11/10/17 - Sherman Alexie & How to Write About Prejudice

Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Dairy of a Part Time Indian is a novel about the struggles of the fictitious Arnold “Junior” Spirits, a young Spokane Indian born with hydrocephalus. At only 14 years old, he struggles to adapt to his new white school, face discrimination from those on “the rez” and at school, and eventually find his place as a basketball player for his new school, leading to his acceptance.

What stuck out to me the most about this book was how Alexie goes in depth with how Arnold was treated and how he responds. For instance, Alexie does not shy away from having his characters use some very severe racial/homophobic slurs against Arnold. The slurs aren’t censored out, nor do they linger any longer than they need to; Alexie uses such powerful and awful words because that’s exactly what some entitled kids say to others they see as beneath them. I was honestly surprised to see an author use words like that in a young adult novel from 2007. Whether we like it or not, some kids use that kind of language with each other and it’s refreshing to see an author tackle the use of the word “nigger” in a respectful manner.

Discrimination like this in young adult novels often gets censored to the point of uselessness, touched upon briefly so it doesn’t leave an impact, or makes whoever the bigot is into such a caricature of a racist that it comes across as disingenuous. Very few young adult books have such a casual depiction of prejudice. The book doesn’t waste time trying to tell the reader how prejudice is wrong. Instead, the reader is shown how it is wrong through the reactions of the characters – the equivalent of “show, don’t tell” except for a book instead of film. Furthermore, Alexie is not afraid to show Arnold’s own racism. While told through the eyes of a young teen, Alexie gives a compelling analysis of a complex topic which is very rarely touched upon in such detail.