Group C #3: Why is Junior hesitant to tell Rowdy? Why does he tell him? How does Rowdy react? Why does he react this way? (Emmy Lev)

Junior decides to tell Randy because Rowdy “was my best friend and I loved him like crazy” (Alexie 49). He didn’t believe that Rowdy had given up all hope yet and wanted Rowdy to come with him. From past experience at sports games, Rowdy has nothing but hate for the kids at Reardan. As a result of Rowdy’s anger, he screams and punches Junior in the face. Rowdy had just “become my worst enemy” (Alexie 53). Later on as Junior arrives at Reardan he acknowledges Rowdy’s parting gift, a black eye. Even though things didn’t end well on the rez, Rowdy said goodbye in a way that only he would ever do: a tough looking scar.

Comments

#8. Why does Rowdy tell Arnold, "You killed her" (211)? Is there truth to this statement? (Grant L.)

Rowdy thinks that Mary got married just to adventure out of the tribe like Junior did. After Mary’s funeral, Junior runs straight into Rowdy who was watching from the forest. When Junior looks up he see’s that Rowdy has damp cheeks, symbolizing that he was crying. At first, Rowdy denies the tears and even tries to punch Junior, but when Junior starts laughing the tears come out stronger. Rowdy breaks down and says, “Your Sister is dead because you left us. You killed her” (Alexie 211). This makes Junior stop laughing, “I suddenly felt like I might never laugh again” (Alexie 211). After Rowdy runs away, the pain of his comment hits Junior hard. Junior himself does not deny the statement and he blames it all on himself. He tells himself that because he decided to spend his time with white people, she had burned. There is no truth in Rowdy’s statement because Mary had always been adventurous. She was adventurous enough to run away from home with no money, support, or experience...

#7 Summarize the outcome of the game. Why does Junior cry at the end? What does he realize? (Lev)

At the end of the game, Reardan wins by 40 points. Even though Junior only scored three points, he held Rowdy to only four. Rowdy always beat him by many points when he was younger, and it was great for him that he only lost to Rowdy’s points by 1. He was so happy to have won, but “Then I realized something… two or three of those Indians might not have had eaten breakfast that morning… two of those Indians had fathers in prison” (Alexie 195). Junior then started to cry because of what he had just done to Rowdy, since his dad was bound to beat him up. Junior’s teammates think he is crying from joy, but he really is crying about his betrayal to his identity of an Indian. He understands the pain he has brought Wellpinit and feels sorry for dragging the Wellpinit season down. Feeling guilty Junior emails Rowdy to say sorry. Rowdy emails back with derogatory comments, but speaks to Junior for the first time in a while. It was a bittersweet ending, but there are signs that Rowdy still cares ...

#8 At the end of the novel what does Junior realize about his own identity, life and Rowdy? (Shane T)

At the end of this novel rowdy and Junior were conferring with each other and Rowdy explained that junior was a nomad. A nomad is a person who is always moving around, in search of food and water and grazing land. Rowdy explains, "I always knew you were going to leave. I always knew you were going to leave us behind and travel the world." And he finally realized it, when Junior moved to Reardan. He was in search of a better life. Junior also realizes that Rowdy is not just a tough jerk he was a caring person. For example it states that Rowdy says, " I had this dream about you a few months ago. You were standing on the Great Wall of China. You looked happy. And I was happy for you." Rowdy had never opened up like that and when Junior said thing's like that he would punch him and call him a wuss.

Part Time Indian D Block Blog 2017

Search This Blog