Why does Junior say he would always love his tribe? What do you think this reveals about
Junior?
Even with Junior going to Reardon and most of the people on the Rez hating Junior they can all come to together and help him get through this hard time. When Junior finds out his Grandmother passed away he is devastated. His Grandmother was the only one who one hundred percent supported him through all his changes and hardships while transferring to Reardon. When Junior is talking about his Grandmother's wake he says: “We were stunned because almost two thousand Indians showed up to say goodbye. And nobody gave me crap.(159)” Junior will always respect the people in his tribe because even though they hate him so much the come together for him. All the time he's been on the Rez everyone has been very mean to him, but they didn’t at this time. Even if they don’t respect Junior they found a place in their hearts to respect him because a person who was huge in his life and many other is gone. Junior reveals that even with everything they go through he will always love everyone in his community. Junior was once part of their community and would have the same reaction if someone he knew just left him and his community. Junior understands what he did was wrong and the fact that they respected him shows that they still kind of respect him.
Do you think all the deaths Junior has experienced will make the people on the Rez sympathetic for him?
Do you think that the tribe will come back for Junior?
I agree with Will. I think that Junior says that he will always love his tribe because he has been with them for a long time. He also loves them because they gave “me [Junior] peace on the day of my grandmother’s funeral.” (160). This was an important day for Junior because this was the burial for his beloved Grandmother, who was the person that gave him the much joy. The people on the rez respected this and “nobody gave me [Junior] crap.” (159). Nobody on the rez went over the line and gave Junior a harder time on this very hard day. “So they all waved the white flag that day and let me grieve in peace.” (159). All the people on the rez wove “the white flag” and let Junior just have a day of grieve, due to his grandmother’s death, not the Indian’s hatred. I think that this shows that Junior still might have hope to get the tribe to not forgive him, but to at least not be so mean to him. “I mean, I was still the kid who had betrayed the tribe. But iI was also the kid who’d lost his grandmother. And everybody knew that losing my grandmother was horrible.” (159). The people at the rez have sympathy for Junior. They know that he can not be forgiven, but that this day, he should be at peace. They know that this day was hard for him, so they felt bad to give him any more trouble.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to add that, perhaps, Junior's grandmother's death shut them up a bit. They knew her as a person of sensibility and tolerance, as Junior said: “My grandmother’s greatest gift was tolerance… Indians have gradually lost all their tolerance. Indians can be just as judgmental and hateful as any white person. But not my grandmother.” (155). His grandmother was greatly respected in the tribe and beyond, shown by all the people that showed up to her wake. Like Junior said, his grandmother was one of the few people that was accepting to all people of any situation or background, and tolerant. Like Alex said, losing someone like this is devastating. The rest of the tribe could sympathize with Junior about this, and being a descendant and one of those closest to grandmother, they showed respect for his grandmother by showing respect for Junior. The reason why he would always love them is because of this respect, and the fact that they recognized someone as great as she was.
ReplyDeleteDo you think they’ll eventually start again with all the teasing and put-downs?
I agree with Taft, Junior’s grandmother is a huge loss in his life. As Alexie said “she was the only one who one hundred percent supported me”. This is important to Junior because he does not have a lot of people that support him. Junior needs someone to tell him what he is doing is good so he does not lose hope and end up like the rest of his community. Also the fact that two thousand Indians showed up to the funeral really shows that people cared about her. Plus, no one made fun of Junior the entire time, which is funny because everyone hates him for being a traitor, and before that he was made fun of for just about everything about him. It shows that all the Indians have a lot of respect for Junior’s grandmother and know she is a huge loss to him because she is also a huge loss for the Indian community. Everyone loved her. Now that she is gone Junior has no one to tell him where to go and if what he is doing is right. I think one of the reasons why he is able to respond to such a loss is because of what happened the first day he came back to school. When the teacher took a cheap shot at Junior’s family and everyone stood up for him it showed that he did have some people to rely on. What do you think is going to happen in school because of what all the students did? Will they continue to go to class?
ReplyDeleteI agree definitely agree with Taft. Losing a grandparent is a really difficult thing to have happen. Junior's Grandmother was one of the most important people in his life behind Rowdy. He looked up to her for many things. She gave funny and helpful advice that no one else was capable of giving. Now Junior has no idea if he is going in the right direction. Junior is lost without her. I believe that someone new from Rearden will now guide him. Lastly, Junior's grandmother was an extremely important person in many people's lives because Junior wrote that almost two thousand people came.
ReplyDelete