Illustrations of Identity
by Ethan Pennington
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is a National Book Award Winning novel by Sherman Alexie. Alexie tells the story of Arnold Spirit Junior, a cartoonist growing up on a Spokane Indian reservation. Through dynamic illustrations and confessional writing the reader follows Junior as he transfers from his school on the reservation to an all white school named Reardon 22 miles away. Ellen Forney illustrates this chapter with a picture showing the protagonist's perception of his new school as “an opposite '' of who he is and where he is from. Every time I teach this novel I am taken by the poignant text to self connections ninth graders form with the book. The themes of identity and displacement resonate and students even create their illustrations highlighting aspects of who they are. Instead of creating “opposites,” as the author puts it, students illustrate essential qualities of their own identities. Often they write about prior school experiences, or camp. Here 9th grader Sebastian Liceaga emulated the style of writing in the book with a colorful representation of his identity as a dual citizen.
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is a National Book Award Winning novel by Sherman Alexie. Alexie tells the story of Arnold Spirit Junior, a cartoonist growing up on a Spokane Indian reservation. Through dynamic illustrations and confessional writing the reader follows Junior as he transfers from his school on the reservation to an all white school named Reardon 22 miles away. Ellen Forney illustrates this chapter with a picture showing the protagonist's perception of his new school as “an opposite '' of who he is and where he is from. Every time I teach this novel I am taken by the poignant text to self connections ninth graders form with the book. The themes of identity and displacement resonate and students even create their illustrations highlighting aspects of who they are. Instead of creating “opposites,” as the author puts it, students illustrate essential qualities of their own identities. Often they write about prior school experiences, or camp. Here 9th grader Sebastian Liceaga emulated the style of writing in the book with a colorful representation of his identity as a dual citizen.
