Arnold Spirit

The rawness and crudeness in Arnold's narration of his life on the rez makes his story believable, but lightens the mood of the issues presented. We see the facts shown in a very straight-foward and almost carefree manner with help from the cartoons and sketches that give Arnold such a unique quality. His humor and thoughtfulness is especially endearing when he uses it to take care of problems that come his way. Arnold's determination is uplifting even though his story is filled with plenty of grief and controversy. However, we do not see Arnold react to his problems by remaining moody and sulking and feeling desolate for long. The teen angst that is characteristic of most young-adult novels is replaced by a strong sense of pride and hope despite Arnold's disabilities.