Free response: who has effected Arnold (in a good way)throughout the story? Stephanie Kai

I think that Mr.P, Roger, Gordy, and Penelope are four essentially characters who lead Arnold to where he wanted to be.
Mr.P, a character who didn’t appear in later chapters, discovered Arnold has not yet given up. He believes Arnold “is a good kid, he deserves the world.(41)” and successfully persuade him to go to Reardan, a school full of “white hopes(51).” In my opinion, this greatly affected Arnold’s feature because according to what Arnold, people in the Rez are either alcoholic or pessimists who spend their days doing nothing. Although having friends of the same race and area sounds secured, it would not influence Arnold in any good way. Going to Reardan, in my opinion, is a safer way to reach success. After transferring to Reardan, Arnold met Roger, a “giant (64)” guy who “called him names(63)” and provoked him with an extremely racist joke. Suddenly, Arnold “knew he needed to do something big(65)” and punched him in the face. Roger, Instead of “plotting his revenge(67)”, started to respect him. Arnold, who has always been a weak fighter, learned to stand up against racism and unpleasant comments. This also built up his confidence and independence that enabled him to survive as an “alien(66).” Later on, Arnold encountered Gordy, a genius who helped Arnold to contradict the teacher and later became a friend to him. Because of Gordy, Arnold learned how to study and earn good grades. He also enhanced Arnold’s hope by telling him “the world, even the smallest part is filled with things you don’t know.” Just like Arnold said “he made me realize that hard work- that the act of finishing, of completing, of accomplishing a task, is joyous.(98)”Finally, his stereotype of white people is demolished because of Penelope. Although she looks “pretty, smart, and popular.” but she is actually “scared all the time(108)” and she wants to leave the small town. Arnold learns that not all white people are hopeful, wealthy, and happy. They also have their own problems and worries just like the Indians. Besides skin color, they are not too different. Additionally, Arnold realized “if you let people into your life a bit, they can be pretty damn amazing(129)” because Penelope didn’t ditch him and Roger didn’t say anything but drove him home after knowing he lives in poverty.

Questions: what do you think will happen to Penelope and Arnold's relationship? Why didn't Penelope ditch him? Do you think people will look at Arnold differently after knowing he's poor?