THE END

The end of this book is tragic. Many deaths and sad events happen that made Arnold reflect and change his way of thinking. All this loses were caused by alcohol. First his grandmother is hit and killed by a drunk driver, a fellow Indian; family friend Eugene is shot in the face by his friend Bobby after fighting over alcohol; and his sister and her husband die when their mobile home is accidentally set on fire after a night of heavy drinking. This events test Junior and his hopes for the future are now getting lower and lower. He now wonders how dark this world can be and if one time an accident like this happens to him, what would he do? He has to many things in his minds. His family, his friends, his old friends, his school, too many things in mind disturbs Juniors life. But this events also allow him to see how much his family and new friends love him with their support and their help for Arnold in this hard times. He now sees himself as a part-time Indian and a part-time American, just like the title. At the end he reconcile with Rowdy during a basketball game and agree to be together no matter were the future takes them. He end just like he started, happy with everyone and ones again together with Rowdy. 

"But I was crying for my tribe, too. I was crying because I knew five or ten or fifteen more Spokanes would die during the next year, and that most of them would die because of booze."

Arnold now describes the reservation as a place of senseless and meaningless deaths. People deserve a better life and accidents because of things like alcohol can change someones life and here Junior understands the true meaning of being alive and of being a healthy person and he is grateful of it. Many people have been left behind because of stupid accidents and he wont allow another close friend or family of his to pass away again because of alcohol.

"Rowdy and I played one-on-one for hours. We played until dark. We played until the streetlights lit up the court. We played until the bats swooped down at our heads. We played until the moon was huge and golden and perfect in the dark sky.

We didn't keep score"

 

This is how this book ends, with a meaning full event between Rowdy and Arnold being friends once again. At the end he achieved what he wanted, happiness and truth. Now he knew everything, he knew how to make friends and he knew how things should be made. He was now kind of wise, he felt important now and that every kid in this world no matter how poor they are, they can make a change. 

THE BIGGEST DECISION OF HIS LIFE

 At the end this book was great and taught me that even when everything seems lost, there is a solution and that hope and a future always exist. Little things like changing school and changing the place you live can change your life. This book is easily one of the best books I have read so far and it helped me understand that everyone has a duty on this world and that everyone is in this world for a reason. I truly loves this book and I think it was the best choice for me to read a book like this, entertaining, sentimental, fictional but with a real message.

Rivalry

Junior's new friend, Roger, makes a suggestion that would change Junior completely. He tells Junior to make the tryouts for the basketball team, and surprisingly he manages to enter the varsity team and this leads him into other conflicts later. He trained hard for his first game and manages to win, but everything changed when he was notified he was going to play against his former school, Wellpinit. Playing against them is shocking for Junior and specially against Rowdy, Wellpinit's basketball star. The first match demonstrates Junior how angry the reservation is with him for leaving him and transferring. Everyone turns their backs to Junior and during the game Rowdy elbows Junior in the head and knocks him off unconsciously. In the second game, Reardan manages to win and Junior blocks Rowdy in the game and a rivalry starts. He feels victorious until he saw Wellpinit players faces after their defeat and he remembers the difficulties they face at home and their lack of hope for a future. Ashamed he breaks down into tears and vomits in the locker room, nothing was the same.

"But for once, and for the only time in my life, I jumped higher than Rowdy.

I rose above him as he tried to dunk it.

I TOOK THE BALL RIGHT OUT OF HIS HANDS."

 

 This quote demonstrates how Junior has changed during the story. Before he entered Reardan, he would do anything to make Rowdy feel good and if he needed to loose to make Rowdy feel good, he would do it. Now he is different, he is not timid anymore now he feels comfortable, he feels somehow superior and now he is competitive and doesn't care if his opponent feels good or not.

"But I looked over at the Wellpinit Redskins, at Rowdy.

I knew that two or three of those Indians might not have eaten breakfast that morning.

No food in the house.

I knew that seven or eight of those Indians lived with drunken mothers and fathers.

I knew that one of those Indians had a father who dealt crack and meth.

I knew two of those Indians and fathers in prison.

I knew that none of them was going to college. Not one of them.

And I knew that Rowdy's father was probably going to beat the crap out of him for losing this game."

 

The basketball games between Reardan and Wellpinit are complicated for us, as readers, since we are cheering for Junior, but we also kind of want the poor people at Wellpinit to win. Junior now starts ti regret his decision to play against his old friends, he feels guilty of leaving Rowdy and he finally understand how poor people really feel and are. He miss his old and simple life. 

