1. Describe how Penelope treats Junior – provide two specific examples. How does this relationship contribute to Junior’s understanding of himself/his identity? - Rohan Durfee
Penelope treats Junior in a very different way that she used to. She used to ignore him and be rude to him but now she is almost doing the opposite. She is now treating him kindly but not as kind as she can. When penelope says "Are you for real?" (78), she is kind of being snarky and defiant to Arnold but she is still volunteering to do something with Arnold.
When Arnold is showing Penelope his halloween costume, she says "Wow, you really look homeless" (78). Even though she doesn't know what kind of background Arnold came from, Arnold may be slightly hurt because she is saying that Arnold looks homeless but earlier in the book, Arnold says there is no real difference between his bad clothes and his good clothes and all his clothes make him look kind of homeless because he cannot afford nice new clothes.
Arnold's interactions with Penelope are impacting him positively, even though Penelope can be slightly snarky at some times. Arnold has had a really crummy time at Reardan and his interactions with Penelope are giving him a new light of his new school. It is good now that Arnold is making some new friends at Reardan because when he came, he did not have any friends and everybody was bullying him.
I agree, I think in the beginning that Penelope was rude and snarky toward Junior, when they got confused about his name, whether it was Arnold or Junior. But, in these chapters, like you said, she was kind of nice to him when they were able to bond and talk about their Halloween costumes, because they were both homeless people. He is sort of able to easily dress up as a homeless person because his regular clothing is like the clothing he wears for his costume. Like you said, he gets happy and excited when he talks to Penelope, and it makes going to the school that he doesn’t really like not as bad. I think that Penelope is starting to be nice and like Junior, and it is showing throughout the chapters that she has been in so far. I think that they may continue to talk more over the course of the year. I also think that Arnold may continue to make new friends like he has done with Gordy, and will maybe begin to be liked at Rearden, and not just made fun of because he is different than everyone else.
ReplyDeleteAnother question I have is do you think that Penelope and Junior will get closer over the course of the book and the school year or not? Do you think that he will make other friends?
Elizabeth Knox
Elizabeth, to answer your question I think that Penelope and Junior will get closer over the course of the year. The only reason why Penelope would be mean to Junior is that she is afraid of being different. In Juniors mind, Penelope is a perfect girl who never has any problems because she is white and rich, but in reality, Penelope is just like Junior in a way that she doesn't want to be different and she wants to stay popular. In other words, Penelope is afraid of being judged by other people and she is scared that people will judge her for talking to/hanging out with/being nice to Junior, who is a poor Indian living on the reservation. To support this, Penelope is very nice to Junior when they are alone (very beginning and halloween costume) because she feels that since nobody is around, she can't be judged by anyone.
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