The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherwin Alexie
Sherman Alexie makes his story universal to Young Adult readers by the matter-of-fact tone he takes. Junior’s dark humor somehow softens the blow of self-consciousness apparent in adolescents with his “ugly, thick, black plastic” glasses and his “st-st-st-st-stutter”. These are those parts of one’s personality that cannot be returned and Alexie manages to placate the painful truth of that with hilarious honesty. His creative outlet (drawing) also speaks to teenagers on their very level; this angst-ridden point in their life becomes more bearable when they find the freedom to express the turmoil, humiliation, and/or other awkward moments. Only other teenagers can understand teenagers, and even then only very select teenagers can relate to other ones. They can speak the same language as other people and even do the same things as them, but most of the time they are misunderstood. Alexie solves this problem quite poetically once he says, “When you draw a picture, everyone can understand it”. As young adults, Alexie reminds us how we have all experienced those heartbreaking moments that we’d rather not, those moments in which even our parents must have us take a seat to deal with the reality of adversity.
