The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

     The book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is about this boy Junior who lives on an Indian reservation. Junior says that he was born with "water on the brain." He explains it as a medical condition where your "brain grease" get all backed up and slows everything down. Junior explains how he gets bullied by a lot of kids, and even some adults on the reservation, because of his condition, but he does have one friend, Rowdy. Rowdy is about the toughest kid on the reservation according to Junior, so he is not only his friend but also his protection. In the story, everybody on the reservation is poor, including Junior and his family. Junior says that his mom and dad could have been successful, but no one ever listened to their dreams.

     I think that one of Junior's external conflicts is that he gets bullied by the kids on his reservation. Junior says that he gets called a retard about twice a day. I  don't think that Junior should have to put up with that. If I were to be in his situation I would tell someone, I wouldn't just do nothing. I wonder why Junior isn't really doing anything? He doesn't seem like he is uncomfortable talking to authority figures, so why doesn't he just tell? I'm guessing that he is just afraid to be beat up after he tells, for telling. I think that the people who bully him probably don't have the best life, so they "survive" off of hating on a kid who probably has it worse than them.

     I think that one of Junior's internal conflicts is that he doesn't know where he belongs. I guess in my world  at school, kids are always asking themselves, "what group do I fit in?". Junior's situation is completely different. He doesn't know what community he fits into. He lives on this poor Indian reservation, with a crappy school, and crappy people, but he wants to go to a school outside of his reservation. He feels like if he stays on the reservation, he will never be heard. He feels like if he doesn't leave soon he will be there forever. The only problem Junior has with leaving is that everyone on the rez will frown upon him for going to a "white school". If I were Junior I would go with what I want to do, I wouldn't hold back, but I guess that being bullied for having "water on the brain" is already enough for Junior.