Arnold had high hopes for the school year, but when he receives a textbook with his mother's name in it, his excitment comes crashing down. He says it is the "saddest thing in the world" (31) because he was so excited about school, and the realization that they can't even afford new books after thirty years crushes him. This is so devastating for him because his whole life he is taught that he can never be anything more than “just poor” (13). Yet, that day, he had hope. He was hopeful that he could go somewhere besides the direction that he has been given. He was excited for math and basketball, despite what his peers might think. "I know that the other kids are going to give me crap for being so excited about school. But I don't care" (28).
Seeing those two words reminds him that his life has almost been decided for him. He is brought back to reality, because he is once again told that education does not matter for him, because he is not given a path down that road. After all, if a new text book after thirty years isn't in the budget, then a decent future must certainly be out of the picture as well.
Arnold reacts by throwing his book at Mr. P. What might you do in this situation?
Have you ever felt given up on like Arnold does? How was that situation similar to different than his?
Do you think that Arnold is over reacting? Why or why not?
Why do you think that he calls the situation a “nuclear war” (31)?
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ReplyDeleteArnold throws an old book he receives from his teacher, accidentally at his teacher. After this Arnold states that the situation is "a nuclear war" and feels very disappointed with what happens. This isn't the first time ether as his life seems to be "an ugly circle" (13) and that it " was the saddest thing in the world" (31). Arnold wants to have something he can be proud of because he has nothing else. People treat him terribly because of how he looks and since he is so poor he feels put down because thee is nothing he can do about it. The one day where he is proud to show that he is going to school and has a brand new book; something which is hard for him to afford, isn't new. Yet it is 30 years old,so it puts him down even more. Now he feels like he has nothing at all to hold on to because he is too poor and useless. He has been crushed again, but now it as become one too many times so he decides that the whole situation is a "nuclear war," (31).
ReplyDeleteArnold receives a book that is over forty-four years old and was used by his own mother. Anyone who got a book that has not been upgraded for over thirty years might feel like they are worthless, and since Arnold has so many self-insecurities already, receiving this book throws him over the edge. Although it is not Mr. P's fault that the book is extremely old he still feels like he wants to throw the book at him, yet he just draws it, which I think is this a good way to relieve himself.
ReplyDeleteClearly Arnold has been looking forward to this day for a while, and contrary to our situations, Arnold doesn't have the privilege to receive crisp new books every year. When all your excitement about something comes crashing down you can feel very hopeless. For example two years ago I caught a bad case of the flu which stayed in my system for two weeks. Although this is quite a small example compared to Arnold's, I also felt the same sort of feeling of helplessness. When discovering the book Arnold experienced a great amount of emotions making It hard for him to stay calm, but hence his situation I think he had no reason to throw the book. I do think that Arnold over reacted and instead of Arnold’s initial reaction I think that he could have seeked help from his teacher right in the moment, or tried to keep his emotions down until he could talk to his parents about his feelings. I do not think it is too late for Arnold to seek help from Mr. P or his family and I think that just telling someone how he feels could save him a whole lot of stress.
ReplyDeleteArnold describes this situation as a nuclear war because of all of his emotions crashing down on him much like a nuclear bomb. Arnold doesn’t have very many luxuries or things to look for in his life, and when one of those few things pops up he invests all of his feelings in it, but when all his once called allies turn against him, his heart erupts in a great nuclear war of powerful emotions.
I really agree with what was said about how Arnold now thinks that a decent future is out of the picture. As for the questions, I think that I wouldn't throw a book, but I might just sit in my seat and do nothing, but let my emotions build up on the inside. I am lucky that I have only felt given up on once. When I was five, my parents gave up on teaching me to ski because I was a stubborn nightmare and didn't want to get on the mountain, because I spilled hot chocolate on myself. They sent me to ski school, and I have nightmares about that counselor. Anyways, this is different to Arnold's situation because I had caused my own problems, but for Arnold, he had no part in his problem. He did nothing to start it, and there is almost nothing he can do to stop it. Therefore, I don't think that Arnold is overreacting. I don't think so because he has so many things to worry about. He got really excited for school, to realize that his book was his mom's. As for the "nuclear war" question, I agree with Sanya. The one thing that I would like to add to what she has written is that Arnold is shocked by his book's previous owner, almost the same way people were shocked when the United States used a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. They thought that things would never get better. That is the same way that Arnold feels.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with what has been said, if I had been given a book that my mother had used forty years ago I would feel pretty worthless too. I once felt given up on in first grade, I was really exited to do share and tell, but I had forgotten to bring in my object to share. I was skipped and had to wait another two weeks to be able share again. That was self-inflicted, but in Arnold's case he did not start it, he was simply given a book from forty years prior that his mother had used. He was born into the problem it was not his fault it had gone back generations. he was simply a part of "an ugly circle (13)" that kept going round and round, no one could get off, they only could get on. Arnold was not over reacting he was simply responding to how he felt, he was clearly shocked. How do you think you would have reacted? The same way or differently?
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ReplyDeleteArnold Realizes that he is doing the same work out of the same book, that his mom did 30 years ago. This means that nothing has changed in the reservation for 30 years. All his hopes of getting closer to "IMPORTANT" and "HAPPY"(30) were shattered. He realized how difficult it will be to get away from the reservation. He assumes his mom had similar hopes growing up, and nothing happened to her, so nothing will happen to him.
ReplyDeleteI think that if I were in the same situation as Arnold, I would probably get a little frustrated about the fact that I was using a book over 30 years old. I don't think I would've thrown the book at the teacher, and I don't think that was a good idea. Just drawing, and imagining throwing the book at the teacher seemed to make Arnold feel better, so I think it was a good solution. I don't think that would've worked for me though, I probably would've just let the anger boil up inside of me, and try to keep myself calm, or ask to go get a drink of water to calm myself down a little bit.
ReplyDeleteArnold has dealt with too many nuclear wars of his own, and he can't hold himself back from speaking about his pathetic life. When Arnold says this is a "nuclear war" (31), he is actually talking about the hardships of his own life. In his life, being a lonely teenager is equivalent to being a soldier in a nuclear war- it's a hardship for sure, and gets pretty unbearable. Also, Arnold has to hold his tongue, and never complain about his life (so he doesn't get beat up), like how soldiers can't complain about hardships. Arnold even admits that he "was afraid of getting beat up" (20). Eventually, he can't hold back anymore from spilling the truth about his hardships. In other words, it is for Arnold "absolutely the saddest thing in the world" (31), and he has to vent out his nuclear wars.
ReplyDeleteArnold has every right to feel angry at the ones who look down on the poor. However, throwing a book was not the right decision. He was definitely overreacting at the time, but to him, that was probably the best thing he could think of at that moment.
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ReplyDeleteArnold calls getting the geometry book with his mothers name is side a “nuclear war” because he was looking forward to geometry class. Having his mothers name in his book, caused Arnold to be upset because his poverty and his tribes poverty is preventing him from learning from a new book. Arnold knew that his tribe was poor but did not realize that it would effect his education. Having this experience I believe will affect Arnolds willingness to learn because of the age of his textbook. On the other hand I believe it will cause Arnold and his mother to get closer together because they both share the love of learning.
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