Junior says that the night of the Winter Formal was one of the "best nights of his life." Why? Explain. Do you think it could be a great night, but also confusing for Junior at the same time? Why?
Junior says that the night of the Winter Formal was one of “the best night of [his] life” (122) because he was able to dance with Penelope the whole night and get caught up in the magic of the dance while not having to worry about being poor. After the Winter Formal, Penelope remembers that they had “forgotten to get [their] pictures taken by the professional dude” (122). Junior had been stressing over a way out of having their pictures taken because he wouldn’t be able to pay for them, and then in the end it turns out that the two of them had been having such a great time that they forgot about the pictures all together. The Winter Formal was the first time that Junior was free to just have a good time and hang out with his new friends from Reardan.
Junior says that it was “the best night of [his] life” (122) before he and Penelope go out with Roger and his friends, but his realization at the Denny’s in Spokane also adds to the positive take-away of the night. Junior decides to trust Roger on a whim, and instead of making fun of Junior’s financial state they actually help him out in the long run. When Junior says, “if you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing” (129) he is still in shock of the fact that Roger and Penelope didn’t shun him as soon as they found out about his secret. This plays into the confusing part of the night for Junior, where he is genuinely happy things turned out the way they did but still confused about why they weren’t mean to him like he had expected. Penelope continues to disprove his stereotypes about the students who attend Reardan, and this time Roger helps her which makes it seem more real in Junior’s head. After all, Roger was the kid who made the really racist “joke” about Indians a few months back. If Roger is willing to drive Junior home and encourages his relationship with Penelope, when Junior himself sees Roger as a much better fit, it will help convince Junior that not all whites fall into the “racist” category.
Questions to think about: What might have changed Roger from the guy he was when he made that overly racist comment to how he is now, offering to drive Junior home? Do you think Penelope's father might be able to change the same way Roger did? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteI think that Penelope's father will not change like Roger did because since he is an older adult, he is more likely to stick to his opinion, and from his characterization, he seems like a very stubborn person. To answer your other question: "What might have changed Roger from the guy he was when he made that overly racist comment to how he is now, offering to drive Junior home?" I think that once Penelope started semi-dating Junior, Junior got very popular which earned him respect from other people. I think that this is all because that Penelope saw the good in Junior, and it forced other people like Roger to do the same. Other questions to think about are:
ReplyDeleteDo you think that Penelope's father was always as racist as he is now? Do you think that Penelope was always popular, or she went through a stage like Junior is now (as in being unpopular but becoming popular)?
To answer Isabella’s question, I do not think Penelope’s dad was always as racist as he is now, no one is born racist, but I do think that he was continually exposed racist opinions from a very young age, and those opinions soon became his own. This is similar to how Junior got his views on white people. Ever since he was a child he was taught that whites have a much better life than Indians, and that success is an inherently white trait. This is one of Junior’s fundamental understandings, at least at the beginning of the book. I think that Penelope’s dad has a similarly strong understanding of Indians, and he hasn’t bothered to question it because these opinions have been so engrained in him, that he simply accepts it as a fact.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you Madison, when Junior was talking about letting people into his life, and the stereotypes he had about Rearden. He is shocked to see that Roger and Penelope don’t shun him out and want to make sure that he’s okay and they care for him. I also agree with you, Isabella, I think that since Junior was getting so popular and respected from everyone because he was good friends with Penelope, I think that he started to realize that he was a good guy and started to respect him. I think that Penelope’s father may be able to change if he starts to talk to Junior and realize that he is nice too. I think it’s harder because his whole life he hasn’t been used to this, and now that Junior is here, it will take him some time to get used to him. I also think that he might not want to change and still remain racist like he is, because he doesn’t want to change his ways.
ReplyDeleteAnother question that I have is how do you think that the rest of the book will go, with Junior, Penelope, and Roger, and do you think that Penelope’s father will start to respect Junior or not?
Elizabeth Knox
I agree about Penelope's dad, but I kind of disagree about Roger. I think that Penelope's dad could change, but only if he gets the chance to get to know Arnold very well, which will probably not happen because of how racist he is. As for Roger, I don't think that he was ever actually racist. I think that he just hated Arnold and wanted to say something extremely mean, and that was the worst thing he could come up with. He didn't care how awful a thing to say it was. I think he is now driving Arnold home sometimes not because he is no longer racist, but because he just likes Arnold more.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to Knox's questions, I think that the rest of the book will go well for Junior as a whole but will have serious problems in the future with racism from the whites around him. I think that Penelope and roger will never do anything racist to him again but will not be able to stop other kids and adults from being racist. On that note, I think that Penelope's dad will always be extremely racist to Junior and will try to drive a spike between him and Penelope.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing to think about, how do you think Penelope's dad will continue to react to Junior and Penelope being a couple.
I don't that Penelope's father would change the way Roger has changed. At the end of the chapter, Junior writes that Roger is friendly, but still a bit racist and that it is still inside of him. Penelope's father is clearly a lot more racist than Roger, so I think it would harder for him to change because the racism inside him is more prominent. I also believe it would be harder for him to change because he is older. His age makes it harder because he is more set in his ways.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you think that Roger got his initial racist thoughts from?
I disagree with some of the comments above and I think there is a little racism going on between Penelope and Arnold, because she seems to emphasize that his life is the worst. It is hard for me to say that its not but I feel like Penelope is exaggerating a little. Everything was almost perfect for him until he realized what he has been missing out on, but also its not really him its other people looking at there normal and then looking at his.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that you might think she's exaggerating but if you look at her normal and then try to see Junior's normal through her eyes you can tell that she probably doesn't think she's exaggerating at all.
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