My reading of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The plot

I’ve chosen the paragraph were Arnold rises high in the air and blocks Rowdy`s dunk.

“I rose above him as he tried to dunk it. I TOOK THE BALL RIGHT OUT OF HIS HANDS! Yep, we were, like, ten feet of the ground, but I was still able to reach out and steal the ball from Rowdy. Even in midair, I could see the absolute shock on Rowdy`s face. He couldn`t believe I was flying with him. He thought he was the only Indian Superman. I came down with the ball, spun, and dribbled back towards our hoop. Rowdy, screaming with rage, was close behind me. Our crowd was insanely mad. They couldn`t believe what I`d just done. I mean, sure that kind of thing happens in the NBAand in college and in the big high schools. But nobody jumped like that in a small school gym. Nobody blocked a shot like that. 

This paragraph represents a lot about the plot. First of all, it`s how the Reardon fans cheer when Arnie did the amazing block. This sums up how much the Reardon students image of Arnold has changed. He went from an outsider to a local hero, and they went from ignoring him to caring about him. He`s one of them. And this represents the plot really good.

The theme

I`ve chosen this paragraph were Arnold and Penelope discuss their dreams.

“I want to go to Stanford and study architecture.”
“Wow, that´s cool,” I said. “But why architecture?”
“Because I want to build something beautiful. Because I want to be remembered.”
And I couldn´t make fun of her for that dream. It was my dream, too. And Indian boys weren´t supposed to dream like that. And white girls from a small town weren´t supposed to dream big, either.
We were supposed to be happy with our limitations. But there was no way Penelope and I were going to sit still. Nope, we both wanted to fly”

In my opinion, this paragraph describes the theme perfectly. Arnold and Penelope discuss their dreams and that’s exactly what the theme in this book is; dreams. Both Arnold and Penelope was uncertain they were able to achieve their dreams, but they had hope. That draw your attention to hope wich is exactly the other theme in this book. Dreams and hope fit perfectly together in this setting: without dreams there is no hope, and without hope there are no dreams.

The setting

I’ve chosen this quote were Mr.P talks to Arnold about the rez. I could not find a suitable paragraph that described both the rez and Reardon (the two places where the setting is).

“If you stay on this rez,” Mr. P said, “they´re going to kill you. I´m going to kill you. We´re all going to kill you. You can´t fight us forever.”

Mr.P describes the rez as a murdering place. The rez does not literally murder people, but it kills the spirit in the people. The rez is such a depressing place that it can kill people`s hope, dreams and spirits. That`s why I think this paragraph describes the setting quite good.

Character development 

I chose a paragraph were Rowdy explains to Arnold that he is an old-time nomad.

“You`re an old-time nomad,” Rowdy said. “You`re going to keep moving over the world in search of food and water and grazing land. That`s pretty cool.” I could barely talk. “Thank you,” I said. I would always love Rowdy. And I would always miss him, too. Just as I would always love and miss my grandmother, my big sister, and Eugene.  Just as I would always miss my reservations and my tribe.”

I chose this paragraph because it describes Arnold. It describes Arnold as a traveler and an explorer, and that’s exactly what Arnold is. He traveled away from the rez and explored a new life at Reardon. The paragraph also explains that Arnold is a caring person aswell. He cares about the ones he leave behind and he would always miss them no matter where he traveled.

My impression of the book

This book surprised me big time. Before I started, I was stupid and thought it was boring because I judged it by its cover. But when I started to read, I immediately understood that this book was awesome. I was very positively surprised because the book was great and I loved it.