The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Beautiful and Ugly”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of the paradoxes inherent in Junior’s life by creating an illustration of some “beautiful and ugly” part of his existence.

In Chapter 21, Junior remarks that his father’s gesture of giving him his last five dollars is “beautiful and ugly.” This phrase could describe many aspects of Junior’s life: his life is a paradox, full of things that are wonderful and devastating at the same time.

In this activity, you will choose one such aspect of Junior’s life and create an illustration that demonstrates why it is both beautiful and ugly. Then, you will write a brief reflection about how your response to this situation is either similar to or different from Junior’s.

Choose an Aspect of Junior’s Life

• Go back through the text and think about which parts of Junior’s life could be described as “beautiful and ugly” at the same time. Choose one of these aspects of his life to focus on. (You should choose something other than the Christmas gift from his father.)
• Choose one scene that shows something wonderful and enriching about this aspect of Junior’s life.
• Choose one scene that shows something terrible and upsetting about this aspect of Junior’s life.

Create Your Illustration

• At the top of your page, create a title that clearly labels which part of Junior’s life you are focusing on.
• Draw a line that divides the paper in half, lengthwise (straight up and down).
• On one half, draw the scene that shows what is ugly about this aspect of Junior’s life, and on the other half draw the scene that shows what is beautiful.

Reflect on Your Experience

• Write two paragraphs: the first should explain how Junior reacts to the situations you have illustrated, and the second should compare and contrast Junior’s reactions with the way you personally felt about the situations as you created your illustrations. What does this show about how you are similar to and different from Junior?

Teaching Suggestion: If your students have not encountered the term “paradox” before, this is a good opportunity to spend some time talking about the concept; you might also introduce the term “oxymoron” and discuss how these terms are similar and different. Even if they are already familiar with the idea of paradox, you might wish to spend a little time talking about the various paradoxical elements of Junior’s life and how they embody the idea that things can be both beautiful and ugly at the same time. This activity can be completed in a partial class period, or, if your students are ready for an additional challenge, you might ask them to complete their drawings in one of the three styles that “Junior” uses in the text’s cartoons, using their illustrations to express Junior’s perspective. (If you choose to offer them this additional challenge, you will need to caution them against directly copying any of the illustrations that are already in the text.)

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with visual impairments may not be able to complete this assignment as written. As an alternative, you might ask them to write a paragraph about the two textual events they choose and explain what they demonstrate about a “beautiful and ugly” part of Junior’s life. Students with motor coordination issues may struggle to complete drawings by hand; these students might be allowed to substitute AI art or other visual elements gathered via computer.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

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Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Although the novel deals with some serious topics, Junior relates many of these events using humorous language and art.

• How would you describe the overall tone of this novel? (topic sentence)
• Give at least two examples of diction that support your interpretation of tone.
• Give at least two examples of Junior’s art that support your interpretation of tone.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how the novel’s tone contributes to its thematic concern with Art, Hope, and the Power of Storytelling.

2. Basketball is an important part of reservation culture in many Native nations. For more information, read this article about the cultural significance of basketball.

• How does Junior’s relationship to the game of basketball help to illustrate his relationship to reservation life? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three pieces of evidence from the novel that support your interpretation of this relationship.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how Junior’s relationship to basketball contributes to the novel’s thematic concern with either Individual Identity and Belonging to a Community or Systemic Oppression of American Indians.

3. Junior’s two best friends are Rowdy and Gordy, who seem different on the surface, but share important similarities.

• What is similar about these two young men? What is different?
• Give at least two pieces of evidence that support your interpretation of their differences.
• Give at least two pieces of evidence that support your interpretation of their similarities.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how both the similarities and the differences between Rowdy and Gordy help to characterize Junior.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. What does Junior mean when he calls himself a “Part-Time Indian” in the book’s title? How does this diction reflect the identity crisis he suffers as a result of leaving the reservation to go to school? How does it relate to the way he is treated on the reservation, even before he starts attending Reardan? How accurate is this characterization of himself—is it really possible for him to be Native “part-time,” or is Junior using this term ironically? Write an essay in which you analyze the word choice “Part-Time” in the title of the novel. Show how this diction is connected to the novel’s thematic concern with Individual Identity and Belonging to a Community. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. On Thanksgiving, Junior and his father share a dark joke about being thankful that even a few Native people survived genocide. What does this joke reveal about how humor can be a kind of coping mechanism? Where else in the novel do you see Native characters using humor to cope with upsetting situations? How does this habit relate to Junior’s narrative voice? Write an essay in which you analyze humor as a coping mechanism in this novel. Show how this use of humor is connected to the novel’s thematic concern with Systemic Oppression of American Indians. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. Junior does not believe that he can have any hope for the future if he stays on the reservation. What conditions on the reservation cause him to feel this way? How does Junior seem to define “hope,” and where does he believe there is some hope to be found? How does his diary relate to his ability to hope? By the end of the novel, what evidence is there that he is beginning to believe that his future can be a positive one? Write an essay analyzing how Junior’s relationship to the idea of “hope” gradually changes over the course of the novel. Show how his ideas are connected to the novel’s thematic concern with Art, Hope, and the Power of Storytelling. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which is true about the chapters in Alexie’s book?

