In the novel ‘The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’ written by Sherman Alexie, Junior, arguably the main character, goes through very hard times which are related to the author’s childhood life. Sherman expresses how he was bullied when he was younger and explores how similar his life is to Junior. Alexie presents Junior as a outsider in several different times in the book. We will explore the theme of Junior being an outsider through the moments of his life such as when he is born and how he looks, leaving the reservation, going to Readan and leaving Wellpinit, the basketball game and finally the pancake diner.

Junior is presented as an outsider when he is born. Even from birth he is bullied and isolated because he looks different and acts different to other people.The fact that he has ten teeth more than usual, has seizures, wears glasses and has water in the brain tells us the reasons why he is discriminated. We can tell this when Alexie writes,” And they called me a globe.” This suggest that he is bullied because his head is big and he stands out to differently to others.

Another way Junior is presented as an outsider is when he decides to more to Readan (a white school) from Wellpinit (native American school). As time passed it is Halloween and he decides to collect money for the poor with his friend ‘Penelope’. When he collects the money sometimes they ignore him, praise him or call him names. His is an outsider because he is not accepted most times, we can tell this when Alexie writes, “But there were a lot of people who just called me names and slammed the door in my face.” This suggest that even when Junior is trying to help out someone or do something good for the reservation he is discriminated. This shows he is hated in the reservation because he moved to all white school for a better future and have a bigger chance to for fill his dream. 

Another way in which Junior is presented as a outsider is when Junior is at his new school and he is bullied because he is the odd one out in terms of race, culture and poverty. We can tell this when Alexie writes,” They stared at me like a bigfoot or a ufo.” The word ‘stared’ suggest that they stared at him as if he wasn’t human and they were judging him. Furthermore the word ‘ufo’ suggest that in their eyes he is radically different. Alexie describes Junior as a ‘bigfoot’ as it suggest that Native Americans are very rare in Readan. The language of text in these quotes suggest that he is not like any mythical creatures( ufo or bigfoot) but they might as well see him in their eyes and views.

Also Junior is presented as an outsider when in the basketball match against his old school (Wellpinit). When they arrive he is booed and chanted bad things. They fact that time has passed since he has left old school, he is still discriminated  for moving to a different school. We can tell this when they chant “Arnold sucks” the language of the repetition of the phrase  reenforeces the idea that the crowd wants to put Arnold under pressure and to show how much hate they think of him. We can also tell that the crowd want to throw and distract Junior off his game.

One way in which Junior is an outsider is when he doesn’t have enough money to pay the bill for the pancake diner when he is with his white friends. This shows that he is an outsider as out of all his friends he is much poorer, which he has to hide from his them as they may think of him differently or treat him weirdly. Sherman shows this when he writes,” I figured out it would be my last meal before my execution, and I was going to have a feast. Thew two words ‘ last meal’ suggests that it is his last piece of food before they find out about his poverty. Another word that stands out is ‘execution’ which suggest that if they find out about his secret, this also suggest that he has high standards for them so they will think and treat him as if they were similar and ignoring the race and culture part.

From this essay we can tell that Junior overcome the fact that Readan was pulling Junior down and preventing him from for filling his own pertentail. In the book Junior is a outsider in lots of different times but later on they accept him and others are inspired to do follow their own path. He is now friends with Rowdy and Junior is and will be remembered in the reservation.

The End