Superheroes Do Not Live on the Rez: The Nomadic Identity for Native Indian Young Adults in Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Sherman Alexie’s 2007 young adult fiction, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, depicts the life of a young Spokane Indian boy named Arnold Spirit Jr., and the writer tries to show how this young protagonist deals with his identity issues both on the reservation and at a white school. Off the poor reservation where limitations make him a loser, he needs to balance his Indian identity and agency with the white American identity he has come into contact with. The final answer, outcome, or resolution of his long search and struggle is to become a nomad (an old-time Indian way of life) or to become Nomad (an alternative superhero identity of Captain America). Following Junior’s track, Alexie implies that there should be a new form of identity for the young generation, because obviously there is none, for them, available now. Giving them a reachable, accessible form of identity and heroic figure would lead young readers like Junior to dreams of being someone important.