In this chapter Penelope dress up as a homeless woman and Junior dresses up like a
homeless man. When Junior calls this to Penelope's attention she says that she is
going to try and collect spare change for the homeless. Junior then goes on to lie and
say that he is doing the same thing. When Junior coomes to school the next day he has
to tell Penelope that he was jumped and they took his money. I thought that Penelope
was going to act mad but she goes on to say “I still put your name on the money when I
sent it”(page 80). This shows that Penelope knew that Junior tried and she knew that he
cared about this. When she tells Junior this he says “Wow. That’s really cool. Thank
you”(page 80) This shows that JUnior was surprised. It also raises his self-esteem
because he feels like he made a difference. The second example is a couple sentences
later when Junior says to himself “I was just going to let her go. But I had to say
something memorable, something huge.” (page 80) He then goes on to say that it feels
good to help and she agrees and walks away. In the last example Penelope makes
Junior feel good about himself. But in this example JUnior says something to make
Penelope feel good about herself which makes him feel good about himself. Junior
reminds her that what she did was really great and when she smiles at the end that
makes Junior feel good about himself.
Questions:
1.Why do you think Penelope put Juniors name on the envelope.
2. Why do you think that one of the chapter names was “Tears of a Clown”
3. Why does Dodge get so mad when Junior corrects him?
Why is the budding friendship between Junior and Gordy important?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think that the friendship is more important for Junior because of his “break up” with Rowdy, but Gordy is also seemingly friendless. Junior’s only friend was Rowdy and they were inseparable. The new friendship is intriguing because one, it is with a white kid and two it is with a kid Junior can relate to socially. Whereas, they are both quite smart and both don’t feel like they fit in for different reasons. That is the significance, that two kids, one of a commonly oppressed race and one of the most privileged race are similar and can be friends. This I can connect to “The Outsiders” because in that book as well, two people, Randy and Pony become friends despite social boundaries.
I think that Dodge gets mad at Junior when he corrects him because he believes that because Junior is from the Reservation, he is dumb and doesn't know much. When Junior corrects him, he refuses to believe that he is right until Gordy says that it is true. He only believes that it is true when Gordy says so because Gordy is white and has always been at Rearden and Junior is Indian and is new to Rearden. I think that this is due to a combination of Dodge being racist, and Dodge being skeptical because Junior is new to the school. I also think that Dodge is not willing to believe Junior because he is a science teacher and he thinks that he will always be right and the students are wrong. I think that the only reason that he believes Gordy is because Gordy is known for being smart, and whatever he says is right, even if the teacher says otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI think that Penelope puts Junior’s name on the envelope because she knows that he tried. Also, she did this because she thinks that Junior should get some credit, and deserves it more than she does, for she is constantly getting credit for everything because she is popular, but Junior doesn’t, because he is from the rez. One chapter is called “Tears of a Clown”, because in that chapter, Junior talks about how he cried because he really wanted to be with Dawn, but he knew that they would never be together. I think that Junior maybe feels like a clown because people always make fun of him. Lastly, I think that Mr.Dodge gets really mad when Junior corrects him because Mr.Dodge doesn’t think Junior is very smart, just because he lives on the rez. So when Junior corrects him, Mr.Dodge gets very mad because he thinks that he is smarter than Junior and is more important than him, not only because he’s the teacher, but because he is white, too, which is why he doesn’t mind when Gordy corrects him, becuase Gordy is white.
ReplyDelete