An Adolescent Psychoanalysis Of The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian

Sherman Alexie(1966-)is one of the new blood in Native American writers.His works vividly describe the true life of Native Americans.The protagonists in most of his works are depicted as the image of fighting against Indians unfair fate.Alexie’s semi-autobiographical novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian(hereinafter termed The Diary)is such a typical work to fully show the resistance of the protagonist.It presents some negative elements such as poverty,bullying,hostility and alcoholism in Indians life from the first-person perspective of the protagonist.Meanwhile it conveys that dream,family,friendship and love are the hope of his struggling to free self.Based on the theories of Alfred Adler’s individual psychology and Melanie Klein’s psychoanalysis of children,the thesis explores two main questions,that is,what prevents the formation of healthy personality,and how the healthy personality develops.The thesis firstly works at the barriers to healthy personality with the analysis of three kinds of anxious behaviors.Owing to the negative effects of the poor living circumstance and the racial segregation,adolescent will be misled to the wrong recognitions of society,reality and self.The three boys in The Diary,Rowdy,Arnold and Roger use violence to eliminate feelings of inferiority or to pursue superiority,which contributes to reducing their anxiety caused by external pressure.Poverty,loneliness and inferiority urge Arnold to escaping from the reality.He wants to replace real world with phantasy world.His self-denial leads him to seek for attention and affirm self-value by sexual activity and relations.Consequently,the misunderstanding of society,denial of reality and underestimation of self are holding back the formation of healthy personality.Moreover,the issue of the forming trace of adolescent healthy personality shall be focused from the analysis of Arnold’s reparation of wrong cognitions.Arnold has some new thoughts of society,family and life when he lives between the reservation and white school.He recognizes the diversity of ethnic identities,accepts the differences between thinking and gender relations,and eliminates misunderstandings about social relations.He reexamines his parents’love for the family,his sister’s love for dream and his grandmother’s love for life and inherits their spirits of dedication,exploration and tolerance.After experiencing the death of friends and relatives many times,he deepens his understanding of life.Arnold’s upbringing shows that adolescent’s internalization of difference,love and life contributes to lessening his hatred for the external world and his denial for self,which helps him shape a healthier personality.From the perspective of adolescent psychoanalysis,the thesis explores the anxiety and reparation,the prerequisites for healthy personality’.development of adolescent in The Diary.It is of great significance to deepen the understanding of Alexi’s works,broaden the research field of adolescent literature and introduce the application of adolescent psychoanalysis in literature.At the same time,it also gives inspiration to the mental health education of contemporary adolescent.