Sherman Alexie's first children's novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, uses examples of sexuality, aggression , and vulgarity to highlight the rawness of the cultural divide between Indians and Americans. The novel's protagonist and narrator, Arnold "Junior" Spirit, grows up on an Indian reservation and, after throwing an old-fashioned geometry book at a particularly empathetic teacher, finds himself involved in a series of events that push him to leave the reservation to be able to take advantage of the outside world. As Junior navigates this transition with great humor, friendship, and innocence, he takes vital steps in identity formation. Alexie foils themes of humor and vulnerability both textually and visually to more fully explain the inherent aporia Junior faces throughout this process as a cultural minority. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay From the beginning, Alexie's novel uses a juxtaposition of humor with themes such as aggression and discrimination to shed light on Junior's cognitive state. For example, in chapter two – notably titled “The Black Eye of the Month Club” – Junior describes his predicament, stating, “Everyone on the rez calls me retarded about twice a day” (4). In a normal lighthearted tone, he then jokes: “Do you know what happens to retards on the rez? We get beat up. At least once a month” (4). The quote pays homage to the frequency of aggression in a low socioeconomic community where physicality is often used as a sort of coping device. Junior's best friend, Rowdy, follows this pattern: he is abused by his father, and he himself seems to perpetuate this cycle of violence. Junior provides a unique perspective, not because he is exempt from such adversity, but because his ingenuity allows him to approach the situation in a self-reflexive manner. In fact, Junior's hydrocephalus prevents him from having any physical outlet: any physical trauma could jeopardize his health. In this way, his disability fortuitously forces him into an alternative, an association that implicitly gives power to disability. A perfect example of this coping mechanism in situ is found on page 4, where a comic self-portrait of Junior as an eclectic, stuttering, dysmorphic preteen attempts to provide insight into why he is being bullied. The portrayal is clearly exaggerated as part of his coping mechanism: by exaggerating his own stereotype, Junior is able to regain a certain degree of control. This creates a space of comfort for Junior within his disability stereotype and, later, comes to do the same within his cultural stereotype. When Alexie compares Junior's positive encounters with comic books, he works to show the pervasiveness of the Indian stereotype in the marketplace. Indian. For example, as Junior processes Mr. P's hopeful advice, he creates a drawing that distinguishes between "home" and "hope," complete with a moose and a sparse sketch of the future (43). Subsequently, jokes about her sister's hidden passion for writing are accompanied by a sleazy and deliberately stereotyped depiction of romance novels in which an Apache king appears to be courting his Caucasian matron (38). Again, the stereotypes are exaggerated to gain control and create entertainment, but worth noting is the fact that Junior feels the need to take the reins and draw a comic whenever something dives too far into optimism. In this way, comics surpass their statusof coping mechanisms and venture into expressions of cognitive dissonance. An idea of ​​the origin of this psychological division is found on page 58, where Junior sketches the profile of a man divided in half by ethnic distinctions. The drawing serves as the perfect objective correlative for Junior's mindset: the right half of the body illustrates a stereotypical Indian, dressed in cheap clothing and burdened with a "bone crushing reality", while the left half of the body shows a white man, adorned with designer clothes and promised “a bright future” (57). All of Junior's cartoons boil down exactly along these lines: a serious element is satirized into its constituent elements to create distance from hope, fear or trauma. This cautious authenticity can be more accurately labeled as a double consciousness in which Junior sees his actions as both the natural product of his actions and through the lens of his cultural position. Moments in the text implicitly act to support the cognitive division evident within the cartoon. During his conversation with Mr. P, Junior finds himself supporting his sister's desire to write romance novels, but once he realizes the danger of this tendency, he chastises himself for his unfounded positivity, saying, “I almost gagged when I said that. I don't even believe it. There is never enough time to change your life. You can't change your life, period” (40). Junior feels hope, but then feels like he feels hope: in a sort of metacognition, he corrects this emotion while remembering his cultural position. In particular, remember that for an American Indian, hope often proved illusory. This is part defense mechanism and part cultural mindset, and what translates most poignantly for Junior into an impoverished sense of worth. Many times he questions his deservingness. At one point he admits that he “wanted better” but “didn't deserve it” (40-41). He even questions his position in Reardan, observing: “Reardan was the opposite of the rez […] I didn't deserve to be there; all those guys knew it. Indians don't deserve shit” (57). The rare swear word in the young adult genre creates tension, emotion and emphasis as Junior pours out anger into what he believes to be a cultural inevitability. Because his ethnicity is often associated with the adversities of alcoholism, poverty, and the other realities of being a second-class citizen, a young Junior infers that this association must be a matter of value. Although Junior's double consciousness allows him to teeter in the safe space between devastation and triumph, this safety of feeling also impedes his growth. The cartoons are created in two distinct styles and the changes in pattern between the two are able to demonstrate Junior's eventual transcendence of this mentality. The dichotomy of the cartoons is demonstrated on page 23, in which Junior draws a detailed sketch that shows an often hidden kindness in Rowdy, who is working on a cartoon. This is type one: quick, light pencil marks that create a space of empathy, which in this drawing are scribbled to demonstrate type two, which in turn is characterized by speech bubbles and cartoons that sit on the surface of emotions. Combining both tactics, this particular drawing shows that, as a frequent abuser, the prospect of genuine movement is terrifying for Rowdy, and he deals with it using anger. Furthermore, it highlights the honesty that lies beneath the surface of this anger, and that in itself also allows characters like Rowdy, who lacks Junior's intuition, to be seen under the umbrella of his kindness. The art within the novel is.