Banned Books
Response
During the beginning of the book I was picking up on how Junior was very self pitying which made me think about how the rest of the book was going to go. Although Junior is very funny and brings positive aspects out of many negative situations he is also very pessimistic, and unsure of himself. After spending his first day at Reardon he describes how he feels now that he is enrolled, "I didn’t deserve to be there. I knew it; all of those kids knew it. Indians don’t deserve shit" (Sherman Alexie). This aspect of the book kind of turned me off but I can't blame him for being so negative given his age and situation.
As I continued reading my overall feelings about the book changed from being negative to positive. After thinking that Juniors life is about to get a hell of a lot worse being at this predominately white school, Junior earns the respect of Roger after punching him in the face for standing up for himself. Penelope and Junior's relationship continues to improve and Junior makes new friends such as Gordy. Some parallels I noticed between Junior and Mary are how both of them are venturing out into a different, foreign environment. Mary and Junior both experience life outside the rez which seems to be taboo to everyone else within their community. This makes me identify Junior and his sister as outcasts inside and outside of their community.
-Do you think that the Rez with get over the fact that Junior enrolled in Reardon and see Junior for the smart, funny guy he is?
-Do you think Juniors overall attitude is stagnant or do you think it will change as the book goes on? Why or why not?
I think that Junior's attitude will continue to develop over the course of the novel, considering that he's still a growing adolescent boy and vulnerable to unfamiliar situations. As his life at Redoran continues to get better and better, he'll likely start to see that he enjoys himself much more than he had originally expected, maybe even more than if was still living at the reserves. My guess is that he's ultimately going to realize that some people just can't forgive him, no matter what he does to reconcile, and will end up completely shunning his old Indian community and move on from people like Rowdy.
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ReplyDeleteJunior's attitude is already changing, even within the short time that he has been at Redoran. By standing up to Roger, he gained the respect of his peers, and has begun to assimilate into his new community. Junior begins to change the way he defines himself, and sees that it will be difficult to retain both his status on the rez as an indian and his new position as a member of Redoran. This is evident in the basketball game when the rez as one turns their backs on Junior. However, Rowdy accepting Junior's drawing and not tearing it up could act as foreshadowing for Junior being reaccepted into his community despite his "betrayal."
ReplyDeletei agree with David, Junior is still pretty young so he is going through that awkward teen stage where he might be over dramatic about a few things. I believe that come time and experience through life his opinion about his self and the situations he find his self In just might come as parts or life. I also agree that over time he will end up shunning his old Indian community and never look back because he has enough negativity in his life to deal with rather than dealing with a whole community. Also with all the negativity he may feel about stuff and his life he will come to terms with it or at least not let it bother him as much but still have his witty banter about it. "Taking lemons and making lemonade". Dealing with his bad hand dealt on life and turning it into positive outlooks in life. After all he did survive a dangerous surgery at 6months and lived to tell about it.
ReplyDeleteI think the people on the rez will always see him as a traitor for going to school outside of it. I agree with David, Arthur is very young and we will continue to see a change in him as he explores all the possibilities he thought excluded him because he was from the rez. I feel like his indian counterparts will be left behind not because he thought it would further him in his goals but because he is shunned by them.
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