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On Pages 216 and 217 Junior is crying because he is upset that Mary made tried to leave and search for her dreams. He then realized that he had made that attempt too. Mary left and Junior was upset but throughout the book he later realized he did the exact same thing as her. He explains “She went searching for her dreams, and she didn’t find them, but she made the attempt. And I was making the attempt, too. (Alexie 216). After he realized all this he started to cry, but the weeping was not only for himself and his sister, but he cried because in the next year more Spokane's would die as well, and from drinking, just like Mary. Junior explains “It all made me cry for my sister. It made me cry for myself. But I was crying because I knew five or ten or fifteen more Spokane’s would die during the next year, and that most of them would die because of booze. Junior cries because he realized he and his sister made the same attenpt of leaving the Rez and trying to find their dreams.
#1 What is “absolutely the saddest thing in the world” (31)? Explain why Junior says this and the implication. (Simon B)
ReplyDeleteIn The Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior says “absolutely the saddest thing in the world” (31), when he is talking about how poor his tribe is, and that they couldn’t afford new textbooks in the last thirty years. Junior thinks that being poor is horrible because he doesn’t have any of the privileges the average person in America has. In chapter two, Junior’s mom says, “‘Junior sweetheart,’ ... ‘I’m sorry, but we don’t have any money for Oscar”’ (10). Junior’s family’s lack of money is his limitation, his boundary. It holds him back to the point where he believes he “deserve[s] to be poor” (13). Junior’s reservation is unfairly poor, which is symbolized well when Junior finds out that he had the same textbook his mother had thirty years before him. Junior is so used to living poorly it seems to him he deserves it, and even though it is hard, it’s the life he was meant to live because he’s Indian. While Junior’s thoughts aren’t true and he doesn’t deserve to live this way just because he’s Indian; he does bring up a good point with his statement that implies he has this life because of his race. Indian people have been and still are treated unfairly for no reason. Just like other races, Indian people, especially in this book, have been mistreated a lot in both the past, and the present. I agree with Junior that being poor is one of, if not the worst thing in the world because of the way it limits what you can do.