The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian – Flashcards

Arnold "junior" Spirit Rowdy- Arnold's indian best friend Roger- Arnold's white friend who starts out as a bully but turns into a gentleman Coach- Arnold's basketball coach who teaches him a lot about life Grandmother Spirit- Arnold's very spiritual grandmother hence the name. Is killed when hit by a drunk driver Mary Spirit- Arnold's sister who messes up a lot Penelope- Arnold's girlfriend/friend who shares his pain in a different way Mr. P- is the one who convinces Arnold to go to the whit school so he can have hope Gordy- teaches Arnold the "white ways" Reardon- the white school Arnold begins to attend Wellpinit- the Indian school Arnold used to attend

Junior had to have eye surgery to get the brain grease to remove the water around in his brain Junior has too many teeth so he has to get them removed, so he had to get them pulled and the doctor gave him half the medicine because he was a racist. His brain grease cones back from time to time Junior has a stutter and a lisp His eyes are nearsighted and farsighted so Junior has to wear big glasses Junior gets bullied and people call him retarded

The reason Junior likes chicken so much is that when ever his family doesn't eat for a while, they will bring home fried chicken(KFC) He relates chicken to happiness Juniors dog Oscar gets very sick and his dad has to go out and shoot and kill the dog to relieve oscar of his suffering because they cannot afford a vet Oscar was the closest thing to a family that Junior had If Juniors parents were anything but poor and stuck on the reservation they would be anything that they wanted to be

After Oscar dies Junior gets really depressed Rowdy talks him out of it Rowdy and junior walk to the pow wow and Junior gets beat up by the Andruss brothers(who are 30 years old) Rowdy and Junior seek revenge by going into their tent in the middle of the night and Rowdy shaves off their eyebrows all their braids

Junior is really excited about his first geometry class Junior loves his sister Mary They call her Mary Runs Away Rowdy is a really good basketball player, him and Junior plan on playing basketball in high school Juniors geometry teacher is named Mr. P. Junior thinks he's really weird Junior hit Mr. P. in the face with a geometry book because he got mad he was using his moms book from 30 years ago because the Rez is too poor to be able to afford new ones

After Junior hit Mr. P in the face he got suspended Mr. P comes to Juniors house to talk to him Mr. P says that Junior needs to leave the reservation if he wants to get some where in life Mr. P says he knows that Junior will go somewhere in life Mr. P also tells Junior that his sister is a great writer and used to write romance novels

After Mr. P left, Junior sat on the porch and thought about what he was supposed to do Junior decides to go to the white school outside of the reservation called Reardon Reardon is a school in a "white" farm town It is 22 miles away

Junior tells a Rowdy that he is going to Reardon Junior wants Rowdy to go with him Rowdy gets mad and punched him in the face

It's Juniors first day of school and he is really nervous He goes into his home room Junior sees this really pretty girl named Penelope Everyone is bullying him at Reardon This kid named Roger calls him an offensive racist slur Junior punches him in the face and roger does nothing back

After Junior punches Roger in the face, Junior goes home very confused about why Roger didn't punch him back So he goes to his grandmother for advice His grandmother tells him he's earned Roger's respect Junior goes back to school and is terrified of Roger He thinks he's going to punch him, but he does not He makes conversation with Roger

Junior tells Rowdy about his first love, Dawn Dawn never loved him back, so he cried about it to Rowdy Rowdy tells him to suck it up

For Halloween Junior dresses up as a homeless person and he sees that Penelope does too Penelope explains the reason why she is dressed up as a homeless person She is collecting money for the homeless And Junior wants to do it too when he goes trick or treating He asks the people to donate money Junior collects his money and on the way home he gets beat up and jumped by 3 guys in masks They take his money

Junior didn't have many friends at his new school The white kids didn't even know his name In his geology class, his teacher Mr. Dodge was talking about petrified wood and Junior said it wasn't really wood because learned this at the Rez While the class is shocked Mr. Dodge gets very embarrassed A kid named Gordy sticks up for him Junior has to walk home because his dad never picked him up Junior goes home and learns that is sister has ran away and married a flathead Indian

Junior receives an email from his sister, Mary In the email Mary explains about how beautiful Montana is and how the Rez has 20 resturaunts and 6 or 7 towns and white people live there She also said a town called poison tried to recede from the Rez Mary also said that she and her husband rented a room in a hotel nd had their honeymoon,and ordered room service and had Indian fry bread , but it was not as good as grandmothers She later states that she loves her husband and this is so dream come true for her

