Indian Education

Junior Polatkin is the protagonist and narrator of “Indian Education,” as well as one of the principal characters of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. He narrates the story from a retrospective perspective, recounting the events of his childhood with adult insight and tracing his evolution from a bullied, self-conscious child to a young man who must distance himself from his community to pursue education in the outside world. 

Junior is a member of the Spokane tribe who grew up on the tribal reservation in Washington. His early life is marked by bullying, both from his peers and from his teachers. These experiences teach Junior to stick up for himself, accommodating social and cultural expectations when necessary while internally remaining true to himself and his identity. Though his parents remain mostly in the narrative background, they offer support in this respect: When a teacher demands that Junior cut off his braids, his parents respond by confronting her with their own braids, an act of solidarity and protest against an educational system that so often seeks to erase their culture.

Junior’s character arc is both shaped by and resistant to the roles others impose upon him.