Part Time Indian Essay

Joshua Pierre
Engl 132
11/6/13
The biggest change in the game is not the game itself but with the change in relations between two friends. Rowdy is an Indian who lives on an Indian reservation is a bully who bullies everyone including his best friend Junior. Junior is also an Indian but has some complications with his brain. He was born with too much cerebral fluid in his brain and he always gets called names like “Hydromatic” and “Hydrocrack”. Junior is one of the smartest kids on the reservation. In the book the absolutely true diary of a part time Indian Rowdy and Junior go through three main stages of their relationship. They go from being unequals were Rowdy is typically bullying Junior but also protects him to, being rivals were they compete against each other a lot and are not as friendly and finally in the last game they become equals and there is a sense of respect between the two characters. At the reservation Rowdy and Junior are unequals and this is where Rowdy bullies Junior because he knows he can’t do anything about it. In the book on page 20 Junior says that Rowdy stumbled into a van and hit his face against the window and when Junior starts to laugh Rowdy shoves Junior to the ground. This shows how unequal the two are in that if Junior tries to make fun of Rowdy or does something he does not like then Rowdy will hit him back. Another example of their unequal relationship is on page 21 Rowdy asks Junior “Who did this to you?” and Junior responds “The Andruss Brothers” and then Rowdy says “Did they hit you in the head?” Showing concern for Junior because he knows he has extra cerebral fluid in his head. After Junior tells Rowdy who did this Rowdy acts as his protector and comes up with the idea to shave the Andruss brother’s eyebrows and cut their braids off which he says is a demoralizing thing to do to an Indian.

When Junior goes away to Reardan a primarily white school which is a huge upgrade from Wellpinit where Junior used to go. Rowdy gets mad at Junior and feels like he is leaving the reservation because he thinks he is better than everyone else and it is at this point where they become rivals and start to compete against each other. Junior joins Reardan’s basketball team which plays his old school during the season and when Junior and Rowdy see each other with different jerseys on the competitiveness starts to flow to beat the other. On page 144 Junior talks about Rowdy and says “And then I noticed that the only Indian who hadn’t turned his back on me was Rowdy…And he glared at me. He wanted to play. He didn’t want to turn his

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