Let me start of this talk by reminding everyone what iroan-ey is (For you word people, irony). Iroan-ey is when something starts one way, and you expect one thing based on this start, and the exact opposite happens. This exact thing happens during Junior's family's Thanksgiving on the rez. The Thanksgiving starts out perfect: ["We had a turkey, mom cooked it perfectly," 101] and ["It was a feast," 101], and ["Dad was sober, Mom was getting ready to nap, and Grandma was already napping," 102]. So overall, a decent Thanksgiving so far. Junior starts missing Rowdy, so he draws him a funny cartoon and gives it to Rowdy's dad, with the intentions of giving it to Rowdy. His father replies: ["You're kind of gay, aren't you?" 103]. As Junior walks away, he sees Rowdy in the window. Rowdy gives him the finger, and Junior suddenly becomes sad again.
Now to the explanation. This whole scene is ironic because it starts out the perfect Thanksgiving, but then Junior is reminded of how sad he is about Rowdy. The point of Thanksgiving is to be happy, but Junior can't be happy without Rowdy as his friend. The same goes both ways. ["He was watching me walk away, I could see the sadness on his face," 103] Rowdy, at the same time is feeling sad about Junior, too. They both lead pretty depressing lives, so it is safe to assume that one of the main things that they were happy for at Thanksgiving until now was their friendship. Now, however that they aren't really friends anymore makes them both really sad. To wrap up, this is a very iron-ey-ic Thanksgiving, because they should be feeling happy, but instead, they are feeling saddest of sad.
[almost forgot to ask]
Do you think Rowdy and Junior will ever become friends again?
Do you think that tonight's reading has any fore-shadowing in it?
Why do you think Rowdy is rejecting Junior despite the fact that he obviously wants to be friends?
What is a perfect Thanksgiving for you?
DO YOU LIKE STUFFING AND MASHED POTATOES OR JUST MASHED POTATOES!?
(Don't answer that)
EDIT:
A much better answer to this question was put up by Ava. I highly suggest you read it as well as the main post.
I have to disagree with D-Nice, I believe that the ironic part about the Thanksgiving discussion is when Arnold asks "What do Indians have to be so thankful for" (102). And his dad replies "That they didn't kill all of us" (102). That is ironic because they are thanking the Pilgrims for only killing some of them. They don't really have anything to be thankful for (from the Pilgrims) because they killed a lot of their people. Right after his dad responds to Arnold's question, "We laughed like crazy" (102). This shows that they knew it was ironic and kinda awkward. Do you think that this was the ironic part or do you think the ironic part was about Rowdy?
ReplyDeleteI see your point... Thanks for correcting me Ava!
DeleteTo answer Dylan's third question, I think that Rowdy is rejecting Junior for multiple reasons. First of all, Junior left the reservation, and that made a ton of people who live there very mad. In last night's reading, they beat Junior up and stole all of his candy on Halloween. That doesn't sound very pleasant, and Rowdy feels betrayed by Junior, so it doesn't seem like he would go and take all of that treatment to be Junior's friend. Second of all, Rowdy is one of those proud people who makes a decision and sticks with it. He's too proud to back down now. Thirdly, the people on the reservation that Junior has painted for us are very loyal to themselves. Junior knew what he was getting into when he transferred to Reardan, and he had to transfer then and there to make sure that he wouldn't change his mind because of the risks. If you grow up on the reservation, loyalty to it is in your blood, and it's in Rowdy's. Fourth of all, Rowdy goes to school on the reservation, unlike Junior, who can escape it to go to school, so Rowdy would take a lot more heat than Junior. It would take a lot for Rowdy to back down and become friends with Junior again. Do you think that Rowdy has it in him? Why?
ReplyDeleteAnswering Samiha's question, yes I do believe he has it in him.He may be angry at Junior but he still feels sad about him gone. Take for example during Thanksgiving Junior noticed that Rowdy didn't rip up Junior's drawing of the two of them even though he gave Junior "the finger"(103). He still is saddened because Junior is gone but he is also angry that he is sad. He may take it out on Junior but he still misses him. Junior could see that in him, he could see the "sadness in his face." (103) Rowdy needs Junior to be happy and Junior needs Rowdy to be happy but neither of them will admit it. But friendships can mend over time, it is a likely possibility that they will become friends again. If they do become friends again who do you think will be the one to mend the friendship? Why?
ReplyDeleteI do think that Rowdy and Junior will become friends again because Rowdy obviously misses him. For example; in the window Rowdy excepted the comic and didn't tear it up which shows that he still wants to read it and misses Juniors company and humor. He also gave him the middle finger which to me seems like a sign of respect from Rowdy. Also, when Junior sent him the e-mail, Rowdy replied within minutes which shows that he still has some respect for him, no matter what the e-mail said. If Rowdy hated him he obviously wouldn't have replied at all.
ReplyDeleteDylan, I don't believe this is the true irony. Earlier in the chapter "Thanksgiving", a more significant example comes up. This is when Junior's family is having Thanksgiving, and Junior find it funny that Indians are celebrating. He says this because he thought of the history of his ancestors. The fact that the Indians and the Pilgrims were having Thanksgiving one minute, and that the next minute, the Pilgrims were wiping out the Indian population. Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate, but by the Indians celebrating, they are basically celebrating their ancestors being killed by the Pilgrims. That is what I believe to be the true irony. Sorry to repeat Ava's ideas, but I completely agree.
ReplyDelete