Hybridity and Hope

In this entry I'm going to talk a little bit about two  points that called my attention in the book "The absolut true diary of a part-time indian."

Just as the title of this book reveals, "a part-time" indian. That's what the protagonist of the story is. 

"The people at home, a lot of them call me an apple. They call me an apple because they think I'm red on the outside and white on the inside."

Junior is a person who has a "hybrid identity" because of his "part-time" life between school and home. 
School in Reardan, a little high school consisting only of white people and Willpinit, the indian reservation. 

So you could say that Junior is sort of an indian in Raerdar and in Willprint he's sort of white. But I have the impression that it is actually difficult for him to define who he is. It appears to me that in the entire story is Junior in the search of identity.

Also Gordy, Junior's best friend in Reardan, says something important about his divided identity:

"Well, life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community." 

And he's right. There is a sort of conflict between being part of Willpint's community and wanting to "improve" as a person, as an individual, by going out of the res, by going out of the community.

The second thing that I want to talk about, is the way how the protagonist (Junior) tells his story and therefore, reveals a lot of his personality.

I focused on how the story is being narrated. There are a few elements, as irony, sarcasm, a lot of "joking around" about his life. Nevertheless I noticed how resigned he seems to be, regarding to his life, his reality and situation.

He appears to me pretty mature as a teenager, because he knows how to handle bad situations pretty well and face most adversities in his life, like the fact that most of his people are alcoholics, the big number of deaths in his life, the big decision he made by his own by going to Reardan.

Apparently he is someone who wont give up. Junior pulled through all the bad things in his life with the aim of improving his life. 

Just as Mr. P said to him, he is on his way trying to find something better. Junior is in the pursuif of hope.

I also read a bit about the authors biography. In that way I could understand better the context in which the book was written and the thoughts of Alexie.

I leave some links underneath, so you can take a look at it if you want to. 

http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/authors/p/alexie.htm

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sherman-alexie

http://www.pshares.org/read/article-detail.cfm?intArticleID=5027