Why does Junior say he would always love his tribe? What do you think this reveals about Junior?
When Junior says “No matter what else happened between my tribe and me I would always love them” (160). He is adding to the theme of community and the meaning of it, in this case Juniors community is a tight knit “family” who all are in the same situation of poverty and suffering. Yes there are some nasty people like the Andruss brothers, but all in all when worse comes to worse they all are respectful, they are all understanding.
This love of his tribe reveals how much Junior relies on them, without them he would be even more miserable. He would be a living breathing lump of pure misery. His tribe is one of the very few ways Junior gets his joy. He feels that without his tribe he would curl up into a ball and never get up again. Junior would be striped of everything if he lost them. The tribe may disapprove of Junior transferring to Reardan but nonetheless he feels that he is still a part of them.
Questions:
If you were to put yourself into Arnold's shoes how would you feel if your grandmother had just died
What would you do to comfort Arnold in his grieving process?
How would you react to being rejected from your family, that is how Arnold feels when his tribe pushes him away?
If I were Arnold and my grandmother had just passed away I would feel extremely alone. His grandmother was very special and important to him and to have her pass away would feel very heartbreaking. I would feel so alone because Arnold's father is an alcoholic, so he wouldn't be much support, and would just be drinking away the pain. Arnold's mom would just grieve in pain, and would seem very unapproachable. Talking to the Reardon kids, and trying to receive support from them wouldn't seem quite right because they had never met his grandmother. Rowdy, even though he feels sorry for Arnold, would't be too supportive. After Eugene died, he felt even worse and alone.
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ReplyDeleteI would be very sad if my grandmother died. I would also be very sad, and mad if my family rejected me. In Junior's case, his family isn't really rejecting him, his tribe is. I can see why his tribe could be sort of similar to his family, but I think the tribe is more like his broader family, for example, first or second cousins. I say this because he's close to them, and cares about them, and they care about him too, but it's not like he's being rejected by his parents. Although there are times when he is sort of rejected by them. They don't completely reject him, but they do shut everyone out sometimes. For example, when his dad gets drunk for a while, and just disappears, and when his mom goes to church everyday. I would hate being rejected by my family, and Junior probably feels the same way. I think he doesn't have a whole lot of people directly supporting him, even though they're not bugging him about leaving the tribe, and going to Reardan. Which might be enough, because maybe all Junior really wants is to be alone, and not be bothered.
ReplyDeleteIf my grandmother died in Arnolds situation I would feel completely helpless because I had just left school and everything is starting to go semi well for the first time in a while and then this. Arnolds making friends he just made the varsity team and life is pretty good. Then he is told his grandmother died. Imagine going home and learning your favorite person died. When life is as good as ever its just not right to happen to anyone especially him in his situation. This rings even more true when Eugene dies because Arnolds feeling some of the pressure of there deaths for no reason at all and I just don't think he deserves it.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Arnold and my grandmother died I would be very sad, but basing off of his relationship with her this time is devastating for him for many reasons. Arnold's life was/is full of hopelessness and alcoholism, but his grandmother is the only one who stands apart from the crowd and she is the only one who fully encouraged his transfer to Reardan. In other words she was basically the only source of hope and guidance in his life. As many examples in the novel have shown us, Arnold doesn't have many sources of support, and when this person passes away it could roughly deform his personality, and drain him of any hope. This novel has shown us the importance of hope and courage, but these past chapters have portrayed the danger of not having any sources of support and hope in your life.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Arnold, I would feel depressed if my grandmother died- I would miss her. I would miss her for a couple of reasons, one reason being she is a part of my (Arnold's) family and reservation, and "yeah, Indians are screwed up, but we're really close to each other" (153), so we care about each other, and will be concerned if something bad happens to someone. Another reason I would miss her was that she offered me (Arnold) tolerance and wisdom. When white people and the Indians were "judgmental and hateful" (155), she would simply ignore it and carry on, which I (Arnold) admire. I (Arnold) know this is important because all of the Indians used to be like her- they could tolerate unbearable situations, but the white people came and changed that, so she was the only one. Until she died- so there is no tolerance on the rez now. However, she taught me this wisdom, which makes me (Arnold) miss her even more.
ReplyDeleteAt this point in the book there is a lot of grief and sadness. One of the more crucial of these is his grandmother. As with anyone, when his grandmother passes away he is deeply saddened. He and his tribe realize that the only way to successfully make light of the situation was to turn a bad center into a better one. They make light of a rather dark part of Arnold's life, and help him through the grief without any mean glances of rejection. Although they may turn their backs on him occasionally they will always be a community and will stick together through thick and thin.
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