The Nature of the Relationship between the Reader and the Writer

Writing, although it fulfills many different purposes, is often boiled down to two main purposes: writing to convey information to a reader and writing for personal expression and artistic value. Although those are often regarded as two separate ideas, they are often inseparably intertwined together. Furthermore, if we examine writing as a vehicle of communication between the reader and the writer, we see that it often involves elements of personal expression, and that relationship is expressed well in the Sherman Alexies novel The Absolutely True Story of a Part-time Indian. Expressing himself through writing is one of the key ways that the protagonist Arnold Sprit makes sense of and deals with the world around him. Although his writing is largely personal, he shares his cartoons with his best friend Rowdy, and the relationship that the two of them have through Arnold's cartoons allows one to examine the nature of the relationship between the reader and the writer. The relationship between the reader and the writer is not as static as one might first assume. Upon first thought, it seems as though the writer writes a text and the reader consumes it and that brings an end to the relationship, but in fact thats where the relationship begins, and Arnolds relationship with his best friend Rowdy shows how that comes about. Rowdy is everything that Junior is not, or at least does not perceive himself to be. While Arnold is small and physically weak, Arnold describes Rowdy as, long and lean and strong like a snake, (15), and not always in the best way. Arnold says of his relationship with Rowdy, Hes a big goofy dreamer too, just like me. He likes to pretend he lives inside the comic books. I guess a fake life inside a cartoon is a lot better than his real life. So I draw cartoons to make him happy, to give him other worlds to live inside. I draw his dreams (24) . Elsewhere in the text, Arnold says he draws because he wants to communicate with the world, and writing is really one of the only ways he can communicate with Rowdy, who often shuts himself off or gets angry when Junior tries to have actual conversations about him. The passage goes on to say, And he only talks

about his dreams with me. And I only talk about my dreams with him. I tell him about my fears. (24). Like the closeness in the relationship between Rowdy and Arnold, the relationship between the reader and the writer is often very intimate. The relationship between the writer and the reader, however, is not a one-way street. The reader is dependent on the writer for the information they are consuming, but in some ways, the writer is dependent on the reader as well. As a reader, it can often be very easy to forge personal connections with texts and the author who wrote it, but this also discusses the relationship the writer can have with the reader too. Junior says, I tell him [Rowdy] about my fears, and throughout the novel, Junior has a lot of them. Hes afraid that he wont be accepted in the white community, hes afraid of leaving the reservation, and hes afraid that he wont leave the reservation. But by sharing them with Rowdy, and by sharing them with the reader in the context of the entire diary, the writer is able to both deal with those fears as well as forge a relationship with the reader through those sharing of personal experiences. Another scene which captures this reader-writer relationship is when Arnold draws Rowdy a cartoon on Thanksgiving, and he has Rowdys father deliver the cartoon to him. Arnold says, And I felt sad for a moment. But then I realized that Rowdy may have flipped me off, but he hadnt torn up my cartoon. As much as he hated me, he probably should have ripped it to pieces. That would have hurt my feelings more than just about anything I can think of. But Rowdy still respected my cartoons. And so maybe he still respected me a little bit. (103) Even though Rowdy has a lot of anger towards Arnold at this point in the book for leaving him and leaving the reservation, he still respected his cartoons, and he still respects the bond that they once (and in many ways still) had. By respecting Arnolds cartoons, Rowdy is really still respecting what the cartoons represent - Arnold and Rowdys hopes, dreams, fears, and aspirations. In some ways, by writing for Rowdy, Arnold was able to give him a space for his dreams that Rowdy didnt have otherwise Arnold says he drew Rowdys dreams. Mary, Arnolds sister in the book, similarly uses such a method of escape she stays in the basement all day and she reads to escape her life and dream of a better one.

Writers provide such an avenue for readers, they allow them to escape their day to day lives and dream of a better one. But in return, writers get some of that intimacy as well if Rowdy had rejected Arnolds drawing, it would have devastated him more than he could imagine. Readers form a connection with the author when they read their work, but writers also form one back.

Although Arnolds writing allows him to form connections to Rowdy, through his cartoons, and the reader, through the medium of the diary, much of Arnolds writing is exploratory as well, and he uses it to make meaning from and come to terms with his experiences. Throughout the novel, Arnolds writing is largely personal and often deals with the theme of acceptance. Junior struggles with the notion of acceptance and fitting in, whether it be by the White community at Reardon or within his own tribe. He even opens the novel with all of the reasons that his tribe doesnt accept him his lisp, his stutter, his big head, and even his love of reading and learning. Immediately after all of these descriptions, however, he introduces the reader to his love of cartoons. For Arnold, drawing cartoons is his way of writing to, about, and making sense of his world, about which he says, So I draw because I want to talk to the world. And I want the world to pay attention to me. I feel important with a pen in my hand (5). While most of the cartoons in his diary are personal, the one person throughout the book that Arnold regular shares his cartoons with is Rowdy, his best friend in the entire world. Ultimately, writing can fulfill several different purposes, and Arnold was able to use writing as a way to speak on behalf of himself, his friends, and his entire tribe. Rowdy and Arnold often had a tumultuous relationship throughout the novel, but it was a relationship marked by a closeness that is often shared by a reader and writer. While the reader finds an avenue for their hopes and dreams, the writer also benefits from their relationship as well. Just as Rowdy and Arnold are dependent on each other, the reader and writer are dependent on each other as well, and they dont function as effectively without each other. Writing can also serve many functions,

circling in an interconnected cycle of connectedness between writing for expression and writing for communication.