Thursday, November 12, 2015
Interpret/explore/explain the context and the significance of the quote “I don’t know if hope is white. But I do know that hope for me is like some mythical creature” (51). (Robbie)
Junior believes that hope is a mythical creature because he thinks that whites are better which gives him less hope. He says that he thinks hope is a mythical creature when he was explain how Reardan is a better school, and how he thinks the white people are better. "They were filled with hope" (Alexie 50). This quotation shows that Junior believes that the whites are more likely to be successful, however his hope makes him believe that he too can be successful. Junior says all the things he does because he wishes that he was white and that he could have their hope. Another reason that Junior talks about the whites the way he does is that he thinks that his race is just worse than the whites. Junior believes that hope is mythical because over his lifetime he has been told and shown that the Native Americans can not be as good as the whites.
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Hey Robbie, great post, I think you went into some really good ideas and I wanted to get deeper into one of them. The reason everybody thinks that whites are better and have more of a chance at being successful and Indians are good and that they can't do anything. We have been talking about Stereotypes in class and I think that this falls under that category for many reasons. First, when Junior went to Reardan he was judged because he was Indian and everybody thought they were better than him because of what other Indians are. Junior does not have many friends at his school or anywhere else because he is different which proves that he is not like most Indians. Second, in the book it mentions that "I led the Wellpinit Junior High Academic Bowl against Reardon Junior High, and we lost by a grand total of 50-1," (Alexie 50). Showing that in terms of knowledge, he is much smarter than the kids are Reardon but because he is from the Rez, the Whites judge him as if he was like everybody else. Lastly, Junior was less wealthy than the kids at Reardon. The stereotype is that all Indians are poor. Although Junior is not very wealthy, people think he is and that alone is a reason for them to act like they are better than Junior because they have more money.
ReplyDelete-Alexi
**Much smarter than the kids at his school at the Rez**
DeleteI strongly agree with Alexi, it is important to notice how much Junior thinks of Reardon and how much better he thinks they are. However, adding even further stress to this topic I think that you should add another quote that shows Junior's thinking about Reardon. For example, "Those kids were magnificent. They knew everything. And they were beautiful. They were filled with hope" (Alexie 50). It doesn't have to be this quote because there were so many like this one, but something along these lines to really stress the kids at Reardon.
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