Theme of alcoholism in The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian

Theme of alcoholism in The absolutely true 

diary of a part-time Indian

By: Runa Elisabeth P. Nesje

The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie is about an Indian boy named Arnold Spirit Junior who lives in a reservation with his family.  They are extremely poor and live under terrible conditions.  Additionally he has to deal with being bullied and beaten up at school every day, and an alcoholic father. This text will focus on the alcoholism and how it’s a big theme in the book.

p.107

In the novel, Sherman Alexie writes about the true problems Native Americans have with alcohol. That alcohol is one of the biggest reasons for death among the Native Americans. It was the reason for three of the deaths in the novel, his sister Mary, Grandmother Spirit and his father’s best friend Eugene.  In the novel, he tries to explain that most of the people are trying to drown their miserable lives with alcohol and to forget all their problems.  Even after some of the deaths, they would instead of mourn in a way that they would be crying and laughing and telling stories about the newly dead, they would get drunk and be unhappy. “How do we honor the drunken death of a young married couple? HEY, LET’S GET DRUNK” (Alexie, 2007, p.212)

We also get to know how some of the characters behave when they get drunk. An example can be Rowdy’s father, who becomes a mean drunk and beats up Rowdy and his mother. And Arnold’s father who would run away whit the little money they had left when they started to run out of it, and be gone for weeks to drink the money away. However, he was still a kind drunk. Likewise with his best friend Eugene. “He was drunk all the time. Not stinky drunk, just drunk enough to be drunk. He was a funny kind drunk, always wanting to laugh and hug you and sing songs and dance.” (Alexie, 2007, p. 70)

p.170

In the novel, Sherman alexie has portayd the real life struggle with alcohol for many Native Americans in a very  good and realistic way. 

Sources:

Alexie. S (2007) - The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian - Hachette Book Group Inc.