During the game, Junior starts off strong by beating Rowdy at the first shot. This streak continues, and “[They] beat Wellpinit by forty points. Absolutely destroyed them.” (194) The previous game between Reardan and Wellpinit ended in the exact opposite way, with Wellpinit “absolutely destroying” Reardan. At the end of the most recent game, Junior makes a startling realization of how the win affected the Wellpinit team. “It was the Wellpinit Redskins, lined up at their end of the court, as they watched us celebrate our victory… I knew that one or two of those Indians might not have eaten breakfast that morning. No food in the house… I knew that none of them was going to college. Not one of them… I was suddenly ashamed that I’d wanted so badly to take revenge on them.” (195-196) Junior was ashamed before that the Wellpinit team had beat them that first game, and wanted to get revenge on them to show that he wasn’t useless, and that he truly found success without the tribe. However, back then he didn’t realize that winning that game was the only hope the Wellpinit team had. From there, their hope grew, when they became number one in the state. This signified that the Wellpinit team was actually getting somewhere, and for them, they felt like this could add to their futures, previously filled with nothing. With this most recent game, however, the hope was taken away as soon as it came. Reardan took their spot as best in state, and that symbolized the white people taking the Indian’s culture away from them, breaking them down, like Mr. P had told Junior before. Junior sees this, and is extremely ashamed about it, because if his tribe had seen him a traitor before, this event confirmed his identity as a traitor. He used to deal with this situation with his tribe, but now he’s the one bringing the pain down on them. In the quote mentioned before on page 194, Alexie uses the words “absolutely destroyed” to describe Reardan’s win. This shows that while Reardan “destroyed” Wellpinit in the game, they also destroyed any hope they had before. In the text, the line “absolutely destroyed them” is placed on a different line, adding emphasis to how bad it was.
Junior is also now truly seeing from the point of view of the Reardan students. It takes him a moment to remember that the Indians kids are struggling in life, and simply to get by. At first, he didn’t think how much something like being the best in the state in basketball would mean to the Wellpinit kids, and only cared about being seen as strong and worthy to them. It didn’t quite dawn on him that his situation was similar to theirs. Now that he’s on a different wavelength, he has some chance of future, which makes him a bit more selfish. This chance of a future and success is something he shares with the white kids, and this makes him think in their mindset. It’s like he’s looking in on the Indians from the outside, finding it hard to relate to them though he faces the same struggles they do. This may show that maybe hope truly is white, and that’s what Junior’s turning into.
Do you think Junior will eventually “lose” all of his Indian heritage, in a way? Will the Indians regain their hope again? Will Junior help them to do this? Will hope ever last for the Indians? Has this action secured the name of traitor onto Junior, or does he still have a chance? What could he do to regain the Indians’ trust?
I agree this event is proving Junior as a traitor. All of the denial before, is in vain. When Junior and his team beat Wellpinit, he says "[Reardan was] David who'd thrown a stone into the brain of Goliath!" (195) This quote shows that he is beyond happy that Reardan won. Which also shows that Junior is on Reardan's side of the battle. Shortly after, he realized "that [his] team, the Reardan Indians, was Goliath" (195). His teammates all had great lives, living in no poverty at all in their lives. While the Wellpinit Redskins team lived in poverty their whole life. Not being able to eat breakfast, having to walk everywhere, their parents as drunks and parents that went to prison. The win that Reardan had is a great victory to the team, but Junior knows that it wasn't a big deal. Junior realizes that he was a traitor the whole time. He is ashamed of betraying his home. I think Junior will find a way to regain the Indians trust at the end of this book.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Simru with the fact that Arnold is realizing that he is kind of a traitor. Arnold has been with the tribe for so long and now he is crushing their dreams. I also think that this in another step backward for Arnold because he has hurt his relationship with the Indians more, and he also didn’t win the state championships. Arnold explains his tears by saying “I was crying because I had broken my best friend’s heart.” (196) Arnold has been taking little steps forward in his relationship with Rowdy, and he just took a huge step backwards. Although he finishes the game against Wellpinit unhappy, in the chapter Rowdy and I Have a Long and Serious Discussion About Basketball, Arnold and Rowdy have a conversation, making Arnold very happy. While talking about his feelings after talking with Rowdy, he says “I was a happy faggot!” (198) I think that the basketball game was disappointing for Arnold, but he is doing better in his friendship with Rowdy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Philip and Simru, how Junior is a traitor and the original post content. I believe that Rowdy's reaction to Junior telling him he is moving to Reardan is completely simply justified. Rowdy gets angry at Junior, because he interprets moving as saying the indian community isn't good enough for Junior. He thinks that Junior is saying he does not want to be with Rowdy or any of his rez friends anymore. Now, after the game, Junior looks at the Wellpinit basketball team. He realizes how much more privileged the white Reardan kids are. He realizes that he doesn't need the win. The Wellpinit team does more. Junior cries about this, showing, truly, how important this is to him. I like Simru's usage of "different wavelengths". It made me imagine everyone with something of a text message system implanted into their brains, with different wavelengths for different groups of people. It made me think that "part time indian" means that he has to talk in two different wavelengths, and realizes that he has been engrossed in the Reardan wavelength. He has forgotten about the hardships back home, and is beginning to learn a "fake reality".
ReplyDeleteI agree with Simru and Philip that Arnold regrets seeking revenge on Rowdy and Wellpinit. After Readan defeated Wellpinit, Anrold realizes that the rez residents faced life threatening problems such as poverty and hunger while all the Reardan kids have extra money to spend on iPods and PSP's. A game didn't mean much to the White Reardans, it's just a game. But this game meant everything to the Wellpinit basketball players -- it meant hope. This whole event was sort of sarcastic because Anold went to Reardan under Mr.P's advice to bring hope back to Wellpinit. Yet, when the Wellpinit basketball team finally found hope, Arnold crushed that hope himself by getting the first shot in. When Arnold said "We had killed the Redskins" he is thinking in the way of a White kid, forgetting everything about being an Indian and being a Redskin.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Arnold will eventually forget all about Indian culture because Indian blood runs in him. Heritage is not something you can change, it sticks to you for the rest of your life. If a stranger look at Arnold he would define him as an Indian, not White. The Indians will probably regain their hopes, but they can't do that themselves, Arnold will "bring" hope back to the rez just like Mr. P told him, and the hope will last.
I don't think that we can judge Junior as a 'traitor' from this one basketball game. If we did, then he would have to intentionally lose to Wellpinit, meaning letting his team and his coach down. Doing so would also be going against Mr. P's advice, because it he purposefully lost, then he would be letting himself down, and ruining a chance for him to improve, and making him lose hope in himself. If he has no hope in himself, then he can't possibly help other people with their hope. Yes, he realizes that he is playing for the "Goliath", and that the Readan kids have it so much better than the kids at Wellpinit, but he's facing the life threatening problems too. I hardly think that crushing the Wellpinit team in one basketball game means that Junior is forgetting about being Indian, he's just playing his hardest at a game of basketball.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ranch. Even though he did leave them and appeared as a traitor he isn't one. He did really realize that Rowdy and all the indians had a much worse life than the whites and that the way he was thinking about hurting Rowdy really ashamed him. I think in most peoples mind Junior will still be a traitor, but I don't think he will be in Rowdys mind. I think Rowdy and Junior will give each other hope. I think Junior might help the people in the Rez a bit, but not much.
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