Skip to main content

#6 What was Junior's grandmother's greatest gift? What has happened to the Indians' sense of tolerance? Why has that happened? (Tess H)

Junior’s grandmother’s greatest gift was tolerance, a quality that is disappearing among Indians. Junior’s grandmother was always kind and accepted people for who they are. Sherman Alexie explains, “[Junior’s] grandmother had no use for all the gay bashing and homophobia in the world, especially among other Indians”(Alexie 155). Indians were always accepting and tolerant until white people started to lessen their tolerance. When Junior was reflecting on his grandmother he thinks, “...in the old days, Indians used to be forgiving of any kind of eccentricity. In fact, weird people were often celebrated”(Alexie 155). The diminishing tolerance started happening because of Indians being influenced by Christianity brought by the white people. Junior's grandmother was different from most of the other people on the reservation because of her “...old time Indian spirit…(Alexie 155). Junior’s grandmother was respected throughout the Spokane Reservation, as well as many other reservations, because of her kind personality and rare tolerance.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#2 Who is the first game against? How is he treated by the crowd at the first game? How does the team (and coach) react / support him? How does this impact him? (Xavier I)

     The first game is against Wellpinit, his old school, now his rival. Consequently, the crowd treats him poorly, intimidating him by chanting, "Arnold Sucks!" (Alexie 143) and throwing things at him. Seeing the look on Arnold's face, Coach tells him he doesn't have to play this game. But, Arnold knew he had to play. He needed to prove something to his fellow tribal members, especially Rowdy. When he looked at Rowdy, it looked like he was just about to kill Junior. "He didn't want to turn his back on me. He wanted to kill me, face-to face." (Alexie 144) Thinking and looking at Rowdy, he starts to laugh, the only sound in the entire gym. But then coach joins him, as well as his teammates. They laugh all the way to the locker room, which makes him feel better. But then he starts to cry, overwhelmed with what just happened. But coach tries to support him. "If you care about something enough, its going to make you cry. But you have to get used to it. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

#7. Explain the humor/irony of the title of the chapter, “Rowdy and I Have a Long and Serious Discussion About Basketball.” (Caroline Roche)

Using the chapter title, “Rowdy and I Have a Long and Serious Discussion About Basketball” (Alexie 197), is ironic because, first of all, it was 4 sentences, and second, it wasn’t a conversation! Rowdy’s emails were insults to Junior that were saying that, I am better than you and I always will be. In Juniors emails he goes from feeling sorry for Rowdy, to getting sassy with him. For example, Juniors last words were, “I’m the faggot who beat you.” (Alexie 197). Calling this discussion serious is ironic because, well, the “conversation”  used language like f***t and a**. Junior wanted to make up with Rowdy, but Rowdy was too embarassed that he lost the game,  and was still mad at Junior for abandoning him. Calling this conversation long is also ironic because Rowdy only said one complete sentence! Junior ended the chapter with saying ”I think it was also a bit friendly, and it was the first time that Rowdy had talked to me since I left the Rez”. (Alexie 198). Based on this quot...
Post a Comment
Read more

#4 Why does Rowdy tell Arnold, "You killed her" (Alexie 211) Is there truth to this statement? (Alex.S)

  When Rowdy says that Arnold killed his sister, Rowdy didn't mean that Arnold physically killed her. Rowdy implies that the actions that Arnold has made, had a strong impact on the choices that his sister made which ended up with her death. For example, when Arnold made the decision to leave the reservation and go to Reardan. Arnold made this bold decision to get a better life/future. Mary thought that she should leave the reservation as well because she too, wants a better life/future. Arnold explains: "But she only got married so quickly and left the rez because I had left the rez first. She was only living in Montana in a cheap trailer house because I had gone to school in Reardan. She had burned to death because I had decided that I wanted to spend my life with white people" (Alexie, 211). Rowdy thinks that these actions were the cause of Mary's death however, Arnold wasn't the one that actually killed Mary. She died because of a fire in her trailer  and coul...
1 comment
Read more