Lucian Figliulo Eighth Grade Humanities                                                                              

Part Time Indian Literary essay                             10/16/15

Would you chose to go to a better school if you knew it would help your life dramatically? In the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Arnold, the Spokane Indian protagonist, makes the bold decision to go to a school off the rez where he is the only person of color. Arnold attempts to escape the poverty and hopelessness of life on an Indian reservation in Spokane, Washington. He attempts to convince Rowdy, his best friend, to go with him. But Rowdy angrily refuses to leave the rez behind. Rowdy should have left the reservation and gone to Reardan to escape being a victim of the vicious cycle of poverty and his father’s abuse, but he was not courageous enough.

Rowdy’s father’s abuse is a force that oppresses his son. It makes Rowdy feel paralyzed and unable to escape the reservation.  Rowdy’s father, along with many others on the reservation, suffers from alcoholism. Many of these people are able to control themselves but Rowdy’s dad has no limits: he is just cruel. One time Arnold saw Rowdy and thought, “His father is drinking hard and throwing hard punches, so Rowdy and his mother are always walking around with bruised and bloody faces.” (16)  Rowdy’s father does not treat his son or his wife with respect and does not acknowledge their feelings. Rowdy’s father’s abuse prevents Rowdy from leaving the rez and escaping the cycle of poverty. The best way for Rowdy to escape his father’s abuse and to make sure he does not repeat his father’s mistakes is by going to Reardan. If he had chosen to go with Arnold they could have undergone a transformation together. Rowdy’s father’s abuse is a force that brings him down but along with that is the poverty in the community and family.

Rowdy, along with most native americans on the Spokane reservation, feel an extreme sense of hopelessness. This comes from the lack of resources, educational inequality, poverty, alcohol and drug abuse in this community. Rowdy is a victim of all of these forces and could possibly escape them if he had the courage to go to Reardan, like his best friend Junior. But he is too oppressed to take action. Poverty has made him feel like he can’t change his life. Poverty has made him feel inferior to everyone else. When Junior tells him that he is going to Reardan, Rowdy says to him: “‘You always thought you were better than me.’” (52). Rowdy has come to believe that he’s not smart or able to do anything with his life. He internalizes the oppression poverty generates and feels like he can never make anything of his life in the way junior is trying to.

One could argue that Rowdy is courageous because he doesn’t abandon his father or the reservation and wears the abuse like a battle scar. But, he is not brave enough to make the bold decision to switch schools. When rowdy and junior were playing basketball they started to talk, “‘Where are you going to school next year?’ I asked. ‘where do you think, dumb-ass? Right here, where  I’ve always been.’” This quote shows that still after that hole time rowdy is still not courageous enough to take the big step to go to reardan. He is unable to think about change in his life.

Rowdy is better of going to reardan than staying on the hopeless reservation with his abusive father and impoverished family. Rowdy should have left to either be able to stand up against his father but he can’t because he is the victim of abuse and poverty. Seeing indians as inferior is reinforced by stereotypes portrayed in the media and in our modern American culture. Native Americans are victimized by the ignorance of mainstream america. The message that they get from the media is that Native Americans are stupid and ugly. Kids like Junior and Rowdy have come to believe that this is the truth. This all amounts to rowdy being unable to take action on his life and go to reardan.