At the beginning of chapter four, he thinks of Mary as "crazy and random" and thinks he's more "excited about school" and "excited about life" than her(28).When Mr. P comes to talk to him, this changes. In only a few minutes he learns that "She was even smarter than [him]" (36) and she had wanted to become a romance novel writer. Suddenly she's not "crazy andrandom"(28) but a "bright and shining star" that "faded year by year" (40). Mary is wasted potential, like a heap of clay gone hard.
This sad tale inspires him to take initiative because he realizes that if someone as smart as Mary, "the smartest kid [Mr. P] ever had" (36), ends up spending"twenty-three hours a day alone in a basement" (28), then he needs to do something if he wants to be successful. This "something" is to get out of the rez. The reservation is a place with no hope, a sad pond of depression, lost potential, and dreams gone sour. He'll just sink if he doesn't get out.
Do you think that Mary will fulfill her dream later in the book? Is there hope in Rearden? What does Junior think of the white people?
I think that Mary still has a shot at fulfilling her dreams later in the book, and I think that Arnold will help with that. As Antonella said, Mary is like a heap of clay gone hard. I think that Arnold going to Rearden is his only chance to prevent him from going hard as well. When he starts to pursue his dreams as an artist, a basketball player and even a learner, Arnold might help many pursue her dreams as well. I think that Junior hates white people because they are always superior compared to the Indians. For example, the white kids have a very fancy school in Rearden compared to the Indian kids at the Reservation. Do you think Arnold will meet his goals in time before he ends up like Mary? If so, how do you think others from the plantation will handle this?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and think that Mr. P was someone who Junior really needed in his life. Mr.P not only pulled the true reason why Junior threw the book out of him, but he tried to lead him to a positive change in his life. To answer your question Junior thinks white people are the ones that get jobs and the ones who are accustomed with opportunity. From the actions that others do, he is starting to thoroughly understand that white people are constantly being racist. For example the white dentist that did worked on his teeth only gave him half the amount of Novocaine because he “thought” that indians did not feel half as much pain. This is just one of many incidents he has faced which demonstrated severe racism. From all these events which have happened, Junior has realized that White people are very anti-semitic and don't want to accept indians to the community.
ReplyDeleteI think that Mary will not give up on fulfilling her dream because the way Mr. P described it, she sounded very passionate and intrigued into becoming a romance novel writer. Junior is surprised when he hears his sister was smarter than him in school because he always thought he had the most brains. Mary stayed in the basement which closed off opportunities for her to write. I think now that Arnold knows how great his sister is at writing and how she wants to pursue this big dream of hers, he will try to encourage her to rethink the idea of becoming a writer. Although he has to try and get her to come out of her shell and want to write too.
ReplyDeleteThe way Arnold thinks of white people reminds me of the book “Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry”. This book symbolized how the whites got the nicer school and supplies to work with. The blacks got the books that were passed down from other whites and by the time they reached them they were in poor condition. Arnold did not like that his textbook was passed down from when his mother went to school. The whites were seen as put before the Indians and Arnold did not think that it was fair.
-Riana
I do believe that there is hope in Reardan. Reardan is a town where people's actions are not influenced by alcohol and a long history of poverty. When Arnold is describing the town of Reardan, he states, “Reardan has one of the best small schools in the state, with a computer room and huge chemistry lab and a drama club and two basketball teams...The kids in Reardan are the smartest and most athletic kids anywhere “ (46). This quote demonstrates that the town of Reardan is able to provide its school with a sufficient amount of money to enable its students to succeed. On the reservation, however, Arnold’s school is not even able to afford new books and supplies. This quote also illustrates that the kids at Reardan are as motivated as Arnold is. In conclusion, there is hope in Reardan because it is a place where there are resources and proof that kids can succeed and not give up hope.
ReplyDeleteI think the effect of Mary's story on Junior is that Junior realizes how easy it is to give up on your dreams. Junior understands that if he wants to do something, get somewhere, than he has to work towards that thing. He doesn’t want to switch schools in a month, he wants to switch them tommorow because he doesn’t want to loose sight of his dreams, as Mary did. Mary’s sad story was like an awakening to Junior that if he wants to do something, no matter how passionate you are about your goals, if he does not act on them, if he waits until next week, like Mary, than he’s not making a difference. I think that he will inspire Mary positivly to try to reach for her dreams as he is his. I think the topic that the author wanted us to take away from those two chapters were that no matter how far away your hopes and dreams may seem, stay positive and do something. However, I also think that this last chapter is the beginning of a whole new, even more complicated conflict over steryotypes and what the kids at the new school will think of Junior, and what people in the Rez will think of him, too.
ReplyDeleteI think that Junior is somewhat jealous of the white people. I think that he knows that the white people in nearby towns such as Reardan are given better opportunities at the get-go. However, I believe that Mary's story really influenced Junior, and made him want to work harder in order to not end up like everyone else at the reservation. I think that although he knows that he may not get as many open doors because of his race and ethnicity, he wants to in a way, prove to others including the white kids at Reardan that he can achieve the same things that they can, and that he shouldn't be judged because of the color of his skin. I think that Junior partly wants to go to Reardan so much in order to prove that he and all other Native Americans are capable of all the same things that white people are capable of.
ReplyDeleteLike Ana Chrysa said, I think that Junior is semi-jelous of white people. This is because he knows that white people have better opprotunities but, he also knows that white people don't seem to get bullied as much as Indians. I thinks that sometimes, Junior wants to be white, even thought he might write that they are mean, and he would never want to even be assosiated with them. I beleive that he wants to come across as a white-hater, but he really just wants to fit in, even if that means being white, or being friends with a white. Junior seems to be very open in his journal, but I think that there are somethings that he is hiding from us, this being one of those things.
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