Junior's first basketball game is against his reservation's team, Wellpinit. When Junior is walking to the gym he hears the crowd yelling "Ar-nold sucks! Ar-nold sucks!" (Alexie 143) They were mad that he switched schools to go to Rearden. As he walks in, they all turn his back to him in unison to show their anger. His own tribe was turning on him, and tribes stick together. When the team got into the locker room, Junior starts crying. His coach took the situation and used it to not only help Junior, but help the rest of the team. "If you care about something enough, it's going to make you cry. But you have to use it. Use your tears. Use your pain. Use your fear. Get mad, Arnold, get mad." (Alexie 144) He wanted Junior to use his anger in the basketball game. It helped commit to the game, and he knew he wouldn't give up until it was over. When he got hit in the head with the quarter, he wouldn't go to the hospital but he wanted Eugene to stitch him up so that he could play again. This represents his commitment and determination to win the basketball game, not only for his team, but for himself.
I agree with you in that the audience at wellpinit turned their backs on Junior because he went to Reardon. However, as an add-on I believe it is kind of outrageous because everyone in the audience turned their backs on Arnold. It would take some serious hate to have the whole audience pull of that kind of trick, especially because everyone did it at once. However, that might be explained by the strong bond in tribes, as shown by "I figure that my fellow tribal members are going to torture me." (Alexie 47).
ReplyDeleteAva, I agree with both you and jack. I think its is astonishing how they turned on him even though he only wanted better for himself. Another quote that shows how mad the crowd was, " as I ran on to the court, somebody threw a quarter at me"(Alexie 45). This quote shows how much the native americans believe that Arnold became white and how much they hated him for it.
ReplyDelete