(179-198) Summarize the outcome of the game. Why does Junior cry at the end? What does he realize?

Posting for Hillary again:

In the basketball game, against Wellpinit, Reardan crushed Wellpinit by about forty points. Junior cries at the end of the game because of how guilty he feels about winning. The Wellpinit kids have nothing, while the Reardan kids have everything. Junior cries because he realizes who he used to be. He remembered he used to be one of them. In fact, he is indeed one of them. He lives on the same reservation as all of those players. He was mad about losing to them before he remembered their perspective. "I was suddenly ashamed of my anger, my rage, and my pain"(196).

Arnold cries because he knows how little they have. How much their lives suck. Arnold has taken from them one of the few things in their lives, their pride. The players on the other team were happy with themselves when they beat "the mighty Reardan." They were proud of themselves and felt good about themselves. Living on a poor reservation with a bad schooling system, it's fairly hard to feel good about yourself. As a rare event in some of these players lives, they were the best at something, basketball. They were the only team that defeated Reardan. However, when Junior scored that first three points out of rage and hatred, he felt great, but after the game, he felt differently. He felt awful because he had ruined one of the good things in those players' lives. He feels selfish for being angry about losing to them, and he feels like a total jerk for beating them. That is why Arnold cried after the basketball game against Wellpinit.

Why does Arnold cry after the game against Wellpinit?

Arnold cries after the game against Wellpinit because he realizes that even though a lot of terrible events had occurred recently between them, they still are his tribe and he loves them. He realizes that no matter what they will always be his family, and he knew his feeling were wrong towards them. Junior feels guilty. At first in the game Junior is a slight bit ignorant towards the other team, and only feels hate. He mentions that "man, oh, man, we were sending some serious hate signals across the gym," (191). He also says that " you have to love somebody that much to hate them that much, too," (192). What Arnold means by this is that you can only truly hate one if you have had a past with them. It takes time, pain, and past to feel that kind of hate. This specifically applies to Rowdy. During the beginning of the game Arnold wants to prove himself to Rowdy, and show him he is more than what he thinks. He wants to almost be better than him. Junior feels that revenge is the solution to the problem. Though near the end of the game Junior realizes that this may not be the case.

Towards the end of the game Arnold realizes that his fellow Rez Indians are his family and that the way he treated them was wrong. he acted as if for sometime he was a superior to them even though the are equal. This make them feel bad as they are one family and they have always battled hardships together and now they have been stripped of many things, just like Arnold. Even Junior's father sees this, Arnold says "I thought he'd be cheering. But he wasn't. He wasn't even looking at me," (195). Then Arnold realizes his mistake and feels terrible because it wasn't just him who was facing problems the whole time. So he feels guilty for not realizing it and being misunderstanding as well.  "I suddenly wanted to apologize to Rowdy, to all of the other Spokanes," (195). Overall Arnold feels guilty for not realizing and feels bad. He wants to make it up and be a better community together.

If you were in this situation, what would you do? Would you cry too?
Why do think its such a big deal when Coach says "you can do it"," (189) to Arnold?
Do you think Arnold and Rowdy will become friends again? Why?
Does Arnold not need Rowdy? Why?

Summarize the cartoon on 182. What is the significance? What does it show about Junior? What is his dilemma?

    The cartoon on page 182 is a drawing of Junior playing basketball through two different perspectives: Wellpinit and Reardon's point of view. In Wellpinit's gym, Junior is seen as a traitor and a "white lover" (182), and the Wellpinit students are shouting discouraging things at him like "boo" (182). He is also dressed as the devil, wings, horns, and all, meaning that the Wellpinit students don't view him highly- they hate his guts. During all of this, Junior is still wondering who he is. In Reardan's gym, the cartoon is almost entirely different. First of all, Junior is dressed as an angel, with clean shoes and hair. Not only that, but he is receiving positive and encouraging feedback. But he still questions who he is- his identity is still unknown.

     This makes it significant: he may be in different social situations, but he still questions his identity. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is about Arnold finding his identity, and this cartoon illustrates his struggles of him finding his identity in a couple different social situations- he literally asks himself the question, "who AM I???" (182). This cartoon also shows that Junior wants to be a part of Wellpinit and Reardon's community, but he is faced with many dilemmas. The word 'gym' is Arnold's way of saying 'community' (in this context). Junior could have illustrated many more gyms, or communities perspectives, but he didn't, meaning he wants to be with these 'gyms', or communities only. When Junior said "at Wellpinit's gym" (182), he meant that he wants to be a part of Wellpinit's community, but the cartoon on page 182 illustrates one main, complicated dilemma with this wish- If Arnold is friends with the white kids, the Indians will be angry and will hate him, but if Arnold is friends with the Indians, the white kids will ignore and judge him. Essentially, he wants to be in two communities, but he may only be able to choose one.

