Compare and Contrast- Sherman Alexie

Compare and Contrast In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior is a young American Indian that is shy and has low self-esteem, and has a few issues physically and his surroundings. He has a best friend named Rowdy. Rowdy is rude and has no emotion to any situation. What many people at the reservation don’t know is that Rowdy and Junior have real problems at home with their parents. The differences between Rowdy and Junior are the family and the personalities. One difference between Rowdy and Junior is their families. The way Junior was raised was completely different from Rowdy’s upbringing. Rowdy has a difficult life, his dad is always drinking. Junior states “His father is drinking hard and throwing hard punches”. (16) Because of Rowdy’s father always drinking he constantly abuses Rowdy and his mother and leaving them bruises and bloody faces. In the book, Rowdy had a bandage in his left ear and Junior asked what had happened, and Rowdy stated, “Dad said I wasn’t listening, so he got all drunk and tried to get my ear a little bigger”. Also, when Junior went over to Rowdy’s house to leave a cartoon, Rowdy’s dad opens the door and says mean things to him. For instance, Junior states when he handed over the cartoon, Rowdy’s dad said “You’re kind of gay aren’t you”? (103) that’s when Junior concluded why Rowdy was angry all the time because of the type of dad he had. On the other hand, Junior family is much closer. Even though they don’t often say nice things to one another, they do support Junior. In the book, Junior states “Yep, my daddy was a dependable drunk. But he’d never missed any of my organized games, concerts, plays or picnics. He may not loved me perfectly, but he loved me as well as he could” (189) Junior’s dad may be a drunk but he knew how to treat and support Junior. In the book it states, “Yeah, Dad is a drunk and Mom is an ex-drunk, but they don’t want their kids to be drunks”. (48) This proves that even