Poverty is everywhere; it's in your garden, in front of your door, it can even be in your house. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, poverty is the most important theme of the book because it has negatively affected Junior's life. Poverty is the main theme because it influenced the decisions of Junior, his family and the entire Indian community. First of all, poverty was already present in Junior's family. Being poor can affect you in many ways, but poverty affected Junior's family because they couldn't afford anything. They didn't have enough money as his father usually gambles most of their money. They couldn't afford to buy food because they lived on an Indian reservation in Spokane. They couldn't take Oscar, Junior's best friend, his dog, to the hospital. They could barely afford to buy Junior new clothes. “I wish I was magical, but really I'm just a poor reservation boy living on his poor Spokane Indian Reservation” (7). Poverty means you are poor and when you are poor you have to starve. Poverty caused Junior to lose his best friend. Poverty made him and his family suffer because they didn't have enough money. Junior wished he was magical because he and his family barely had enough food to eat. What Junior meant by magical was that he wished he could change things with a snap of his fingers. After Oscar's death, Junior wanted to blame his parents for Oscar's death, but he couldn't. Junior couldn't because he and his family have a history of poverty and there's nothing they can do about it. They can't change the past but they don't know that they can change the future. Junior's ancestors were poor and now Junior and his family are poor. “And it's not like my mother and father were born rich. It's not like them... middle of paper... your hopes and dreams. Poverty is the most important theme in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie because it affected Junior's life. in a negative way. Poverty is the main theme because it affected the entire Indian community, Junior's family, and Junior's decisions. Poverty can affect you in many ways, but for Junior, his family, and the entire Indian community on the reservation, poverty was a life-threatening problem. Even so, poverty is a repetitive cycle that will continue until you emerge from it and decide for yourself that this is not the path you want to take. Poverty can happen to anyone, and we will all experience poverty at some point. It's up to you to decide whether you want to stay in poverty or not. Works Cited Alexie, Sherman. The absolutely true diary of a part-time IndianNew York: Little Brown. 2007.