Hope for Arnold is like some mythical creature because it seems so out of the ordinary for him. When he asks his parents who has the most hope, his parents answer "White people...That's exactly what I thought they were going to say" (45). This shows that everyone, including him, knows that white people have hope. What Arnold is still trying to figure out is if hope is white. He knows that white people have hope but he doesn't know if they are the only ones who have it. Since he has grown up with mostly negative influences, he has to teach himself how to be hopeful since nobody will show him. That is why he compares hope for him to a mythical creature, because he isn't used to being hopeful and it feels awkward for him to have hope. When Arnold is describing the Reardan kids, he thinks of them as "beautiful and smart and epic. They were filled with hope" (50). Since he is an outcast at his new school because he is the only Indian (besides the mascot), he has to adjust to his surroundings. Everyone around him is hopeful, except him. Arnold needs to get to know that mythical creature to fit in some.
Do you think hope is white? If so why? If not why not? Why does Arnold think the Reardan kids are beautiful, smart, and epic? Why do Arnold and his parents think that white people have hope? What would lead them to thinking this? Stereo-types? If not what?
I believe that hope is not only white, but in Arnold's world white people have more hope than anyone else. Arnold thinks that white people have hope because they are always accepted in his world. He thinks this because of stereotypical white person (according to Arnold) is accepted and has hope.
ReplyDeleteIn Arnold's world, white people have the most hope because that's what everyone thinks. I think that Arnold's belief that hope is white is directly related to his belief that white people have hope. Arnold thinks that because white people have the most hope, hope must be white. He says, "I don't know if hope is white"(51). This might be Arnold's way of saying that he doesn't know if white people are the only people with lasting hope.
ReplyDeleteArnold and his parents think white people have hope because on the reservation, hope is a dream. Almost nobody on the rez went to college, but Reardan had more than half of its graduating classes go to college. Arnold and his parents believe that only white people have a future, a life, a good life. Arnold's picture on page 57 proves that. Arnold makes us seem that whites are superior to him. He think that if you are white, you are better. He considers Indians on the rez as hopeless drunken people with a vanishing past. What do you think the students at Reardan think of Arnold? When he walks in, everyone looks at him like he is an alien. What do you think would be running through the students mind when he walks in? How would you act?
ReplyDeleteTo reply to Armeen's question, I personally, not being that racist and segregating, definitely not as bad as them, would probably just walk up and say hi. I think that they would be thinking something like "Who the heck is that!? What is he doing in our school!?" but keep in mind that these are very racist children in a high class farm school, so none of us can really embody the level of prejudice that they are currently exhibiting in this book.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with D-nice. If I were there, I would try to be nice without being awkward. But the thing is, I and my fellow peers, are not there. These kids are brought up by parents whom we can assume are racist. If the cops in the town are, there is a good chance the adults act in a similar manner. This will reflect on the kids too. It is probably evident that Arnold is poor. The kids must notice that off the bat. They will also see he is indian. Already they are going to have ideas made up about him. Add in peer pressure and they will either be very nasty like Roger and co. or at least ignore or be rude to him like Penelope.
ReplyDeleteArnold has "the king's respect". But how or when will he earn Penelope's, "the queen's?" We already know he really likes her...
I agree with Dylan that we have grown up in a culture that is very embracing toward people of other ethnicities. However we still need to look at the fact that Arnold is the ONLY kid in Reardan who isn't white. To answer Armeen's question the book tells us that on the first day Arnold was an oddity to the other kids, but they mostly ignored him, that is for the exception of the "Jocks." The tougher kids in school hated Arnold those first few days. One kid, Roger, says, "'Did you know that Indians are living proof that n****** f*** buffalo?'"(64) These kids loathe Arnold, but he is able to gain their respect in the end by sticking to what he's known his entire life. Violence. Do you think that Arnold would have been able to earn his peers respect without violence? Would changing to the "white rules" be abandoning his Indian culture?
ReplyDeleteI don't think changing his rule set is abandoning his culture, as a symbol of changing his environment. If you think about it, those rules are specific to the rez, not the culture, much the way the "white" rules are just specific to Reardon. A culture isn't defined by the area it is in, or the rules of that area, (for instance, Europeans came to the Americas and kept their culture, but were in some ways forced to play by the rules of the area.) it is defined by the people. THAT is why I think that he isn't abandoning his culture. Do you think that he WILL end up abandoning his culture in some way during the book and his transition to Reardon?
ReplyDeleteTo respond to Mia's question, I think that Arnold could have tried to fit in with the other kids at Reardan instead of resulting to violence so soon. It's like a being a new kid at a school.(without the extreme level of racial hatred) As a new kid, you don't really fit in with anyone. You don't know what you have to and don't have to do to fit in. Everything's new territory to you. That's what Arnold is going through at Reardan. He doesn't know what to do to become one of the "popular" kids. So he just resulted to the first thing that he knew to do, be violent. I think that it would've taken more time, but it would have given him a better reputation if he hadn't resulted to violence to fit in.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that hope is white, I just believe that the people who are seen to have the most hope are white. The people on the reservation could have hope if they chose to, but years of discouragement have taught them otherwise. Arnold believes that the kids at Reardan are beautiful, smart, and epic because they seem to be very self-confident and self confidence is something that most of the people on reservation lack. To answer Mia's question, I personally think that if Junior hadn't shown violence towards Roger then he wouldn't have been able to earn his peer's respect because there was no other way to take down the "alpha dog". If Junior had used his words, the children wouldn't have listened. A question that I'd like to ask is, do you think that Junior's experience in Reardan will cause him to gain or lose hope?
ReplyDelete