Poverty, something many families experience.

  Poverty is something many families experience. Poverty often leads to substance abuse and family dysfunction. In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolute Story of a Part-Time Indian, Junior and Rowdy’s families are perfect examples. Both of their fathers are drunkards. Rowdy’s father is a mean drunkard who beats his wife and son. Junior’s father is a drunkard who leaves for weeks at a time, and gambles away gas money needed to drive Junior to school. Sometimes the only thing these families have to eat for dinner is sleep. When I was younger I have also experienced some of these things. As I grew older I knew this is not how I wanted to live the rest of my life. I learned from my parents mistakes.

Family Dysfunction

Family dysfunction is common in Indigenous communities. One example is Rowdy’s family, from Sherman Alexie’s The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Rowdy’s father is a drunkard who beats his wife and son, “so Rowdy and his mother are always walking around with bruised and bloody faces”. In response, Rowdy is a bully who fights anyone and anything in his way. This is one out of many dysfunctional families, common around the world. Family dysfunction does not only occur in Indigenous communities, it also occurs in the dominant culture.