Race identity in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian”

Before buying a book, we often look at the cover and more importantly, the title in order to discern what the book may be about. When I first read the title of Sherman Alexie’s book, I assumed that the protagonist was of mixed race, with the illustration on the cover as the only hint that the author means Native American by saying ‘Indian’. However, when I actually read the book, I realized that the protagonist’s part time status comes about due to his suspended state between the reservation and the all white school he attends. It is interesting to note that the narrator does not lose his ‘Indian’ status by attending a white school, but simply has to adapt his habits to those of the students at his school. The scene where Mr.P explains the purpose of his old teaching habits saying “we were supposed to make you give up being Indian. Your songs and stories and language and dancing. Everything. We weren’t trying to kill Indian people. We were trying to kill Indian culture.” provides a great contrast to the idea of the half-indian, because the narrator doesn’t have to give up his entire identity in order to escape the reservation that the whites made to further repress the Native Americans.

The protagonist’s portrayal of the ‘Indians’ as hopeless (especially when he asks his parents who has the most hope and they say “white people”), and how he believes that “there’s nothing you can do about it” thus justifies sacrificing some of his identity in order to make it off the reservation. He must mix his culture with that of the whites’ so that he is no longer seen as completely other. He does this by joining the white school’s basketball team and playing against the reservation’s team. In order to make it personally, he must make some sacrifices, the biggest of all is becoming an outsider to his own people. I look forward to see how he reconciles his identity in the end of the book.