Chapter 15 Summary

During one of Junior's classes he goes to the washrooms as he is really bored in class. While going he hears a girl in the washroom throwing up. He realizes that the girl was Penelope. She walks out chewing a piece of gum to hide her breath of the gross vomit smell. She tells Junior that she is bulimic only when she throws up. This reminds junior of what his father said when he would drink, "I am only an alcoholic when I drink." Penelope starts to cry and tell Junior that she is depressed even though everyone thinks she is pretty, smart, and popular. Junior thinks that Penelope is very attractive and they become "friends with benefits" even though Penelope's father is racist. Every becomes shocked because they see Junior with a popular girl. As they get closer Junior and Penelope become very close.

Chapter 3&4 Summary

Chapter 3:
In this chapter we are introduced by one of Juniors best friends Rowdy. Rowdy is always sticking up for Junior and seeking revenge on anyone who picks on Junior. Like most Indian parents, Rowdy's are drinkers. Rowdy's father is always beating his wife and Rowdy which forces Rowdy to spend a lot of time at Juniors house. Rowdy and Junior decide to go to the powwow, but Junior is hesitant. Even though he likes the dancers and singers, he dreads the people who drink and get into fights. At the powwow Rowdy trips and falls into a window, causing Junior to laugh and Rowdy to go into a rage. He chases Junior and he is accosted by the Andruss brothers, "the cruelest triplets in the world." The brothers beat up Junior and Rowdy retaliates. At night while they are sleeping Rowdy goes and cuts off their ponytails and shaves their eyebrows. Rowdy loves comic books, and Junior's cartoons make him laugh.  Rowdy is a dreamer, just like Junior, and he only talks about his dreams with his friend.  Junior thinks Rowdy may be the most important person in his life.
Chapter 4: 
In this chapter Junior is excited about starting high school, especially geometry class. Unlike his sister, Mary Runs Away, Junior is excited about school and life in general.  When Mary finished high school she "didn't go to college...didn't get a job...didn't do anything".  Although she is "beautiful and strong and funny", she spends her days alone in the basement. Juniors geometry teacher, Mr. P, is a according to Junior, one funny looking person. The tribe houses all the teachers on site at cottages. Sometimes Mr. P forgets to come to school and when summoned, ends up teaching in his pyjamas. When Mr. P hands out the textbooks Junior is ecstatic. He cracks it open with great joy and is stunned by what he sees. The book belonged to Agnes Adams, Juniors mother. Junior realizes that these books must be at least 30 years older than he is. 

Chapter 1&2 Summary.

In the first chapter of the book the narrator, Arnold, introduces himself as born with "water on the brain," and when he was six months old had to have surgery in which he would not survive. One of Arnold's abnormalities is having 42 teeth. He had to have the extra teeth pulled out, but since the Health Service only funded major work once a year, he had to have all of the extra ones pulled out at once. Arnold only had half the novocaine required but the dentist believed indians only felt "half the pain of white people." Arnold also has a stutter and a lisp. At fourteen years old, he has been branded "a retard", and to avoid being beaten up regularly, he spends a lot of time alone in his room reading books and drawing cartoons. Arnold is a very good cartoonist who likes to draw because "words are too unpredictable...but...when you draw a picture, everybody can understand it". He also draws because he feels as though that is his only escape from the reservation. 
Junior knows that his cartoons "will never take the place of food or money".  He wishes he were magical and could make the things he draws - like "a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or a fist full of twenty dollar bills" - real, but he knows he cannot.  Junior dislikes being poor, because oftentimes he and his family must go hungry, but lack of food is not the worst thing about poverty. Arnold feels the worst part of being poor is not being able to help the ones you love. Last week, Junior's "best friend" Oscar got really sick.  Oscar was "only an adopted stray mutt", but he was more precious to Junior than any person in his life.  He told his mother that Oscar needed to see the vet, but his Mom regretfully told him there was no money for Oscar. When Junior's Dad came home, he took his rifle from the closet and told Junior to carry Oscar outside.  Junior was furious, but then noticed that his Dad was crying.  Junior could not blame his parents for the family's poverty. Realizing that he was helplessly trapped in the cycle of poverty, Junior gently picked up Oscar and took him outside. He ran away as fast as he could so as not to hear the sound of the shot, but could not escape the "boom of (his) father's rifle when he shot (his) best friend".  Bitterly, Junior reflects that a bullet "only costs...two cents...anybody can afford that".

Introduction to the Book

For my grade 11 university english class I will be reading the book "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie. The book is about a 14 year old kid native kid named Arnold. Arnold is a funny, sensitive, and a budding artist going through kid problems. Arnold differs from other kids because he is a hydrocephalic with a stutter and a lisp and is picked on immensely because of his problems. Arnold is known as the outcast in the reservation he lives on and is beaten because of it. The conflict revolving around the book is when Arnold leaves his reservation to attend a predominantly white school. He is branded as a traitor and is stuck between two world; his life on the reservation, and the mainly white school he attends. He is feeling as though he does not fit in anywhere. Arnold must learn to see himself not just as an Indian, but as a person from many different tribes.