A significant predicament for teenagers is their attempts and desires to connect to a community. About 44% of teenagers face the huge challenge of finding a community to belong to. Just like Junior, in the novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” written by Sherman Alexie. Ever since the world was introduced to the protagonist, Junior, he has felt like an outcast since the beginning. After Junior relocated to a different school for an opportunity to receive a better education, he became an outcast in both the Reardan and Indian Spokane Reservation communities. His presence in both communities caused Junior to have a sense of belonging later.

Junior, being the main protagonist, has faced an overwhelming challenge to fit into his community. “My head was so big that little Indian skulls orbited around it. Some of the kids called me an Orbit. And other kids just called me Globe. The bullies would pick me up, spin me in circles, put their fingers down on my skull, and say, ‘I want to go there.’ So obviously, I looked goofy on the outside, but it was the inside stuff that was the worst” (3). This moment in the quote is an important key detail for Junior since it demonstrates how he has always been picked on for as long as he can remember. I have also had hardships that relate to this quote because I’ve always been insecure about how I looked. That being said, this specific text in the quote says, “So obviously, I looked goofy on the outside, but it was the inside stuff that was the worst” this has always stuck with me because of the realization that someone with a severe medical problem is still picked on. “Everybody on rez calls me a retard about twice a day. They call me retard when they are pantsing me or stuffing my head in the toilet or just smacking me upside the head. I’m not even writing down this story the way I actually talk, because I’d have to fill it with stutters and lisps, and then you’d be wondering why you’re reading a story written by such a retard" (4). This quote is a parallel that shows how Junior has been an “alien” to all of the rez kids while he resided on the Indian Spokane Reservation. I could make a personal connection to this quote because, when I was in the 3rd grade, I had to take a speaking class because of my lisps and bad pronunciation. Others weren’t able to understand me correctly, which led to a lot of misunderstandings in communication. I got mocked by other students.

 Even after all of Junior’s efforts to fit in a community, he is still deemed an outsider after he moves to a different school for a higher educational road. “Traveling between Reardan and Wellpinit, between the little white town and the reservation, I always felt like a stranger. I was half Indian in one place and half white in the other. It was like being Indian was my job, but it was only a part-time job. And it didn’t pay well at all” (18). This quote heavily reflects the feelings that Junior has felt in the two different communities. I can relate to this quote since sometimes I feel like a stranger in my friend group. I’ve always been the awkward friend, just standing there with no clue what to talk about. “As we got off the bus and walked toward the gym, I could hear the crowd going crazy inside. They were chanting inside. They were chanting something. I couldn’t make it out. And then I could. The rez basketball fans were chanting, ‘Ar-nold sucks! Ar-nold sucks! Ar-nold sucks!’ They weren’t calling me by my rez name, Junior. Nope, they were calling me by my Reardan name” (143). This moment in the story is a significant detail since it provides an imaginary visual of the Indian Spokane Reservation community and their feelings towards Junior after he transferred schools. I can make a personal reference to Junior in this quote because the thought of walking somewhere public and then hearing a nickname being shouted out by a large crowd would instantly make me feel agitated. 

However, Junior’s presence in both communities later gave him a sense of belonging in the Indian Spokane Reservation and the Reardan community. “The buzzer sounded. The game was over. We had killed the Redskins. Yep, we had humiliated them. We were dancing around the gym, laughing and screaming and chanting. My teammates mobbed me. They lifted me up on their shoulders and carried me around the gym” (194). This quote displays how much the rest of the baseball team accepted and cherished Junior. I can make a personal connection to this quote because, when it was tennis season, I was attempting to get used to swinging with the racket since I did volleyball. I was doing a practice match against another set of opponents with a teammate, and I finally swung at the tennis ball and defended the court. The coaches were pleased with my performance as well as that of my other teammates. “Rowdy and I played one-on-one for hours. We played until dark. We played until the streetlights lit up the court. We played until the bats swooped down at our heads. We played until the moon was huge and golden and perfect in the dark sky. We didn’t keep score” (230). This moment in the novel creates a visual picture in your mind of how the protagonist’s sense of being an outcast has finally changed. A personal connection that I can relate to Junior is that last year, I attended the first chess practice of the year since I got dragged by my friend. I felt strange being there since I was the only person who had no clue how to play chess. It was extremely awkward. Since I was just sitting there and watching the others play. As the months passed, I developed a sense of belonging in the chess club since I got free pizza and found the game, chess, fun.

The main protagonist, Junior, has always been the sheep with black wool, ever since the world was introduced to him. Regardless of all of Junior’s attempts to fit into a community, he is still deemed an outcast after he moves to a different school to seek a higher education. While being present in both communities, Junior ultimately developed a sense of belonging in the Reardan and the Indian Spokane Reservation communities. In the novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, the importance of my topic includes self-identity, bullying, belonging, coming of age, and growing up. Teenagers go through this every day and hide their emotions from others to not be a burden. These key details of my topic would allow teenagers to be able to relate to the novel; even if they don't particularly connect to the novel, they are still able to see how the protagonist lives from his perspective. Based on what I've personally witnessed, teenagers are likely to have a higher risk of growing up to be more aggressive toward others and starting to experience loneliness and isolation. As these feelings start to occur more often, negative consequences will arise, such as anxiety, poor sleeping schedules, emotional overeating, depression, and physical as well as mental issues that could lead to suicide. Teenagers must read books like the novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” because it gives a sense of belonging, optimism, guidance, and inspirational quotes such as “If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty amazing.” The lessons from both my topic and novel include involving others to participate in activities and avoiding quick assumptions solely based on one's appearance.