The Abandoned People

Mina Alkhafaji
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie



Imagine being bullied and hated by your own people just for the conditions you have and the education you want. In the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, a Native Indian boy named Junior goes through these struggles. 

Junior lives on a Native American reservation where the conditions are very poor. Nobody there has the opportunity to get a good education and have a carrier because they’re forgotten by the world. Junior didn’t want to end up like the rest of the people on the reservation so, he decided to go to an all-white school outside his rez. He was considered as a traitor just for following his dreams for a better future. Junior always felt “Zitty and lonely, I woke up on the reservation as an Indian, and somewhere on the road to Reardan, I became something less than Indian” (Alexie 83). Junior tries very hard to please both sides while focusing on getting better. Junior goes through things other than his condition and his bullying; he struggles with losses of important people as well. 

I recommend this book to other people because it opens up your eyes to things you’ve probably never thought of before. Before I started reading this book, I never thought of how oppressed the Native American community is. Not many people remember the Native Americans because they’ve been pushed out by society and that has made most of them hopeless about their future. Junior even got mad at school and said, “My school and my tribe are so poor and sad that we have to study from the same dang books our parents studied from” (Alexie 31). The reason behind these reservations is to keep the natives under U.S. government control. It’s also good that this book was written from the point of view of a hopeful Native American because it disproves a stereotype; all Native Americans are savage drunks that don’t get anywhere. Junior’s sister followed that stereotype because she, “didn’t go to college, didn’t get a job. Didn’t do anything” (Alexie 26). With all the problems going on in the world right now, I think it’s important to educate ourselves about all races, regions, and ethnicities. This will educate us and hopefully end the racist ideas people have in mind. This book helps us realize how our actions could affect a whole group of people and it helps us remember the forgotten. At the end of the day, we are on their land and we need to start treating them with the respect they deserve. 

This story would be enjoyed by readers that have gone through some of the same issues Junior dealt with, like his brain condition, racism, or even being bullied. Even if you haven’t dealt with any of those things, you can still learn a lot about the lives of the natives!

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