Characters
The main character and narrator
Who is Junior?
Name the major turning point in Junior's character arc
What is going to a predominantly white high school (Reardan) instead of staying in the reservation's school?
Name the name of the person the book is based on
Who is Sherman Alexie?
land held in trust by the federal government for Native American tribes to live.
What is a reservation?
a description of the distinctive nature or features of someone or something
What is characterization?
Name and characterize (3 descriptors min.) Junior's best friend
Who is Rowdy? Who is angry, tough, athletic, sensitive, hurt, and stuck?
Describe how the book is introduced
What is an introduction to the main character's "disability," brain "grease," artistic talent, and difficulties fitting in with his already marginalized community.
Explain what Alexie means by "Part-Time Indian" with a piece of evidence from the book (response does not need to be in question format)
What is Junior's divided identity? (Junior lives in two worlds once he starts his high school career at Reardan. He is called an apple by his peers, which highlights the judgment he faces in both communities for existing in both worlds.)
the various categories such as gender, race, class, ability, sexual orientation, religion, caste, age, nationality that interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels.
intersectional identities
an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art, literature, or a life; always unsaid (usually 1-3 words)
What is theme?
Name & describe the main character's sister (3 descriptors minimum)
Who is Mary? Who is funny, avoidant, hopeless, powerful, attractive, passionate, creative, and insecure?
Name the four characters that pass away
Who is Junior's Grandma? Who is Mary? Who is Eugene? Who is Bobby?
Describe why Sherman Alexie chose to focus on developing a character like Junior (response does not need to be in question format)
Because there are not only limited stories about Indigenous Americans, but there are even fewer stories about Indigenous Americans with disabilities succeeding despite the obstacles America has created for them.
prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control.
oppression
the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc. (AND an example)
What is tone? What is rude, or confident, etc. (an adjective regarding a behavior)?
The main character's parents dream jobs
What is a Professor (Mom)? What is a musician (Dad)?
Describe the evolution of the main character's relationship with his best friend. Be sure to include direct evidence from the text to support your analysis.
(response does not need to be in question format)
What is a bumpy ride?
1) Rowdy and Junior start their friendship strong from the moment they're born, as they share the same birthday. While everyone else on the reservation is scared of Rowdy (except his parents), Junior accepts his tough exterior and violent tendencies.
2) However, when Junior decides to attend Reardan, Rowdy and Junior stop being friends.
3) By the end of the book they resolve their issues, despite their different life paths.
Identify the tone and consequential mood in the below passage:
"Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear. But somehow or another, Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps" (Alexie 216-217).
What is a direct informative tone?
What is a sad/hurt mood?
The action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area
What is colonization?
the way in which the author allows you to “see” and “hear” the text (AND an example)
What is point-of-view? What is first-person, second-person, or third-person?
Name and describe (3 words min.) the character who significantly changes Junior's life path
Who is Mr. P? Who is regretful, honest, apologetic, sleepy, lazy, and guilty?
What happened at the main character's Grandma's funeral? Include the...
1) Start
2) Middle
3) Ending
(response does not need to be in question format)
1) The whole reservations, and visitors came to celebrate and remember his Grandmother's life
2) Ted, a white savior, randomly shows up and gives a whole spiel about how he's been waiting for the day to give back this traditional costume that did not in fact belong to Junior's Grandma
3) The whole reservation bursts out into laughter.
Describe how Alexie feels about the U.S. government's treatment of Indian Americans. Provide an example from the book to support your claim.
(response does not need to be in question format)
Alexie is upset by how the U.S. government treats Indian Americans. This is because Natives still face racist treatment from the dominant powers (complicit white Americans), such as...
1) the U.S. health system
2) minimal economic support
3) underfunded education
4) the purpose behind reservations
5) historical oppression/colonization
6) etc.
the process whereby individuals or groups of differing ethnic heritage are absorbed into the dominant culture of a society
What is assimilation?
inducing or suggestive of a particular feeling or state of mind
What is mood?