Questions:1. Read the paragraph(s) before and after the cartoon on page 182. Why do you think the author put this cartoon in between these paragraphs?2. How is this similar or different to the cartoon on page 57 (it's the half white and half Indian photo)?

In the last sentence on page 167, Junior says: "And all of us laughed as we walked and drove and rode our way back to our lonely, lonely houses." What is the irony in this? Why is this a powerful moment for Junior? What is he saying about his tribe?

In the last sentence on page 167, Junior says: "And all of us laughed as we walked and drove and rode our way back to our lonely, lonely houses." What is the irony in this? Why is this a powerful moment for Junior? What is he saying about his tribe?

On page 167 Junior states, "And all of us laughed as we walked and drove and rode our way back to our lonely, lonely houses." This quote is ironic because one of the most important members of the community died and everyone in the Rez is lonely. Having this aspect of irony shows the reader that life for people on the Rez is very difficult right now but laughing started to slowly heal the pain. This is such a powerful moment for Junior because everyone started to not make fun of him, because of the death of his Grandmother, and he is now starting to find his part in the community again. Junior implies that his tribe has always gone through a lot and having the ability to just laugh in hard times is keeping the community alive.

How will being not treated with disrespect affect Junior's relationships at school and home? How does the quote, "No matter what else happened between my tribe and me I would always love them" (160), relate in finding his identity? How will Grandmothers death affect him social and academic wise at school? Why was laughing at Grandmothers funeral so critical for the tribe?

Why does Junior say he would always love his tribe? What do you think this reveals about Junior?

 Why does Junior say he would always love his tribe? What do you think this reveals about Junior?

I think Junior says this because he wants to show that even though he has left Wellpinit, he still likes Wellpinit and their community. Even though the Rez does not like him, Arnold still shows that he has affection for them. The Rez is the place where he grew up. His family lives there,his relatives, and his friends are there. This is the place where he spent the first few years of his life. Even though he goes to a white school, he is part of the Rez. Some of the kids do not like him because he left them. However, deep inside they care for him and they treat him as one of them. They prove it by showing up to his grandmother's funeral and let him mourn in peace. "No matter what else happened between my tribe and me, I would always love them for giving me peace on the day of my grandmother's funeral"(160).

Junior really cares for his tribe and he still feels he is one of them. He is not ashamed of his heritage. All he wants to do is become something better to show everybody that if you have passion and will for something, you can accomplish a lot. I believe that when he becomes successful, he will make sure that he returns something to his community.

1) Why do you think people did not bother him after his grandmother died?

2) Why was Arnold so sad/upset when Eugene died?

3)Why do you think Arnold felt helpless and stupid after Eugene died and Bobby hanged himself?

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?

Who is the first game against? How is he treated by the crowd at the first game? How does the team (and coach) react/support him? How does this impact him?

The first game is against Wellpinit High School his home town. When Arnold enters the stadium you might think nothing would happen or he would get greeted with a few hey Arnold's or something. But no They start yelling "Ar-nold sucks" P.(143) Arnold is clearly shooken by this turn of events and when the coach asks him if he is ok he responds "no" P.(143) the coach responds to him by saying he can sit this one out but Arnold says he wants to play. I think what is happening here is that Arnold isn't happy about what happened to him and how he was greeted but he needs to go out there and play the game , not playing will just screw him over even more. 

      During the game Arnold gets hit in the head with a penny and needs stitches demanding to return to the game only to get knocked out by his former best friend Rowdy. Arnold is then taken to the hospital where he is greeted by his coach who asks him how he's doing.  The coach comforts him and tells him that he shouldn't have played Rowdy and should've canceled the game for Arnolds safety. The coach tells Arnold " The quality of a mans life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless  of his chosen field of endeavor" P.(148). He then tells Arnold he's never met anyone as committed as him. I think this effects Arnold in a good way in that he is getting praise from a coach on a team he didnt even think hed make and It is a huge confidence booster. 

How do you think Arnold will perform in upcoming games? Why? What do you think well happen the next time these two schools meet? Do you think that Arnold will continue this strong relationship with his coach? Why?