Diary of a Part Time Indian Sherman Alexie
Reduced Adversity
In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the author allows readers to create a vivid image of the lives of the Spokane Indians by using teen language, humor and irony because it allows the readers to face serious issues in an enjoyable way. Junior makes the readers understand the way he lives in his reservation full of poverty and alcoholism and goes to the outside world filled with people discriminating against him. Alexie, using Junior’s humor and teen language makes these tragedies seem less awful and to address the alcoholism surrounding him.
Let’s start with the humor he uses in making the mishaps in his life seem less dreadful. When Junior is in math class he says, “Yep, I have to admit that isosceles triangles make me feel hormonal” (25). When the reader reads this, their reaction is to laugh. In reality, the author is trying to communicate that they live in such poverty and have such lack of education, so they are very eager to learn. Another example of Alexie using humor is when the white dentist downgrades the Indians at a level that is “less human” believing they do not feel the same pain as his white patients (2). When Alexie describes this part, his intention is to make the reader chuckle a bit. He achieves this, but at the same time he is proving the racism there is towards Indians in a less intense way. When Junior asks his dad about thanksgiving and what they should be thankful for, his dad tells him the should be thankful that they didn’t all get killed (102). It is funny, but points out the way Indians feel about their past.
Alexie also uses teen language to make the readers relate to the story. When he mentions the poverty and hardship he is living, he uses language teens nowadays use. He states, “I am really just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation” (7). Here, Alexie is using repetition and
In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the author allows readers to create a vivid image of the lives of the Spokane Indians by using teen language, humor and irony because it allows the readers to face serious issues in an enjoyable way. Junior makes the readers understand the way he lives in his reservation full of poverty and alcoholism and goes to the outside world filled with people discriminating against him. Alexie, using Junior’s humor and teen language makes these tragedies seem less awful and to address the alcoholism surrounding him.
Let’s start with the humor he uses in making the mishaps in his life seem less dreadful. When Junior is in math class he says, “Yep, I have to admit that isosceles triangles make me feel hormonal” (25). When the reader reads this, their reaction is to laugh. In reality, the author is trying to communicate that they live in such poverty and have such lack of education, so they are very eager to learn. Another example of Alexie using humor is when the white dentist downgrades the Indians at a level that is “less human” believing they do not feel the same pain as his white patients (2). When Alexie describes this part, his intention is to make the reader chuckle a bit. He achieves this, but at the same time he is proving the racism there is towards Indians in a less intense way. When Junior asks his dad about thanksgiving and what they should be thankful for, his dad tells him the should be thankful that they didn’t all get killed (102). It is funny, but points out the way Indians feel about their past.
Alexie also uses teen language to make the readers relate to the story. When he mentions the poverty and hardship he is living, he uses language teens nowadays use. He states, “I am really just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation” (7). Here, Alexie is using repetition and