Friendship, Turmoil, and Basketball

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, written by Sherman Alexie, is a captivating novel about life on a reservation.  The main character, Arnold Spirit, goes through what many young teens go through- an identity crisis.  He evaluates himself as a teen, where he lives, who surrounds his life, etc.  Spirit, also known as Junior, displays an immense amount of courage throughout this book.  He removes himself from the “rez” (reservation) to better himself.  He knew that life on the rez would not develop him into the successful person he wants to be.

            There were a couple of passages that truly stuck to me when reading.  I don’t want to specifically cite it, but when Roger said to Arnold Indians were living proof that n** f** buffalo, I was appalled.   I felt awful reading it, let alone knowing this statement has probably been stated to an Indian child.  I evaluated the conditions of the rez, and I realized how difficult and forgotten Native Americans have become.  Not saying that it is the same, but if History teachers focus on the Holocaust, and focus on slavery here in America, why don’t they focus on what we have done to the Natives, and continue to do to this day? They are the forgotten ones that learn from hand me down textbooks forced to live on land.  Alcohol has unfortunately consumed their lives, and throughout this book, Arnold dealt with the feeling of loss and contempt for alcohol abuse.  His only escape was basketball, and the acceptance he finally felt when he played for Reardan.  It is ashame his best friend Rowdy, couldn’t bring himself to remove himself from the rez. Alcohol, abuse, and anger had constrained him to falling his father’s footsteps.  I was also upset reading about his sister.  She seemed like a hopefully person, and the idea that she died in a fire was heartbreaking.  The two women he most revered were his grandmother, who was killed by a drunk driver, and his sister, died drunk in a fire.  It is very heavy, but it would also teach kids responsibility.
      In specifically looking at chapter two, Zlexie centers on loss.  Junior is constantly losing in his life; he lost his friends, his grandma, his sister, his teammates, etc.  This is the chapter where he loses his best friend, his dog.  He is sick, but knows his family cannot provide enough money to support a vet bill.  After begging and pleading, his mom cannot look at her son.  Instead, when his father comes him, he insists on putting the dog out of his misery.  It is sad how Alexie ends the chapter, "A bullet only costs about two cents, and anyone can afford that."  Interestingly enough, bullets are a cheaper fix.  Sadly, he cannot do anything to save his dog, and this is one of the first times we see the main character suffer.

            I think this book would open a lot of student’s minds to life for Native American children.  I did not know a lot about reservations, but this book has peaked my interest into researching life on the rez.  I can understand the bitterness and resentment towards the whites, but Junior didn’t let that stop him. He kept going, through guilt, pain, and suffering.  I would encourage my eighth graders to read this not only for a different perspective, but to appreciate culture outside of their own.  This can also be an excellent resource to use for teaching tolerance; this is an issue that never can get enough attention.   Overall, I was very impressed with this novel and how it instantly grabbed my attention.

            With many parallels, Black and White by Paul Volponi had many similarities to Alexie’s novel.  The story of two young best friends, who also play basketball, and caught up in a fantasy world.   For awhile, they are untouchable.  They believe that because of their local fame, nothing can stop them from being on top.  While reading this book, I felt mad, constantly.  I was mad at their personalities, and I was mad when Black was arrested.  I was angry with White for accepting the scholarship to St. John’s right away to ensure he would go to college.  I did not like how White was the one with the gun, and he was the one who could afford the fancy lawyer.  All the time when I was reading, I wanted Rose to come forward, or Moses or X.  I wanted somebody to bring justice for them both.  Ironically though, I did not want the book to end stereotypically with White turning himself in, because that would make the white person look like a hero.  

The coach in both novels really played a crucial role in these boys’ lives.  Coach Casey in Black and White gave various great speeches to his team, and it reminded me of my swim coach in high school.  We also had a tremendous swimmer who passed away on the pool deck from an unknown heart condition.  It happened my freshman year, and after he passed, the coaches didn’t have to directly say his name to know they were talking about him.  Though the coach never directly yelled at the boys, they knew how disappointed he was in them.  I liked his speech at the end, "When it got tough, we walked out onto the court like a team.  And when it was over, we walked off the court the same way.  Even when they broke us apart, we stood up together and took what came.  That's a team."  Coaches have a way of saying more than the words that come out of their mouths.  I enjoyed how he stood up to Ms. Randolph, the principal, and defended his player.  She was taking everything she could away from Marcus because she was "told" to.  I think this is a great book for teen boys.  I liked the parallels if offered with Count of Monte Crisco,  yet the friends never turned on each other.  Even in Alexie’s novel, Junior never turned on Rowdy, even after Rowdy gave him a concussion at the basketball game.   This is another choice read for teaching about justice, tolerance, and forgiveness.  I think they would be angry, but responsive to the characters.  Though it would work better for I believe, inner city kids, my students would also be interested in how the sport kept them together.  I would offer this as a choice read for an independent reading project.

            Chapter three is the realization that Marcus has about the man who was shot.  He knows because he went to go to the movies and as soon as he stepped on the bus, he remembered.  Ironically, they went to see a movie about two friends that became enemies, "Count of Monte Crisco".  Once Marcus realizes where he knew the man from, it was as if he knew his life would never be the same.  No, the man had not died because there was no police tape, but he knew.  In school, he explained Eddie's familys' love for Marcus, and it was something he didn't really experience at home.  These were all things that were eventually going to change.  The chapter ends with "everything was still alright".  I think these words were picked carefully, because Marcus realizes he was lucky, but he wasn't out of the woods yet.  Now because he recognized the driver, he must wait to know if the driver will recognize him.
Overall, I enjoyed how these two stories paralleled in structure, and though they weren’t necessarily happy stories, they both teach young readers about the significance of choices and decisions.  As an eighth grade theme (decision-making) this would be a wonderful addition to the classroom library.