Junior and his family celebrate thanksgiving After Junior eats he goes over to see if Rowdy's home, Rowdy's not home so Junior asks his dad to give Rowdy a drawing he made for him Junior sees Rowdy in his bedroom window Rowdy gives him the finger

Junior was bored in history class so he asked to go to the bathroom While Junior was in the bathroom hears someone puking in the girls bathroom He knocks on the door and asks if the girl was okay Junior decides to leave until the girl comes out and it's Penelope and she tells Junior that she's bulimic Penelope and Junior become friends and her dad is a racist Penelope and Junior almost date and since Penelope thinks Juniors cute, all the girls thinks he's cute Penelope tells Junior that she wants to go on adventures when she's older

In this chapter Junior watches Penelope play volleyball Junior emails Rowdy and asks him for advice cause he's in love with Penelope Rowdy replies saying "I'm sick of Indian guys treating white girls like trophies. Get a life" Junior asks Gordy for advice about love

Junior feels out of place because he'd like 2 different people, because he goes to the school, but lives on the Rez He says that no one knows the truth that he's poor, but he didn't want to skip winter formal Junior had to wear his dad's suit but he didn't like it, but everyone at the dance thought it was super cool Penelope and Junior danced together, but Junior didn't want to take a picture because he only had five dollars Junior has to walk home but he decided to go to a dinner at ihop with Penelope's group and Junior doesn't really want to go because he only has 5 dollars He paid for his and Penelope's food but he didn't have enough money Junior gives to the bathroom Roger sees him in there and Junior says he's going to be sick and tells Roger that he forget his wallet at home Roger gives him 40 dollars Penelope asks if he's poor Junior doesn't want to lie so her tells her the truth Penelope said Roger thought that and he was right Penelope asks Arnold if jus dad is going to pick him up, Arnold says no Roger drives Junior home and most nights he did

Junior really misses Rowdy so he emails him a picture of him smiling Rowdy emails him a picture back of his butt Gordy sees it and Junior explains that it was Rowdy who was his old best friend on the Rez and now he hates him for going to Reardon

Juniors sister sends him a letter saying that she still can't find a job in Montana and that they keep telling her that she doesn't have enough experience She's tells him she's thinking of writing a book and calling it HOW TO RUN AWAY FROM YOUR HOUSE AND FIND YOUR HOME Mary also sends hi a picture if her new place It's a. Trailer the size of a TV dinner tray

Junior almost doesn't want to try out because he doesn't want to get humiliated if he doesn't make the team Arnold makes varsity as a freshmen because he didn't quit in tryouts They have their first game against WellPinit and Junior throws up 4 times When they walk in as a team everyone is shouting Arnold sucks They lose the game Arnold gets injured badly and ends up in the hospital He spends one of the best nights of his life that night in the hospital with coach

Christmas comes around Junior's dad runs away and gets drunk because they do not have enough money for gifts He leaves on. Christmas Eve and comes back January 2 with a huge hangover His dad says he's sorry but junior doesn't really believe him Since he did not get any gifts juniors dad gives him 5 bucks that have been in his boots Junior thinks this is a very beautiful and ugly thing because his dad could have gotten drunk for another day or two with that money but instead he gives it to his son to make up for him and not really any gifts Junior thinks it's ugly because his dad is so drunk

Junior's sister still can't find a job in Montana So his sister is writing about hope in her book that she wants to finish by summertime She's trying to share her romance with Junior Junior has not fallen completely in love with white people He is still in love with his Indian heiritance and all the people that come with it He's learned about the white people who can hide in plain site They are there but they aren't really there for their children White people are prejudiced against everything His grandmother had no prejudice against anyone She had that old time Indian spirit She approached each new situation and new person the exact same way His grandmother was the only person who fully supported Junior going to Reardon She was an old soul After a mini pow wow last week she was struck and killed by a drunk driver while walking home She did not die right away but during the emergency surgery Her last act on earth was to forgive the one who killed her Extremely forgiving person Gerald the one whom killed her went to jail It was very sad to bury his grandmother 1 in 5 Indians on his reservation is killed by alcohol somehow His grandmother had never drank in her life because she wants to live life to the fullest Now she is roaming around in the afterlife

