The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Chapter 18 Summary

Don't Trust Your Computer

• At school, Junior starts to miss Rowdy a whole bunch, so he decides to take a smiling picture of himself and email it to Rowdy.
• Only moments later, Rowdy replies with a picture of his bare butt.
• Gordy, who is nearby, sees the picture and the two boys end up having a conversation about Rowdy and why he hates Arnold. They discuss how things are difficult on the rez now that Junior is going to school in Reardan.
• Arnold tells Gordy that Indians think you become white if you try to make your life successful. Gordy replies, "If that were true, wouldn't all white people be successful?" (18.16).
• Arnold tells Gordy that people on the rez call him an apple: red on the outside, white on the inside.
• Gordy offers some professorial advice about the struggle between an individual and the community (18.25). And how weird people sometimes get banished.
• Gordy and Arnold decide they are both weird and are therefore a tribe of two.