In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior relates Oscar's death as an example of the worst thing about being poor. What...

Sherman Alexie's book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indiantells the story of Junior, who has grown up on the Spokane Reservation. Junior is frustrated by the systemic poverty his family experiences and the lack of opportunities available on the Reservation. He decides to go to a "white school" in another town, but he doesn't fit in there because he's "Indian," and now he doesn't fit in at home because he goes to...

Sherman Alexie's book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian tells the story of Junior, who has grown up on the Spokane Reservation. Junior is frustrated by the systemic poverty his family experiences and the lack of opportunities available on the Reservation. He decides to go to a "white school" in another town, but he doesn't fit in there because he's "Indian," and now he doesn't fit in at home because he goes to a white school.

Junior struggles with the fact that his family and his people are trapped in a cycle of poverty. When his dog, Oscar, becomes sick, Junior's family can't afford to take him to the vet. Junior says that the worst thing about being poor is not being able to help the ones you love. People who live in poverty cannot afford many of the things that constitute a good quality of life—healthcare, education, and sometimes even proper nutrition or housing.

I think that Junior wishes he could ease the suffering he sees around him on the Reservation. Unfortunately, much of the suffering is due to the oppression of his culture, including the economic upheaval and erasure of indigenous ways of life. Money could certainly fix a lot of the problems Junior sees, but the Spokane people don't have the money to make things better, and the government can't or wont give them money to make it better because the Reservation is independent.

Junior remarks that "a bullet only costs two cents; anybody can afford that." What he's really saying here is that the only possible way he knows to escape the poverty his family experiences is through death. Junior's words and actions say two different things, though, and by attending a white school off of the Reservation and taking the challenge to join the basketball team, he is chasing new opportunities for himself and his loved ones.