The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Mary’s letter to Junior is written entirely in her voice and even takes the form of an actual email delivered on Thursday, November 16, 2006 to Junior’s email account. Including an actual “document” from Junior’s life adds authenticity to The Absolutely True Diary in the same way his cartoons do. Like Junior’s world, Mary’s world in Montana has expanded as she has joined a much larger reservation with several White towns. Mary’s discovery that most everyone is nice mirrors Junior’s discoveries in Reardan and Wellpinit, as well, having found kindness in his classmates. In Mary’s telling, however, her new life is much rosier than Junior’s experience at Reardan—she acknowledges it’s difficult to get a job, but otherwise her letter is unfailingly and (perhaps suspiciously) positive. Mary’s experience with ordering Indian fry bread from room service and eating it with from a “fancy plate” while imagining “some Flathead Indian grandma” in the kitchen cheekily critiques the commodification of Indian culture for the sake of tourists (101).

Junior notes the irony of Indians celebrating a traditional American Thanksgiving in “Thanksgiving.” Indeed, he and his father laugh heartily that any Indians survived at all, revealing humor to be a powerful antidote to the centuries of oppression that Indians have experienced at the hands of White people. The brief glimpse into Rowdy’s home life and Junior’s interaction with Rowdy’s father provides a stark contrast to the loving, warm scene of laughter that immediately precedes it. Whereas Junior’s father is sober on Thanksgiving, Rowdy’s is drunk and reveals himself to be cruel and homophobic. To some extent, homophobia is normalized on the reservation and at Reardan—Gordy’s insistence that he’s “not a homosexual” suggests that even the smartest student feels some sort of homophobia (94). On the reservation, homophobia exists in tandem with the culture of toxic masculinity, which presents in the bottling up of emotions and using violence to solve problems. Rowdy’s reverence for Junior’s art in the face of this cultural norm underscores both the strength of Junior’s art as well as their friendship.

Junior’s experience with Penelope in “Hunger Pains” illuminates for him the many different coping mechanisms people have for dealing with their pain. Even as Junior understands something profound about the world, Junior reacts to Penelope’s bulimia the same way he reacts to his father’s alcoholism, dealing with her confession with humor and perhaps underreacting to very serious problems. This further reveals Junior’s naïveté, but it could also be indicative of coping mechanisms Junior has developed to keep himself afloat.

As he and Penelope begin their relationship, Junior has the self-awareness to acknowledge that they are both using each other to a certain extent. Penelope dates Junior to get back at her racist father, and Junior dates Penelope in part because he becomes popular—not just because of Penelope’s popularity, but also because of her Whiteness. It’s not just the students who pay Junior more attention, but also the teachers. Their relationship has another side, though, and Junior reveals his deep capacity for empathy when he identifies the way in which they experience limitations—he as an Indian, she as a White girl in a small town. He asserts that because he loves her, he has to “love her pain, too” (112) a sophisticated and deeply empathic take on love that might also to apply to his relationship with father and alcoholism, as well as other characters in the book (112).