#2 What Rowdy Says to Junior at the Funeral

On page 211, at his sister Mary's funeral, Junior spots Rowdy out in the woods. He runs towards him to see he is crying. Their exchange is terse but Rowdy definitely accuses Junior of horrible things.

""It's all your fault," He said. "What's my fault?" I asked. "Your sister is dead because you left us. You killed her."" Rowdy flat out accuses Junior of killing Mary. Not physically, but psychologically.
"But she got married so quickly and left the rez because I hard left the rez first. She was only living in Montana in a cheap trailer house because I had gone to school in Reardan. She had burned to death because I had decided that I wanted to spend my life with white people." -page 211.

Here Junior is blaming himself for Mary's own mistakes. Mary was living in the basement for years. Junior was about to go into high school when he was smart enough to leave the rez. He found a way out through education. Mary saw her younger brother leaving and realized she needed to leave too, blinded by the thrill of the adventure she had only read in her books, and maybe a little ashamed too. Her little brother had gotten out before her.
This isn't where she really went wrong though. It started with her random marriage. Mary saw this man as a way out and jumped without looking first. She moved to Montana with an almost absolute stranger and started to live in a junky trailer. Alcohol is what killed her. She was being reckless and careless. Junior was only the spark to her flames. Had she not had that wild party, she would still be alive. Junior did the right thing to leave because he inspired Mary to get out too. What Rowdy said was out of spite and anger. It was Rowdy's way of saying that Reardan was a huge and regrettable mistake. The funeral was just happening at that point, so of course Junior wanted to feel bad, his sister had just died! With further evaluation, Junior would see he did the absolute right thing as a role model. Mary just made bad choices.

Do you agree? Why or why not? What if that party had not had happened? Would Mary still be alive or would the universe find another way to strike her down? Have you ever blamed yourself that wasn't you fault?