In this chapter that bury Arnold's grandmother The funeral is so big that it had to be moved out to a football field Two thousand Indians showed up for his grandmother with a handful of white people Everyone stopped hassling junior that day to let him grieve in peace and from that day on they stopped Rowdy will always be juniors best friend no matter how much he hates him Lots of people told stories The one that stood out the most was ted the billionaire's story He said he had a tribal dress from this tribe that he bought from a dude who was out of money and needed it when it was obviously stolen but he bought it anyway he researched it and got it appraised and the appraiser told him it was from this Spokane Indian tribe he eventually found out that Junior's grandmother had made it and came back to give it back to her but he came to late because she was dead This story was not true and Junior's mother called him out on it in front if the whole tribe and embarassed him and told him to go He left very embarrassed and quickly Everyone there started laughing after he left Indians laugh and cry together because basically it is the same thing

Penelope gets a valentine from Arnold but she forgets to give him one That night Junior's dad's best friend is shot in the face from a friend because they were fighting over the last sips in a bottle of wine Eugene obviously was killed and the guy who killed him was too drunk to even remember what had happened when the police came to find him an hour later Everyone was very sad and in a grief storm Arnold's father boozed up to try and get over his grief His mother went to church everyday to help herself Junior just kept reading books Junior thought Jesus was mocking him with all these bad things happening in his life He almost did not go back to Reardon he was so depressed A mean old teacher made a mean comment to him about missing so much school The whole class stood up for him by walking out of that class After they all walk out Junior laughs maniacally and then walks out

Junior thinks he's pretty good at basket ball He's always loved ball because mainly his father has always loved it a lot He was a freshman starter on the varsity basket ball team He made varsity as a FRESHMAN Coach thought that he could even play small college basketball when he graduated After they lost their game to WellPinit for the rest of the season they were undefeated They had to go play WellPinit again Arnold is interviewed for a local sports station about him being good at basketball He shows no emotion until they force him too He says he feels weird and will do well in the game against WellPinit tonight Junior always throws up before his basketball games They beat WellPinit in the game by thirty points It was Arnold's game and everyone knew it He just wanted to beat rowdy and knock him down to size His father even gave him a pep talk before the game which was a really big deal and meant a lot to Arnold

After the season ends Junior emails rowdy Rowdy says they will beat their butts next year and that Junior is a meanie Junior replies back that he's a happy meanie that will still beat them Rowdy writes back haha This conversation makes Junior happy

Junior says the biggest difference between white people and Indians is the number of funerals they have gone to Junior has been to 42 funerals in 14 yrs while older white people can count the funerals they have been to on 1 hand Junior thinks this is pretty sad thing in reality because 95% of these deaths have been caused by alcohol One day a consular comes into his class looking for Junior She takes him out of school and tells him his dad has called and is coming to pick him up She doesn't tell him why but is hugging Jim very tight Junior's dad comes and tells him his sister has died She died passed out from alcohol and someone tried to use a hot plate but left it on which she burned to death in the house fire Junior laughs maniacally but is glad his sister probably did not feel any pain He is sad his sister is dead When he gets home is mom slaps him and tells him he can never ever drink alcohol because it ruins peoples lives His relatives are all at his house eating food and drinking Junior owners why they would drink when alcohol has caused this death He escapes the house but is brought back by a BIA worker He mourns his sister's death He says of course there was a party of they were drunk, they were INDIANS Rowdy sees Junior after the funeral and screams I hate you He tries to punch Junior in the face but misses because he had tears in his eyes Rowdy ran away which he never does He goes to school the next day because he knows mom will just cook food for everyone while dad hides out in his bedroom Penelope starts crying about his sister and all these people who were so mean to him when he arrived learned to care about him

The family went to the cemetery and took care of all the graves of their family They remembered all the people they missed They had a picnic right there in the cemetery Junior wanted all his tribal members to get sober and strong and get the hell of the Rez He belongs to many tribes not just the Spokane Indian tribe This made him think of rowdy He misses rowdy He wanted to find him hug him and beg him for forgiveness

The reservation is beautiful with all these pine trees older than the United States Junior realizes he shouldn't talk so much for granted He and Rowdy forgive each other and go to turtle lake together He and rowdy climb a hundred and 50 feet pine tree with bare hands and feet and dumb luck That day they weren't afraid of falling because they had each other again They are back to their old selves as friends again They are the best of friends and pick up right where they left off Rowdy admits that he was happy for Junior when he went to the all white school Reardon Junior gets emotional over this They play basket ball in the dark until dawn but they don't keep score