Optimism is defined as the belief that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world. Everyone has the ability to be optimistic, but it is up to those to chose if they will be, or not. In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, Junior is a Spokane Indian who was born with a mixture of medical problems. He considers education very important, so he leaves the reservation to learn at an all-white school. Junior experiences many issues throughout his life, and because of this, he needs to stay optimistic.
Even though there are many things to feel upset about, Junior uses humor to face his issues with bullying, poverty, and death, which demonstrates a person’s ability to stay optimistic even while dealing with times of struggle. Bullying is a universal issue that affects many people, and Junior has learned to cope with his bullying and to express his feelings in a way that help him stay optimistic. Because Junior was born with medical issues, this caused him to experience variations of bullying, including physical and verbal. He comments, “Everybody on the rez calls me a retard about twice a day.
They call me a retard when they are pantsing me or stuffing my head in the toilet or just smacking me upside the head” (4). Junior faces the struggle of bullying almost everyday, so Sherman Alexie uses the word “retard” to portray just how harmful it is. Although the bullying is very serious, Junior stays optimistic by drawing cartoons to make fun of the situation. In this case he draws himself “in all of his glory. ” The way Junior expresses his struggles in a humorous way helps him to stay optimistic during times of trouble. Later in the book, Junior switches schools in hopes of a better education, but the bullying doesn’t get any better.
Reflecting on his experience at school, he says, “So mostly they called me names. Lots of names. And yeah, those were bad enough names” (63. 64). At his new school, the big jocks were the ones who pay him the most attention. They call him names like ‘Sitting Bull,’ ‘Tonto,’ or ‘Chief,’ but he uses his drawings to help him stay positive. He drew his tiny self standing in the middle of a huge group of jocks who were all shouting different offensive names at him. Junior’s cartoon shows that he isn’t too affected by the name-calling, which helps him stay mistic while he is being bullied.
Junior endures bullying from not only the people he knows, but also people that are strangers. Thinking back on his encounter with the unknown culprits, Junior says,”About 10 o’clock, as I was walking home, three guys jumped me. I couldn’t tell who they were. They all wore Frankenstein masks. And they shoved me to the ground and kicked me a few times” (79). After Junior was jumped, he explains how he was glad that the money stolen from him was going to poor people. Bullying is a very serious issue, and Junior is able to put that aside and use his humor and sarcasm to become positive about the hardest things.
Although he does have a lot to be upset about, Junior uses his humor, portrayed in cartoons and sarcasm, to deal with struggles and stay positive. In addition to bullying, Junior has to cope with poverty, which is something he has lived with his whole entire life. Living with poverty teaches Junior to think of it as normal. He doesn’t get to experience any other way of living. Junior explains, “But I can’t blame my parents for our poverty because my mother and father are the twin suns around which I orbit and my world would EXPLODE without them” (11).
Alexie uses the metaphor “my mother and father are the twin suns around which I orbit” to explain how important Junior’s parents are to him, despite the fact that they still live in poverty. He shows his humor in a cartoon to display how his parents would be if they followed their dreams and lived above the poverty line. He realizes that his parents weren’t born into wealth, and they aren’t purposely trying to be poor, so he makes the best of this difficult situation with his humor. Coming home from school can also be a struggle for Junior and his family.
He explains a time when his dad doesn’t pick him up from school and he says, “My dad was supposed to pick me up. But he wasn’t sure if he’d have enough gas money. Especially if he was going to stop at the rez casino and play slot machines first. I waited for thirty minutes. Exactly. Then I started walking” (87). Money is scarce in Junior’s household, and his dad, being an alcoholic, is very unpredictable. He draws a cartoon showing the different ways he could get to school, and that consisted of hitchhiking, no gas money, his dad too hungover, the car breaking down, or just walking.
All of these scenarios aren’t the best choices to choose from, so Junior uses his optimism to not get down on himself while he is struggling with hardships. Being poor while going to school with white rich kids is an easy way to feel like an outcast, and Junior had this sensation while attending the winter formal dance. He says, “Because I didn’t have any money for gas, and because I couldn’t have driven the car if I wanted to, and because I didn’t want to double date, I told Penelope I’d meet her at the gym for the dance.
She wasn’t too happy about that. But the worst thing is that I had to wear one of Dad’s old suits” (121). Junior was excited to attend the winter formal dance, especially with Penelope, but he couldn’t afford to do all of the expensive things like the other white kids could. To show his humor about the whole thing, he drew a picture of himself in his dad’s polyester suit, and referred to himself as an “unintentional disco freak. ” These unfortunate situations revolving around poverty taught Junior to stay optimistic.
Deaths are also a universal tragedy that has to be dealt with, and Junior learned to cope with the death he experienced in his family through attempted humor. Junior clearly states that deaths are common on the rez, but that doesn’t mean they are easy to deal with. Junior loved his grandma dearly, but sadly her life took a turn for the worse. He explains, “In fact, last week she was walking back home from a mini powwow at the Spokane Tribal Community Center, when she was struck and killed by a drunk driver” (157).
It took Junior a little while to wrap his head around this tragic event, but he adds that even when she has passed she is a better person than any of them. Although his grandma’s death was unexpected, Junior didn’t show any signs of depression and stayed optimistic throughout the whole process. Although it’s not surprising for Indians to die on the rez, it isn’t as common for those outside the rez, like at Rearden. lunior states. “I’m fourteen years old and I’ve been to forty-two funerals. That’s really the biggest difference between Indians and white people” (199).
Deaths are something that Junior has to endure, but it doesn’t get easier going to funeral after funeral. He never intentionally feels sorry for himself, and he uses sarcasm to lighten the mood on dark situations like this one. Ultimately, this is how Junior stays optimistic during times of struggle, like death. Junior has lost many loved ones in his life, and his sister is included. She was someone who understood Junior fully, so it was especially hard to learn that she had died. Junior says, “My dad was trying to comfort me.
But it’s not too comforting to learn that your sister was TOO FREAKING DRUNK to feel any pain when she BURNED TO DEATH! And for some reason, that thought made me laugh even harder” (205). Alexie accentuates words like “BURNED TO DEATH! ” to emphasize what Junior was thinking. He knew he should’ve been sad for his family, yet he couldn’t help but think about how she died, which made him laugh extremely hard. Although this was such a devastating event that occurred in Junior’s life, he decided not to let it bring him and others down, so he laughed about it.
In the end, Junior endured many struggles including bullying, poverty, and death, which helped him stay optimistic and positive throughout his life. In order to stay optimistic in times of struggle, Junior used his humor to deal with bullying, poverty, and death. All of those serious problems shouldn’t be taken lightly, but Junior finds a way to express his feelings in a manner that show how he accepts these situations going on in his life. Although it is hard, Junior chose to be optimistic, and to believe that good ultimately predominates over evil.
