The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Arnold comes to face one of the hardest decisions in his life; stay on the reservation or attend an all-white school named Reardan. He knew that if he were to stay on the reservation that he would never become anything. On the other hand if he decided to go to Reardan he had the chance of becoming something in his life. So Arnold makes the decision to attend Reardan and goes out in search to find hope when he realizes that he can make something of himself instead of living in poverty forever. Even though he chose to go to Reardan there were still consequences. He would have to leave his best friend Rowdy behind as well as all of the other Indians. He knew that if he were to leave the reservation they would all hate him and see him as a traitor and so they did. As much as they all hated him for leaving, Arnold still had the decency to respect all of them. Arnold’s respect shapes the messages that Alexie is trying to communicate in this novel by showing how he still respects his tribe even though he is attending an all-white school.
“You can’t just betray your tribe and then change your mind ten minutes later. I was on a one-way bridge. There was no way to turn around, even if I wanted to” (Alexie 55). Arnold was thinking this to himself on the way to Reardan for his first day of classes. Even though he knew everyone back home hated him he still respected them enough not to change his mind and go back because they would be even more furious with him. Not turning around and going back meant that he was going to be very lonely at this new school and that he lost his best friend Rowdy.
The longer that Arnold attended Reardan he finally made a new friend named Gordy. One day they got into a conversation about how Arnold still lives on the reservation, but he goes to school at Reardan. Gordy could not understand why his tribe hated him so much and thought he was a traitor if he still lived on the...