Junior led his team to victory by starting out the game with an outstanding move. As Rowdy was about to dunk, he jumped higher than he thought possible and took the ball right out of Rowdy's hands. He then proceeded to shoot the ball into the basket and score. Junior was filled with self confidence and that is the reason he did so well during the game. "You can do it. I can do it. Let's do it" (189). When he had a low self esteem, he discouraged himself from doing great things. Reardan ended up beating Wellpinit by forty points. It wasn't until Junior saw the distant look on his dad's face that he started to feel ashamed about winning. He knew that the kids at Reardan were better off in life already and some of the kids at Wellpinit hadn't even eaten breakfast that morning. The reason he felt so ashamed is because he knew what is was like to be poor, hungry, and living with alcoholics for parents. He knew how much pain they were in, he knew that most of them had no hope left and by Reardan winning the game they were crushing the Wellpinit kids' last bit of hope. "Wellpinit never recovered from their loss to us" (196). They didn't recover because they were discouraged from ever playing again after Reardan crushed their hope. They would never have the opportunities that Junior would have in Reardan and he felt very guilty for taking away something small that would mean the world to them. "I suddenly wanted to apologize to Rowdy, to all of the other Spokanes" (196).
Do you think that Junior will be haunted with this guilt for the rest of his life? Will this make Rowdy hate Junior more than he already does? How would you feel in a similar situation?
Do you think that Junior will be haunted with this guilt for the rest of his life? Will this make Rowdy hate Junior more than he already does? How would you feel in a similar situation?
I think Arnold will grieve for some time until he can get a chance to talk to Rowdy. Arnold's brief emails with Rowdy might have been all the closure he needed, although Rowdy might still hate him for betraying the tribe. He did what he could to talk to Rowdy but needed to protect himself. I do think he will always feel badly and think about this for years. I also think that he knows there was not much else he could do and as time goes by will realize this. I feel as though Rowdy is going to want revenge on arnold for beating him at the game. With a character like Rowdy this is not a good situation for Arnold. Arnold might try to talk to Rowdy and his revenge will just come out. This could hurt Junior (physically) very badly. Rowdy definately hates Junior more than he did. Rowdy has a lot of internal anger and this will make it worse. If I was in Arnold's situation I would try to stay out of Rowdy's way for as long as possible and let him cool down. . Although that would be ideal, over the course of the book we have learned of Arnold's persistence and it would be hard for him to stay away from his best friend for so long. I would feel like a coward hiding and not facing up to my friend. I would feel guilty for betraying my friend and would be scared that he would not forgive me. I would feel like I lost an important part of my life. Would you expect forgiveness after this? What should Arnold do to gain forgiveness?
ReplyDeleteTwo things. One, to quickly say something to James, I don't think Rowdy is mad at him betraying the tribe, I think he's mad at him betraying Rowdy. Just to put that out there.
ReplyDeleteTo reply to Laila's final question, in Junior's situation, I would feel very bad, almost as bad a Junior (mostly because I wouldn't have known those people for most of my life). I would feel this bad for reasons like Junior. For the people in Reardon, this game was just that; a game. But for the Rez kids, it was about survival; Junior even says that Rowdy would get beaten by his dad for losing. That is why I would feel so bad for them. However, I wouldn't feel as bad as Junior because those same kids were being um... jerks to him before. I strongly believe in karma, and to a certain extent, I think they deserved it for being so mean to Junior, after all he did was try to break free of the Rez.
How would YOU feel in this situation?
[Sorry for no more questions, I am feeling like every question has been already asked]
I do not think that it will haunt Arnold for the rest of his life. At the end of the reading, he apologized to Rowdy and he responded in a "joke" response. It seemed to me that they are becoming closer and closer to each other after the game. I would've done the same thing that Arnold did, it seemed to work and take a big weight off of his shoulders just to know that Rowdy still listens to him. So to disagree with James, I don't think there is anything more that Arnold has to do besides how he apologized to Rowdy. I mean what is there to apologize for, they beat them fair and square. And it's not like If Arnold stayed, the Rez would be any better than it is, so it's not his fault at all and there's nothing he can do. And Arnold is still poor like all of the other Indians, so even though he is going to a white school, he is not any different than they are. To add on to what James asked, IS there anything else he can do? because I honestly think not.
ReplyDelete