“The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian” is a book (written by Sherman Alexie) about a boy named Junior and how he lives his life. Junior lives his on the Spokane reservation,he lives with his mum,dad,sister and his grandmother. Junior is arguably the most important character in the book “the absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian”. Junior has water on the brain,ten extra teeth and other physical problems. Junior likes to draw cartoons and play basket ball.He goes to school on the reservation called wellpinit  and his best friend Rowdy goes to that school as well. In the book Juniors teacher Mr.p tells Junior  that for him to find hope he will have to leave the reservation to go to Rearden high school. Sherman Alexie makes Junior the main character in the book because Junior lives a similar life to what Sherman Alexie lived when he was a child. Sherman Alexie shows Junior as an outsider in the novel because when Sherman Alexie was younger he was sort of an outsider because he went to the same schools that Junior went to.  In this essay I am going to talk about five major events that happen in the book that makes Junior an outsider.

One way in which Junior is presented as an outsider is his dual experience of living in wellpinit whilst studying in Reardan high school. We can see this because on the reservation Junior is seen as an outsider because he had studied there for his whole life and all of a sudden he wants to go to study in Reardan. The people living on the reservation think that Junior has left them because he wanted to be white. Also they think that he left for that reason but he only left because wanted to get hope. Junior is an outsider in Reardan because he is the only Indian and they all think he is weird and stupid for that. On the reservation Junior had been studying in Wellpinit high school. He had a best friend named Rowdy and they had been friends since they were little.

Another way in which Junior is an outsider is through poverty we can see this when in the book the author writes “skin thirty”. This quote shows us that Junior is poor because in the picture the white kid has a nice watch,clothes and shoes and Junior doesn’t. this quote shows us that Junior doesn’t get stuff like the white kids and that he is an outsider for that. Also Junior is an outsider because after school in Reardan he has to walk all the way back to the reservation because he can’t always be sure that his dad will always pick him up once he has finished.

Another way we can see that Junior is an outsider is his physical problems. At the start of the book Junior said “I was born with water on the brain” this quote means that Junior was born with brain grease he has a bunch of physical problems such as water on the brain,ten extra teeth and a delicate head. Juniors physical problems stop him from doing stuff that a normal kid could do. Junior can’t eat with his mouth closed because of his ten extra teeth and he is an outsider for that. Also Junior is an outsider because he so many physical problems that people think that he is weird. Junior also likes to play basketball and when he plays he got knocked out by his friend Rowdy. Juniors physical problems have a massive impact in his life such as when he does play sport he can get hurt very easy

In conclusion, Junior is presented as an outsider in many ways. One of the most affective ways he is seen as an outsider is through poverty. Just like when Junior and Penelope go and dress up as homeless people but Junior already is dressed like a homeless person. So that is why I think that one is the most important. In the novel the other ways that Junior is seen as an outsider are not as affective than the one I think is, such as the one were we talk about Junior physical problems. That is because there are many people in the world have physical and people accept them people that have them physical problems. Also another one is when Junior is seen as an Indian in Rearden and in Wellpinit he is seen as a white kid because he left to go and find hope to get a future. this is not the most affective in my opinion but is still affective. He is only seen as a white kid in wellpinit because he left to go to Rearden and all of a sudden he is a white kid.