-----Book Club-----Olivia Sutter
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
Summary:
Arnold Spirit is a teenage boy that lives on a Native American Spokane reservation. His parents are alcoholics and care very little about his academics. He always feels like he doesn’t fit in his community. Arnold soon discovers that he should go to a different school off of his reservation. He goes to Reardan High School, a school filled with mostly white kids. At first, he didn’t fit in but soon he became popular. His best friend, Rowdy, thinks that he betrayed his community. Arnold joins the school’s basketball team and becomes the best player. Over the time of the book, his grandmother and sister pass away. With all of the troubles that he faces, he just tries harder in basketball. "I will never have that much money. "You will when you play in the NBA." (Alexie 221) At the end of the book, Arnold realizes how much Rowdy is there for him.
Character Analysis: Arnold Spirit
- Arnold Spirit has a physical appearance of being tall and lanky. He is poor so he wears cheap clothing. Arnold is Native American so he has tan skin and dark brown hair that is almost black. "Those white kids couldn't believe their eyes. They stared at me like I was Bigfoot or UFO." (Alexie 56) He was born with water in his brain so he has an irregular shaped head.
- Arnold Spirit is usually positive so he has quality personality traits. He is smart because he wanted a better life so he went to a new school. Arnold is pretty humorous around his friends like Rowdy and Gordy. He is creative because he makes comics and draws a lot.
- Arnold is very involved in his school. He participates in his school's basketball team. In fact, he is probably the best player on the team. He likes drawing. He actually seems to enjoy school. Arnold also likes video games.
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Book Review:
I would give the book four out of five stars because it was a really good book. It showed people that racism is a problem. The main character- Arnold Spirit- got judged in a negative way just because he was Native American. It showed that once people got to know him, they really liked his personality. This book brought out the message that people are not defined by their looked personality. "Don't judge a book by it's cover." The only reason why I gave it a 4/5 was because some of it was disturbing. But, overall it was a good book with a great message.
Links:
Citations:
- Vanja's Blog: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. Digital image.Vanja's Blog. Vanja, n.d. Web. 5 May 2016. <>.
- Native Americans Today. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2016.
- World Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2016.
- Equality. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2016
- Stars. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2016. <http://i.imgur.com/7GaqhAI.png>.
- "Are White People Racist? (Social Experiment)." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2016. <https://youtu.be/UpYguy3rMiU>.