Junior feels alone because he has nobody to go to, nobody to talk to, he is a smudge on a huge canvas. At this point he does not even think of himself as a human, "If you think of everybody with a body, soul, and a brain as a human, then I was the opposite of a human" (83). He has lost the friendship of his best pal, Rowdy, and he is an outcast at his new white high school. The school was making him become "something less than Indian". The white people did not pay any attention to him, they did not even look at him. All of these things combined made him more and more alone. But one thing that especially was a blow to the chest was in science class, where Mr.Dodge was being quite unreasonable.
When Mr.Dodge talks about petrified wood forests near the Columbia River, and he makes a statement that it was amazing that wood could turn into rock. Arnold raises his hand for the first time and contradicts to his statement saying petrified wood isn't wood. When he says that, "[His] classmate stared at [him]. They couldn't believe that I was contradicting a teacher" (85). Everybody was thinking that the outsider Indian just told the most sensitive teacher he was wrong, and the glares that he got from his peers did not help his continuous feeling of loneliness. And along with that, he got on the bad side of a teacher you did not want to get on. After that "I shrank in my chair and remembered when I used to be a human being" (86). Arnold is losing hope, and he might second-guess his decision to get off the rez, but if he decides to come back to the rez and go to his old high school, he will be mutilated, so now he is on a one way bridge that is about to collapse into a pile of despair, and loneliness is bringing him down.
What would you do if you were in Junior's shoes? Do you think Junior would have contradicted the teacher if he knew what Mr.Dodge and the class reaction would be? Why do you think Junior, who is shy and nervous and even scared at the new school, questions the teacher, and why now? How do you think Junior will act in classes after this "incident"?
I feel that if I were in Junior's shoes I would of thought to myself that he is wrong but just go with it because of my peers' reactions. Arnold is already lonely and all he did was make things worse than they were before. After this incident, I believe that Arnold will keep his mouth shut. He learned his lesson and he doesn't want another slap across the face. Junior is lonelier than ever and I think that he will just be quiet to block the possibility of another harsh rejection. Do you think that this incident could get any worse than what actually happened?
ReplyDeleteTo reply to Ava's comment, I think the situation with the "science teacher" could have and still might get worse. Yes, the teacher was being out of line and rude but he could have said much worse, like making a racist joke about Arnold's mental capabilities, which we know are far better than most of the other students. I think he acted so rudely as a defense. In his head, he might see it as 'who does this indian think he is, questioning me in front of the entire class!'. It must also be a embarrassing to be wrong by a student. But what if he twists the story around and gets Arnold a detention? That can only escalate into something much worse...
DeleteAfter the tree incident, and the silence of his fellow classmates, what do you think will happen next? What can Arnold do to win their respect?
I think that to win their respect, he just has to win the respect of a few key people. For instance, if he wins the respect of Roger and Penelope, he quotes on page 73 [I may have impressed the king 'roger' but the queen still hated me] He is somewhat respected by Roger, which is half of the battle, as he isn't being picked on anymore, but to actually get accepted and respected by all, he will have to gain Penelope's respect too. Just an idea.
DeleteTo answer Armeen's third question, I believe that Junior finally decided to question the teacher after realizing he was smarter than most other kids. He may have been lonely and sad but he noticed one thing that made him feel better, he was smarter than the general amount of kids at the reservation and at Reardon. He even realized that Mr.Dodge wasn't even a real science teacher. Knowing that he was smart and that this teacher didn't really understand what he was doing he felt strong enough to raise his hand and contradict some information about petrified wood. Where do you think Junior learned about the petrified wood since they most likely didn't learn it at the reservation?
ReplyDeleteTo answer Armeen's third question, I think that if Arnold could go back in time and decide whether or not he should contradict Mr. Dodge, he would. Arnold would contradict Mr. Dodge again because in that moment, he realized his full potential and how smart he is. He also found a friend in Gordy. If Gordy hadn't backed Arnold up, Arnold would continue to be a friendless "zombie," but because Gordy backed him up, Arnold decided to try him (and not anyone else) for a friend. In just the five pages that we have read about their friendship so far, Gordy has taught Arnold a lot and he has made him think about things that Arnold probably didn't think about before, which is why I think that Gordy will be a good influence on Arnold. Do you think that Gordy will be a good influence on Arnold? Why?
ReplyDeleteI think Gordy will be a good influence on Junior because he will help him get to know the new rules in Reardon. It is well known that Gordy is highly respected in Reardon as being one of the smartest people, so Junior may become somewhat respected by association. I also think that Gordy will help Junior not be as violent in his new setting, and will even help him out by having a friend to support him.
DeleteTo answer Joseph's question, I would like to just quote a part of the book, as this question doesn't require much explanation. [I just realized I can't quote this because it isn't in tonight's reading...] Anyway, my entire point is that it isn't really explained how he knows, but since he IS one of the smartest people in the school, he might just know.
ReplyDeleteJunior is having a hard time adjusting to his new school and people like Mr. Dodge are not making things easy for him by questioning his intelligence. To answer Armeen's question about how he will act in classes, originally Arnold would act shy and lay low. Now that he has this great friendship with Gordy he can express his ideas and contradict his teacher if he wants. He can do this because Gordy will back him up against these teachers.
ReplyDelete