Arnold's first basketball game playing for Reardan was at Wellpinit High School. When the team arrived at the reservation, all the Indians were chanting "Ar-nold Sucks!" (143). As soon as they walked into the gym, everyone went silent. When they saw Arnold, they all turned around. "If these dang Indians had been this organized when I went to school here, maybe I would have had more reasons to stay." (144). Arnold thought this because he wanted to calm himself, and prove to himself that he had a legitimate reason to leave, and that he still had courage, so he laughed. His laugh was the only sound in the gym. Then he noticed that Rowdy hadn't turned his back on him, and he had hope for a second. "the only Indian who hadn't turned his back on me was Rowdy... And he glared at me. He wanted to play. He didn't want to turn his back on me. He wanted to kill me, face-to-face." (144). I think this scared Arnold a little bit, but it also made him realize that he had to take on Rowdy, and he wanted to take on Rowdy. He wanted to show Rowdy that he didn't need him, and that he wasn't a loser.
His teammates supported him by laughing with him, and so did his coach. His coach also supported him by giving a pep-talk in the locker room, although it was aimed mostly at Arnold, I think it was good advice for the whole team. Coach said "If you care about something enough, it's going to make you cry. But you have to use it. Use your tears. Use your pain. Use your fear. Get mad, Arnold, get mad." (144). He really believed in Arnold and supported him because he knew he was a good player, and he didn't want him to forget he was a good player. He didn't want Arnold to give up on himself, and he didn't. Arnold didn't give up when his head started bleeding because someone in the stands threw a quarter at him. Eugene tried to take him to get stitches, but Arnold insisted that he just stitch it up himself, even though he knew it would probably leave a scar, and it would probably hurt really badly. His coach supported him very well, by not letting him give up.
If you were in this situation, would you have played in the game, or would you have given up?
What would you have done if you were a ref in this game, and a whole fight broke out because one kid knocked another unconscious? Would you cancel the game? Why or why not?
What do you think would've happened if the refs hadn't given Wellpinit all those free throws just to keep the crowd under control?
I would not give up because I have to prove myself to my home town. I would want to show that my new school was not all rich kids and that we were real people too. I would want to show that not all indian kids had to stay on the rez and be hopeless but that we were real people too. I would also like to prove myself to my coach and rest of school by playing through three stitches and being knocked out by my “friend”.
ReplyDeleteIf the refs had not given all the free throws to the Wellpinit basket ball team, all of the Indians would have gone on the court and beat up the refs and the Reardan team. This is Because the Indians would have felt the white refs were being racist by giving the white team free shots and not giving the Indian team any. How Would you feel if you were Rowdy and you just got Punched in the face by your old best friend?
ReplyDeleteThis game is their first game, and it has a lot of emotions built into it. Arnold had "abandoned" their opponents to move to the more privileged team. Junior's new coach understood how much pent up anger there was from the opponents and lets him play telling him to use the negative energy to fight harder. This made him fight harder, and also got him injured very early on. He wants to continue but the coach should have forced him to stop. If I were the coach I would have tried to at leased calm him and the opponents down until he entered the court again.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think would've happened if the refs hadn't given Wellpinit all those free throws just to keep the crowd under control?
ReplyDeleteI think they would have attacked Arnold, and since his brain is fragile, bad bad things would have happened. He says that he " saw only a bright light, as Rowdy smashed his elbow into my head and knocked me unconscious," (146). As we are reading this chapter we all see that people throw things at Arnold, and he had already had to get stitched. Arnold was getting beaten up and there was no sign of people stopping. If the refs hadn't given all the free throws to the other team, everyone would have gotten even more angry. Then the ref would be in for it as well. The people were being careless, and were misunderstanding Arnold. Since he "betrayed' them (from their point of view) they want their revenge. Since he is easy for them to take all their anger out about their lives in general, they decided to do so.
If I were in this situation, I would keep playing. If you chose not to keep playing, you are just being tossed around, and are giving in to all that the kids at the Rez. Arnold left to Reardon to have a new beginning, and be with kids with hope, that can end up with a successful future. The kids at the Rez didn't understand his reasoning, and believed that he was a traitor. So, with this, if he had given up, it would show his weakness, and it would prove to Reardon that as they had originally believed, they were better than Arnold and the rest of the Reardon school.
ReplyDeleteIt took Arnold a huge amount of courage when he decided to play in the game against Wellpinit. I personally don't think that I would have participated in the game. I would have given up. This is because I would not have the courage to face people who feel as if I have abandoned them. I would feel too guilty to face my problems.
ReplyDeleteIf I was a ref in the game against Wellpinit, I would cancel the game. The players clearly hate each other, a boy already has been knocked out. It would definitely get worse. It would clearly be a very dirty game. I would also consider how rowdy the parents were. A lot of the parents were very angry and obnoxious, so I would come to the conclusion that the parents and players are both dangerous, and I would cancel the game.
Had the refs not given Wellpinit all of the free throws, I think that the Wellpinit fans would have come onto the court and beat up all of the Reardan kids and coaches. Considering that a lot of these parents drink a lot of alcohol, that makes it even more likely that my prediction would come true.
if i were Arnold, i would have definitely kept playing, but i would have yelled at the ref to kick them out of the game. if i were the ref, i would have cancelled the game, since a physical fight is a pretty big thing. I mean, all the players were killing each other, as if they were in dog fighting rings. however in the book, the ref was not right to give the Wellpinit team free throws, because a player on the other team provoked the Reardan team first. If the ref gave both teams free throws it would have been fairer.
ReplyDeleteIf you were in this situation, would you have played in the game, or would you have given up?
ReplyDeleteIf I was in Arnold's situation I would have still played the game. I would want to prove to my coach that I had potential,I could lift up the team, and make my team win. I would also want to prove to my new school that I can be an asset to the team and show the old school that you have the courage to face them. You want them to know that you are part of their community, but they should no stop you from improving yourself. They should be happy that their community is doing better, and you should be happy that you are one. You want to support you community, on the other hand have some competition against them. "...Coach looked back at me." "Are you okay?" he asked. "No", I said. "You don't have to play this one," he said. "Yes, I do", I said(143).
I definitely think the crowd would not stay under control if Wellpinit did not get the extra free throws. In fact, there would probably be a huge fight between the schools. This seems likely because there had to be security at the game and there was already a fight that happened at the game- showing that trouble is easily triggered. In other words, the game was never under control, so it only takes a one call to start complete chaos. First, "Two tribal cops were there. I guess they were security" (143), meaning that people knew that trouble could easily happen, and there should be backup. Also, after Arnold got knocked out by Rowdy, "both of our teams got into a series of shoving matches and push-fights" (146), just because of one kid. This means that the teams tend to overreact, and they generally react violently, and they are not afraid to start a fight, meaning that a fight could very likely happen.
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