Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Blog 2

Overall, I think The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a unique book that does not really pertain to a specific age or demographic.  The book is written from the perspective of a 14-year-old with an young writing style, but does not really suit middle school or early-teen aged readers for it focuses on mature topics like masturbation, alcoholism, and bulimia.  Nor does it suit college students or young adults who might feel that it's cartoons and Junior's immaturity are below their reading level.

The book also shows that the only way the Indians can escape their horrible lives and alcoholic tendencies is to leave the reservation or return to the nomadic lifestyle.  Junior's grandmother, who had never had a drink in her life, was killed from a consequence of the reservation's alcoholism.  This shows that even those who live healthy lifestyles are doomed as long as they stay on the reservation.

On another note, I found Penelope's bulimia to be very ironic.  Junior's family can barely provide food for their children, and when they can, it's cheap, unhealthy food like Kentucky Fried Chicken.  While Junior goes hungry, Penelope essentially wastes food by throwing it up in order to lose weight.

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

After reading the beginning of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the thing that struck me the most was the alcohol abuse on the reservation.  Junior's family, as well as all the other families on the reservation, is very poor.  Junior's family sometimes goes without a meal for 18 hours, yet his parents manage to be alcoholics.  Alcohol is way more expensive and way less necessary than food, but most of the adult Indians would rather go without food than alcohol.  Many of the Indians become violent when they drink, like Rowdy and his father, creating further damage and pain.

Villains in The Bluest Eye

In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison goes into great detail about the lives and childhoods of three major villains: Cholly Breedlove, Geraldine, and Soaphead Church.  This choice of detail humanizes the villains making the reader excuse some, not all, of their behaviors and connects their wrongdoings to previous experiences.  However, the villains do not learn from their past and, instad, they cycle of abuse for the next generation.  Cholly Breedlove's view of sex was corrupted by the humiliation of  white men interrupting him losing his virginity.  Cholly passes on this sexual humiliation by raping and impregnating his daughter, Pecola.  Geraldine lives without experiencing real feeling and love.  She continues this coldness to her son, Junior, by tending only to his physical needs and only showing love to her cat.  Soaphead Church is a phony religious leader, who continues this falsity by telling Pecola that he has given her blue eyes.  While Morrison first allows for sympathy with the villains from painful past events, their continuation of the pain reinforces their role as villains and antagonists.