The teacher whose nose Junior has broken is angry with Junior, but he also understands, better than Junior does, the feelings behind Junior’s anger. Junior doesn’t realize it at the time, but this moment of anger signals his refusal to accept the poverty, alcoholism, and poor education that his fellow Spokanes take for granted. Consequently, Junior’s suspended, the first time he’s ever gotten into trouble at school. Without really understanding why, he suddenly hurls the textbook across the room, hitting his teacher in the face and breaking his nose. To him, the fact that his tribe is so poor that students have to use the same books their parents did is the “saddest thing in the world.” He feels his hopes for the class, and for his life, evaporate. With horror, Junior realizes that the book he’s holding is at least thirty years old. As he leans in, he sees “Agnes Adams” written on the inside cover. On the first day of his Freshman year of high school, Junior’s so excited about learning geometry that he opens his textbook to kiss it. Nearsighted vision in one eye and farsighted in the otherĭue to Junior’s physical challenges and speech impediment, people on the reservation regularly beat him up and refer to him as a “retard.” Junior’s Suspension.Junior was born with too much cerebrospinal fluid in his brain, and the consequent brain damage has resulted in numerous complications, including: Although based on the author’s childhood, True Diary is a work of fiction.ġ4-year-old Junior (Arnold Spirit, Jr.) lives in Wellpinit, Washington, a small town on the Spokane Indian Reservation, known to residents as “the rez.” Junior describes the rez as “located approximately one million miles north of Important and two billion miles west of Happy.”

Set in 2006, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a semi-autobiographical novel by Sherman Alexie. 1-Page Summary 1-Page Book Summary of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The absolutely part time indian