him seriously and he was always ignored unless being bullied and it can be assumed he had been enduring this sense of ignorance for many years. In Reardan, Junior suddenly was part of a community when dating Penelope. He was acknowledged by the people, even if it was theorized by him just because of his relations with Penelope. Junior was accepted by the Reardan community, yet he never let go of his native home. He stayed, he continued to try to reconnect to his former friend Rowdy who hated him but slowly forgiving him. In the last chapter, Talking About Little Turtles, Junior mentally proclaims how he thought of his home as surprisingly pretty when he view the reservation from the large tree. On the last page of the chapter, page 230, Junior remarks on how he would love his home and wishes for his people to forgive him. The feelings that show Junior never had abandoned his tribe and home.