A) Each is a letter to a different person.

B) Each begins with a flashback.

C) Each is an entry in Junior’s journal.

D) Each begins with a pretend document.

2. What does Oscar’s fate foreshadow?

A) The destruction of Junior’s friendship with Rowdy

B) The deaths of Junior’s grandmother, Eugene, and Mary

C) Junior’s decision to re-enroll at Reardan for the next year

D) Junior’s new friendships with Roger and Penelope

3. Which is an important contrast between Junior’s parents and Rowdy’s parents?

A) Rowdy’s parents have lived for many years outside of the reservation.

B) Junior’s parents are deeply traditional and suspicious of outsiders.

C) Rowdy’s parents do not drink and are more financially stable.

D) Junior’s parents are kind and loving despite their alcohol use.

4. Which is an accurate description of the book’s narrative point-of-view?

A) First person

B) Second person

C) Third person limited

D) Third person omniscient

5. Which character most clearly functions as a foil for Junior?

A) Junior’s father

B) Gordy

C) Roger

D) Rowdy

6. Which is portrayed most clearly as Junior’s way to escape from the mental pressures of his life?

A) Music

B) Nature

C) Art

D) Sports

7. Which is the most accurate description of Junior’s sister Mary?

A) She is strong-willed, independent, and fun to be around, but she is also impulsive.

B) She is intelligent, disciplined, and a hard worker, but she lacks self-confidence.

C) She is loving, generous, and gentle, but she has difficulty standing up for herself.

D) She is educated, ambitious, and practical, but she is also pointlessly competitive.

8. Which is the clearest symbolic representation of the identity crisis Junior experiences at Reardan?

A) Junior’s inability to predict how betrayed Rowdy will feel when he decides to attend Reardan

B) Penelope’s mean comment that Junior doesn’t even know his own name

C) Rowdy and Junior’s revenge of cutting off the Andruss’ brother’s braids while they are sleeping

D) Gordy’s defense of Junior after Junior corrects Mr. Dodge in science class

9. What do the deaths of Mary, Grandmother Spirit, and Eugene all have in common?

A) Domestic violence

B) Alcohol

C) Self-harm

D) Racial hatred

10. Which event does Junior see as a transition from boyhood to manhood?

A) The Christmas when his father gives him five dollars

B) Receiving his final grades from his first year at Reardan

C) The Wellpinit-Reardan basketball rematch

D) His confrontation with Rowdy after Mary’s funeral

11. Which thematic motif do the text’s references to Medea and Tolstoy most clearly support?

A) The paradoxical nature of human life

B) The tension between individuality and community

C) The unequal distribution of hope

D) The importance of storytelling

12. Which important realization of Junior’s is most clearly linked to the setting of the basketball court?

A) White people succeed more often than Native people because they have more advantages.

B) Some non-Natives seem well-meaning, but their motivation is sometimes just another kind of racism.

C) Generational trauma and systemic oppression can cause people to engage in self-defeating behavior.

D) Apologies and excuses for bad behavior do not really change the negative consequences of that behavior.

13. Which is an accurate statement about the visual art included in this book?

A) Its style shifts in ways that are similar to the tone shifts used in language.

B) It represents feelings and moods in an abstract way but does not represent actual events.

C) Its style demonstrates how deeply Junior is influenced by movies and television.

D) It is mostly used to convey events and ideas that are too painful for Junior to write about.

14. Which of the adults at Reardan offers Junior the most sympathy and understanding?

A) Mrs. Jeremy

B) Mr. Dodge

C) Coach

D) Mr. Grant

15. What kind of prejudice does Junior most clearly share with several other characters in the story?

A) Religious prejudice

B) Anti-gay prejudice

C) Class prejudice

D) Ableism

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What does the character of Mr. P demonstrate about systemic racism toward Native people?

2. How do shared gender role expectations on the reservation and at Reardan interfere with Junior accessing deeper levels of friendship and compassion?