Examining Identity with Alexie and Hughes

            The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a young adult novel that covers an array of serious issues that many adolescents face throughout their teenage years. The book tackles issues that range from dealing with death to eating disorders to poverty. The book also touches on a topic that teenagers deal with on a daily basis: identity. Who am I? It is a question that plagues students as they desperately try to categorize and make sense of the world around them. Throughout The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Alexie particularly focuses on racial and cultural identity with his main character Junior who feels like a being an Indian is a part-time job. He is stuck between two seemingly different worlds and does not know where he belongs. Another piece of literature that deals with racial identity that could be paired with Alexie's book is Langston Hughes' classic poem "Theme for English B." There are many parallels among the works that students could examine when it comes to the theme of identity; therefore, the poem would be a good classic to pair with Alexie's book.

             Both The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and "Theme for English B" deal with issues of race, identity, and privilege. Both the student in "Theme for English B" and Junior are different from all the other students in their classes. The speaker in "Theme for English B" remarks how he is "the only colored student in my class" (Hughes 10). Similarly, when Junior arrives at his new high school, he questions, "What was I doing at Reardon, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town?" (Alexie 56). In the same token, both live in a space that is separate from their classmates: one in Harlem and one on a reservation. Both the speaker and Junior also recognize the privilege others around them have because of their race. In Hughes' poem, the speaker states, "I guess you learn from me— / although you’re older—and white— / and somewhat more free (38-40). Similarly, Junior says, "I was carrying the burden of my race, you know?" and comes to the realization that white people have more hope (Alexie 43, 45).

            With all of these parallels among the two works, the books provide a useful pairing of modern young adult literature and classic literature that I could use in my own classroom to spark conversation about the theme of identity. After reading the Alexie text, I could have students split into small groups to read "Theme for English B" and discuss some of the following questions: What common themes do these two works share? In what ways can you relate to the speaker? In what ways can you not relate to the speaker? In what ways might the speaker relate to Junior? After discussing these types of questions with their groups, the entire class could share their responses together. I could also include other works that deal with the issue of identity such as an excerpt from Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street and an excerpt from Veronica Roth's Divergent.

            In discussing the theme of identity, Sherman Alexie's The Absolutetly True Diary of a Part-Time Indian could easily be paired with Langston Hughes' poem "Theme for English B." Both of these works offer a narrator whose dealing with the issue of racial identity and recognizing his otherness in a school setting. Students should be able to make connections among the themes of the two works and talk about how both works relate to the theme of identity and their own lives. The pairing of the young adult novel and the classic poem provides students with a challenge to think critically and make connections among two different pieces of literature that were written decades apart but share similar themes.

Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007. Print.

Hughes, Langston. "Theme for English B." Selected Poems of Langston Hughes. New York: Vintage Classics, 1990. Print.