Junior was just coming out of the bathroom when he hears someone throwing up in the girls bathroom. Junior waits for them to be done and when she comes out he sees none other than the apparently bulimic Penelope. Arnold says to Penelope, "Don't give up." (108). This phrase is enough to bring Penelope to tears and she confesses that, "she's scared all the time, but nobody will let her be scared." (108). She says that in reference to her loneliness, something Arnold knows too well. Keep in mind that loneliness isn't about being popular or even having friends. It's about having someone who is there for you and gets you, knows all your hopes and dreams and secrets. Alexie uses Penelope's fear and disorder as a way to break the single story we hear all the time. Yes, Penelope is a smart, pretty, popular, white girl from a small town, but that doesn't necessarily mean that she has to be evil and shallow. She can have hopes, dreams, fears and secrets, but in pop culture today we don't usually see the story from the side of "Penelopes". Penelope admits, "'...I want to be remembered.' And I couldn't make fun of her for that dream. It was my dream, too. And Indian boys weren't supposed to dream like that. And white girls from small towns weren't supposed to dream big, either." This is a great example of looking beyond the single story for both of them.
If you flip back into your book, way back to page 57, Arnold has this great image of the difference between White and Indian. But what that image doesn't show is all the things they have in common, dreams like Arnold's and Penelope's. Loneliness and fear that we all know. And pain that we don't like to talk about. In Arnold's words, "There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away." Penelope eats and throws up her pain and Indians drink and beat people up. Maybe you think that these are all bad habits or that none of them work. But can anyone logically justify their way of getting rid of their pain?
Is there any "healthy" way to relieve yourself of pain? If so, what is it and if not, why? Why do you think it took the 3 words, "Don't give up." for Penelope to open herself up? Do you think Arnold believed the single story about Penelope before her confession?
I think that Arnold did believe in a single story about Penelope because he thought that her life was perfect, that she was perfect, she was rich, and she was powerful all just because she was popular. But in reality, Penelope was scared. Arnold didn't realize that being popular was probably stressful because everyone expected her to be perfect. I also think that this leads into the conversation that Penelope and Arnold have where Penelope talks about what she wants to be when she grows up. Arnold laughs at this because Penelope wants to grow up and leave her town. Arnold finds this funny because even though Penelope already has a lot in this almost perfect town, she still wants more. In a way though, Arnold finds this interesting. Later he writes an email to Rowdy asking for advice on how to get Penelope to love him. This shows that the conversation Arnold and Penelope had made Arnold see past Penelope's single story and it made him like her even more.
ReplyDeleteMy question is now that Penelope has told Arnold her dreams and has opened up, when will (or will he not at all) Arnold tell Penelope about his dreams and open up about his state, or how his living conditions are (poverty)?
To answer Mia's question, I believe that it only took the three words, "Don't give up" (108), for Penelope to open herself up because no one had ever noticed her pain before. She didn't want to pass up the opportunity to talk about feelings that had been building up inside of her for a very long time. When Penelope opened up to Arnold, it showed that she felt comfortable around him and that she felt close to him. If Arnold hadn't made that gesture, they never would have dated. A question I would like to ask is do you think that Penelope has anyone else in her life that she feels comfortable opening up to?
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