Many traumatic events occur in the life of Arnold Spirit Jr. (or simply "Junior"), the Native American protagonist of Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian:
- Oscar, Junior's dog, gets sick. Because his family cannot afford to buy medicine for him, Junior's father shoots the dog.
- Junior and his best friend, Rowdy, get into many physical altercations, which usually involve Rowdy hurling homophobic insults at Junior and attacking him. Junior also must deal with the racist jokes of the jocks at his new high school, which causes a fight between Junior and Roger.
- Junior's family friend, Eugene, is shot in the face by another man, Bobby, during a fight over who gets the last drink from a bottle of wine. Eugene dies, and Bobby doesn't remember pulling the trigger, having been so drunk. Bobby later hangs himself with a sheet while in jail.
- Junior's Grandma, who he loved tremendously, is killed by a drunk driver as she was returning from a powwow.
- Junior's sister dies in a fire that was started when someone left a hot plate on during a party. She was drunk at the time.
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