The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: Irony 3 key examples

Oscar is Junior's beloved dog, adopted from the street, and he is very sick. Junior's parents regretfully inform him that they cannot afford to take Oscar to the vet. After a discussion in hushed tones, they tell Junior that the most humane thing they can do for the dog is to kill him. They don't use anesthesia, as a wealthy family would be able to do. Instead, Junior's father has to shoot Oscar.

In this passage, Junior describes the horrible experience of hearing the gun go off. His description of trying to outrun the speed of sound conveys desperation and doom. It is almost as though he is trying to outrun a bullet fired at him. His fear and grief are palpable to the reader. It is clear that this incident is highly traumatic not only to Junior, but also to his father, who cries but follows through on his resolve to end Oscar's suffering.

Junior's next line helps turn all of this emotional weight toward a broader claim about social justice. On the surface, Junior is simply stating a fact: the cost of a bullet is far more affordable than the cost of anesthesia or veterinary care. Regardless of systemic inequality, almost anyone could find two cents by simply scouring the ground for pennies. What Junior really means, though, is that this is one of the most costly moments of his life so far. He has spent this chapter describing his family: he has a mother, a father, a sister, and a dog, just like many other American kids. They love each other imperfectly and sometimes deal with problems like food insecurity, but Junior always trusts his parents to put food on the table before things get too bad. When Oscar gets sick, though, they do not have the means to administer the care he deserves. They must settle for a more brutal option because it is the next best thing available to them. This incident demonstrates to all of them (and to the reader) that sometimes poverty cannot be transcended by love. It forces people to do things that spiritually, no one can really "afford." The rich families Oscar meets in Reardan would never have to "afford" the traumatic cost of this moment because they could "afford" to pay for veterinary care.

When Ted first stands up at the funeral, Junior recognizes him as a billionaire. It doesn't surprise him to see a rich White man on the reservation given how often rich White men show up "telling Indians how much they love them." There is dramatic irony at play right away. Ted doesn't seem to realize that he is decked out in "traditional" American Indian garb that some Navajo shaman purchased at a cheap box store and resold to him at a 25,000% markup. He has tried to appropriate Navajo culture and does not even realize that he has turned himself into the butt of the joke. On the other hand, Junior is eager to find out how this unbelievably rich man knew his grandmother. Is he about to give money to Junior's family?

The suspense around what Ted is doing at the funeral resolves itself as he explains that he is here to return the outfit. He, however, remains clueless about his own cultural blind spots. Ted clearly expects Junior's mother to thank him. He wants to feel good about himself when he sees how touched she is to receive this family heirloom on the day she buries her mother. Junior's mother sets him up for this expectation by putting on a somber, formal voice. She lets him match her formal tone as he begs for forgiveness.

At the last second, she pivots, subverting his expectations. She reveals that the outfit cannot be her mother's because her mother only attended powwows, never danced in them. She goes on to inspect the outfit, naming the details that lead her to believe that Ted is hundreds of miles from the people it was actually stolen from. Without any cruelty in her voice, she simply lets Ted know that he has been swindled by whatever anthropologist led him to the Spokane people. Following the expectation that he would be honored for his cultural sensitivity, he is overcome with humiliation. He drives off and leaves everyone laughing at him in a moment that is cathartic and healing for Grandmother's surviving community. The fact that a pillar of the community who never drank has been killed by a drunk driver is just one of many cruel situational ironies Junior and his Wellpinit community endure. The incident with Ted reminds them all that sometimes they can play irony to their advantage, too.

This defeat has been a long time coming. In the last match between Reardan and Wellpinit, Junior's former classmates knocked him out and publicly humiliated him, crushing his new team. Ever since, Junior and the reader have been anticipating his chance to reclaim his dignity. It seems as though winning against Rowdy and the rest of the Wellpinit team will prove to everyone that Junior is a good player who has not made a mistake by joining the Reardan team.

At first, Junior does feel vindicated when his team wins. His father's lack of excitement doesn't make sense to him. He compares himself and his team at Reardan to David in the biblical story of David and Goliath. In this story, Goliath is a giant warrior who represents the Philistines. He challenges the Philistines' rivals, the Israelites, to select their own champion to fight him for land rights. The Israelites eventually send a shepherd named David into battle with Goliath. Against all odds, David defeats Goliath with a simple slingshot. Junior imagines that he and his team are David and that they have finally defeated their more formidable opponents. It should be a moment to celebrate.

However, as Junior reflects a little longer on the narrative, he realizes that David and Goliath map onto the two teams in just the opposite way. Junior's humiliation in the earlier game is nothing to the humiliation that has just been wrought on the Wellpinit team. Rowdy and his teammates overwhelmingly live in poverty, while the Reardan team reaps the benefits of the land and wealth that have been stolen from the Spokane people. Most of the Wellpinit players will never go to college or travel far and wide. Basketball might be a ticket off the reservation for one or two of them, but for most it is just the one thing they know their community excels at. It helps them stand tall. Junior has just led his team—a team powered by stolen riches—to knock the Wellpinit team down. Junior is disgusted to realize that his single-minded push to redeem himself for leaving Wellpinit has ironically led him to exactly the kind of betrayal Rowdy has accused him of.