Junior feels so lonely because "I woke up on the reservation as an Indian,
and somewhere on the road to Reardan , I became something less than Indian."(83). I
think that when Junior says "less than Indian"(83) he is saying that Indians are already poor
and not a good group of people, but that he's even lower & there's not even a word so
bad to describe what he thinks his status is. Also, when Junior goes to Reardan he is basically "white washed" of his Indian culture because there is nothing at the school that is embracing it . and"Reardan whose mascot is an Indian, thereby making him the only other Indian in town"(56) . This shows that Junior is facing the challenge of gaining his self-esteem as well as self- confident because it seems that any glimpse of how he has will just knock him right back down.
The incident that happens in Science class reinforces this feeling because even though
Junior was right Mr.Dodge by making an inference needs verification from someone "reliable" that is white because they're more smart than the average reservation Indian. When Mr.Dodge says "Gordy"(85) and "I'm sure you can tell us the truth"(85) it gives you a sense that Mr.Dodge needed to be proven wrong by someone worthy of his failure or in other words Gordy. This shows that not only the students are mean, but that the teachers of Reardan might not accept Junior for the person he is.
1.)If you had to imagine what do you think would be going on in Junior's brain? Why? and USE THE TEXT.
2.)Would you have contradicted Mr.Dodge if you knew the right answer?Why or Why not?
3.)Do you think Junior and Penelope will have any connection or link later in the story?Why? USE THE TEXT.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot of thoughts were going through Junior’s mind during that instance of inhumanity by Mr. Dodge. I think that at that instance, Junior felt even more alone, and even more like an outsider at his new school. I believe that previously Junior had thought or at least hoped that the teachers would have back and would be on his side, but now that Mr. Dodge reacted in that awful manner, he feels like he has no one at Reardan. I think that Junior felt even more alone then because as it says on page 85 “‘On the reservation? Yes, we all know there’s so much amazing science on the reservation.’ My classmates snickered. They pointed their fingers at me and giggled.” This shows that a comment unnecessarily initiated by Mr. Dodge led Junior to be made fun of by all of his classmates. Junior had been previously made fun of, but it was by the students, not the teachers, and now, one of his teachers who he merely corrected, was mocking his home. It is evident that Junior is mad at Mr. Dodge on page 86 where the author writes “Yeah, that’s right. Mr. Dodge thanked Gordy, but didn’t say another word to me. Yep, now even the teachers were treating me like an idiot.” This shows that Junior is annoyed because it is as if he’s saying that all the students already thought he was stupid and out of their world, and Junior had thought that the teachers knew better, but now he knows that all of the white teachers are just like all of the white kids, and they think that he isn’t knowledgeable because he lives on the reservation. I think that if I were Junior and I knew the right answer, I would be a little bit hesitant about contradicting Mr. Dodge. This is because in the back of my mind I would know that I was different from everyone else, and that I already got controversy because of my ethnicity, so I would not want to enhance that hatred in any way. However, at the same time I would know that I needed to stand up for myself and share my knowledge with my peers. Therefor, multiple scenarios would be going through my mind before possibly contradicting Mr. Dodge. Do you think that Junior will find other adults at school who actually value his intelligence, and will always be by his side? Do you think that Mr. Dodge will come around and actually end up helping Junior?
ReplyDeleteIf I was a student in Mr. Dodges class who knew the right answer then I would definitely have contradicted him. I would do this because he shouldn't be teaching inaccurate information and it would benefit the entire class to learn the legitimate knowledge. This is also the schools fault, why would a science teacher be teaching geography? This is why if I contradicted him then he would not only learn the correct information, but he would have that factual knowledge to be able to teach another class of geography without making something up and teaching incorrectly.
ReplyDeleteI think that in science class, Junior must have gotten very frustrated when Mr.Dodge realized that he was right, but refused to accept it and gave Gordy the credit instead. Since he was the one who answered correctly, he should at least get acknowledged for it, but instead, Junior is made fun of by his teacher and then diserfarted, just because he is Indian. I agree with Ana Chrysa on the fact that I, too, would be hesitant to contradict Mr.Dodge. Lastly, I think Penelope and Junior will have a connection later in the story because Sherman Alexie made Penelope a pretty big charector, and if nothing ever happened between her and Junior, then there would be no point to bring her up so many times. Also, I think that they already established a connection when Penelope opened up about her bulimia, and Junior said, “Hey Penelope, don’t give up.’... But Penelope starts crying, talking about how lonely she is, and how everybody thinks her life is perfect because she’s pretty and smart and popular, but that she's scared all the time, but nobody will let her be scared because she’s pretty and smart and popular.” (108) Penelope seems like she hasn’t opened up to anybody about that, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that interaction gets them closer together, and maybe they might become friends. However, although Junior may befriend some of the kids, I don’t think any adults will help him because, after all, the kids are learning to stereotype and be racist from their parents and teachers.
ReplyDeleteI just think that the question at the bottom about penelope having a connection with junior is irrelevant. Did you mean "3.)Do you think Junior and Gordy will have any connection or link later in the story?Why? USE THE TEXT."?
ReplyDeleteWhy 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.