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Junior’s best friend from the reservation. Rowdy is the toughest kid on the rez and all the other kids are afraid of him, but he always protects Junior from bullies (or beats them up in return as revenge). In turn, Junior supports Rowdy as he deals with his abusive, alcoholic father. They were born within two hours of each other and are each other’s only friends. Rowdy loves kids’ comic books like Archie and Caspar the Friendly Ghost; secretly, he’s “a big, goofy dreamer,” and Junior loves to make him laugh. But when Junior leaves the reservation to attend high school in Reardan, Rowdy not only refuses to go with him, but also punches Junior, screaming that he hates him. Junior misses Rowdy desperately throughout the novel, but it isn’t until the final chapter that their friendship is restored. Rowdy is introduced as a kind of character foil to Junior—he’s the strongest kid on the reservation while Junior is the weakest, and he has trouble expressing any feelings other than anger, while Junior cries frequently and expresses himself easily in cartoons. In fact, though, the two boys’ differences are what make them similar: they are both ostracized for their respective violence and weakness, and Rowdy, with his hot temper, is as fragile emotionally as Junior is physically. In this way, their relationship plays into the theme of overlapping opposites, and parallels Junior’s sense of being a person split in two.
Rowdy Quotes in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
The The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian quotes below are all either spoken by Rowdy or refer to Rowdy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
“It’s not like anybody’s going to notice if you go away,” he said. “So you might as well gut it out.”
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Chapter 7
Quotes
“You always thought you were better than me,” he yelled.
“No, no, I don’t think I’m better than anybody. I think I’m worse than everybody else.”
“Why are you leaving?”
“I have to go. I’m going to die if I don’t leave.”
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Chapter 11
Quotes
“Hey buddy,” I would have said. “How do I make a beautiful white girl fall in love with me?”
“Well, buddy,” he would have said. “The first thing you have to do is change the way you look, the way you talk, and the way you walk. And then she’ll think you’re her fricking Prince Charming.”
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Chapter 29
Quotes
“You’re an old-time nomad,” Rowdy said. “You’re going to keep moving all over the world in search of food and water and grazing land. That’s pretty cool.”
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I would always love Rowdy. And I would always miss him, too. Just as I would always love and miss my grandmother, my big sister, and Eugene.
Just as I would always love and miss my reservation and my tribe.
I hoped and prayed that they would someday forgive me for leaving them.
I hoped and prayed that I would someday forgive myself for leaving them.
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Get the entire Diary of a Part-Time Indian LitChart as a printable PDF.
Rowdy Quotes in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
The The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian quotes below are all either spoken by Rowdy or refer to Rowdy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
“It’s not like anybody’s going to notice if you go away,” he said. “So you might as well gut it out.”
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7
Quotes
“You always thought you were better than me,” he yelled.
“No, no, I don’t think I’m better than anybody. I think I’m worse than everybody else.”
“Why are you leaving?”
“I have to go. I’m going to die if I don’t leave.”
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11
Quotes
“Hey buddy,” I would have said. “How do I make a beautiful white girl fall in love with me?”
“Well, buddy,” he would have said. “The first thing you have to do is change the way you look, the way you talk, and the way you walk. And then she’ll think you’re her fricking Prince Charming.”
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 29
Quotes
“You’re an old-time nomad,” Rowdy said. “You’re going to keep moving all over the world in search of food and water and grazing land. That’s pretty cool.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I would always love Rowdy. And I would always miss him, too. Just as I would always love and miss my grandmother, my big sister, and Eugene.
Just as I would always love and miss my reservation and my tribe.
I hoped and prayed that they would someday forgive me for leaving them.
I hoped and prayed that I would someday forgive myself for leaving them.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
