As I finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I realized that Arnold is the perfect example of the commonly used phrase and awesome song 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' And that is also the moral of the story, I think, that no matter what life throws at you it's always worth it to keep going. I chose some examples of this moral and the phrase in the book and analyzed them below.
Arnold has a terrible home life. Everyone in his family loves him, but sometimes that isn't enough. Both of his parents are alcoholics so he doesn't always receive the sober attention he needs. And this sounds awful, and it is, but it also might have given Arnold an advantage. He learned to be independent to some degree and not have to rely on his parents all the time, like most kids his age.
He's hydrocephalic which means he was born with "water on the brain" and that he's constantly at risk of seizures. However this means Arnold will learn to always be prepared in case of emergency, and that will definitely help him to survive on his reservation when people die every day. Even if other people can't hand Arnold the tools, he will create makeshift ones because he's a survivor.
He has only one friend on the Spokane reservation on which everyone is poor and drunk and starving, named Rowdy. He learns next to nothing in school. So his life isn't peachy. But Arnold uses all the anger and passion at his wreck of a life to push him further and to strive in his new school outside of the reservation. He managed to not just survive but thrive because he had a drive. (Sorry, I couldn't help it.) nd he only started at his new school because his teacher realized he hadn't given up on his life. All the other kids felt only acceptance of the horrible life sure to be ahead of them.
Not Arnold, though. He's a survivor, he's not gonna give up, he's gonna work harder. (This post has a lot of opportunities...)
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