 

 

JUNIOR'S CHANGE DURING HIS TWO SCHOOLS

 This part really changes Junior's life and the reader can see how he has grow up and change during this story. The climax finally occurs when he realize how bad he was after beating his former school Wellpinit. He felt like a different person, he knew his life had changed and that no matter what he did he couldn't go back to the old and boring Arnold (first time in the book he is actually named with his real name). He regrets his choice, he feels sorry for his old friends, he knew that everything was going to change after he left his old life. 

 

The New Life

Junior now has made a choice and decided to leave his school and attend Reardan High School. This school is not only better but also it is a school in which kids with lots of money attend and most of them are white. The only Indians are Junior and the mascot. Rowdy however is upset of Junior's decision and their relationship isn't so close anymore and for the next year they don't see each other too often. Now Junior is another guy and he is now in love with the most beautiful and popular girl in school, Penelope. He also makes a new friend called Gordy and they study together all the time.

After being around white people for a descent amount of time, he realize his culture and theirs is much different and now he sees how much stronger his family ties are compared with the white people. Their parents don't attend to events and they grow up with different norms. The school star athlete Roger punches Junior and Junior strikes back making Roger and his friends to respect him and to make Junior gain popularity and friends. Also Junior gets to know his crush, Penelope better and also now he is popular with the girls. Everything is perfect for Junior.

"Indian families stick together like Gorilla Glue, the strongest adhesive in the world. My mother and father both lived within two miles of where they were born, and my grandmother lived one mile from where she was born."

Arnold tells us that his family has never, ever left the reservation. They have always been there from 1881 and I think is hard for Junior to leave his reservation but somehow he needs to do it for his best. His family I think are going to try to prevent this but sooner or later Junior needs a future and there is no future in the reservation but in the outside world there is. 

"I love Indians. I love our songs, your dances, and your souls. And I love your art. I collect Indian art." 

This quote is said by Ted, a billionaire who collects Indian art. This quote in a sense changes Junior's way of appreciating his culture. He feels important for the first time and now he is proud of being Indian, for him it was an accomplishment and now indirectly he is more confident of himself. 

JUNIOR'S COMPARISON OF HIM AND HIS CLASSMATES

This part of the book has made me want to read this book everyday. The author is just so good at making the reader feel connected with the book and with all this experiences and stories, I feel like if I new Junior my entire life. I think this part is the rising action and all of this is going to suddenly lead to a bigger problem and then the story is going to be amazing. What the book does the best is in the illustrations, they are the perfect and help the reader to keep track and laugh for a good time reading.  

A New Journey

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, written by Sherman Alexie is a entertaining book where the main character, Junior, lives poverty in the Spokane Indian Reservation. This main character is not like the others; he was born with hydrocephalus, (extra fat in the brain) and gave him some serious defects. He suffers from seizures, poor eyesight, stuttering, and lisping; therefore he is picked up by other kids and gets bullied in school. For his luck his best friend Rowdy is a huge guy who everyone is afraid of and when Junior gets bullied or beaten up, Rowdy does his work. His family is suffering economical problems and Junior sometimes starves for days and he can’t do anything about it. Another problem he has is that he cannot afford medications and when he is sick he has nothing else to do that to wait for the best, or when his dog Oscar got sick, the only thing he could do was kill him so that Oscar can stop suffering. Junior is now in a difficult situation in where he is asked to leave his reservation and attend to another school because there is no more hope in that place and he has to start a new life. He doesn't know what to do but in his heart he knows the best decision is to leave. 

"I wish I were magical, but I am really just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation."

This pretty much determines a lot about Junior. Though he tries to see himself in a positive light, he ultimately comes to the conclusion that he is just a "poor-ass kid." Also we can see in this quote that his economic situation isn't specific to his family, his entire reservation is poor, and a good future is very far away for him and the rest of the community.

"My parents came from poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people."

Poverty is an inherited condition, and it is not a choice. It is something that you are born into and sometimes this can change your life from age 0 until you die. It is something unfair and everyone should have the same rights to shine in their future, but kids like Junior sometimes the only thing they have is hope and wishes and some of them are impossible to complete without wealth. 

JUNIOR SINCE DAY 1

This book has been great so far and it describes the settings and the characters in a way that you can feel connected to. The author makes a really good job using characterization and imagery to bring depth to the story and to make the reader to appreciate this book non-stop. The introduction was loud and clear and every character has their own traits and is recognizable among each other. In other words, this book has been great and very entertaining and I cant wait for the main problem to occur and read the struggle of the character with society to see how this character find a solution and starts to be someone in this cruel world.