The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Lesson Plan

What role does alcoholism play in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian? Junior compares addiction to alcohol to Penelope's bulimia, which he sees as a type of addiction in itself. How is bulimia similar to alcohol addiction?

There is a lot of alcoholism in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Although the novel's most horrific alcohol-related tragedies are still to come, students have already seen evidence of the devastation that alcoholism has caused to the reservation. Nearly every Indian adult in the book appears to have a drinking problem. We see poor people who spend nearly all of their meager income on booze, thereby perpetuating their...