Summarize the outcome of the game. Why does Junior cry at the end? What does he realize? -Jeremiah Mathieu
When Junior was in the locker room preparing for the game, he was saying to himself how he had to beat the other team for his future and for his confidence. The coach said to him that he would be guarding Rowdy and Junior ‘s mood toward the game completely changed after that comment. He was saying that he could not guard Rowdy because he was a shooter and not a defender. The coach said four simple words “You can do it” (189) and that comment gave him hope, the hope that Mr. P wanted him to get at that school. During the warm ups, Junior was very scared and told Rowdy that he would be guarding him. Rowdy laughed at the thought of that. When the game started, Rowdy got the ball and went straight to the basket for a dunk hoping to completely humiliate Junior. Junior knew that he could not let that happen because in the course of the game any little action could determine if you win or lose. Junior jumped up higher than he ever had before and blocked Rowdy’s dunk by ripping the ball out of Rowdy’s hands. He ran to the other side of the court to pretend like he was doing a dunk. He faked Rowdy out and as Rowdy has gone past him...he could see that Rowdy was sad and he could do nothing to stop the ball. Junior splashed a three pointer in the basket. Junior knew then that the game was set for them to win. They ended up winning by forty points.
The reason that Junior started crying at the end of the game was because he realize what he had done to his former team and former teammates. He took away their happiness of winning by beating them. He also had a epiphany that Rowdy’s father would beat him up for losing the game and that some of them would go back to their lives with nothing to look forward to and winning that game really meant more to them then it did for Junior. The realization that it was two different world for two different teams playing one game together. All of that emotion took over Junior and took over a time where he should have been happy for being a big part of that game.
Do you think that Junior will continue to have empathy for his old teammates now that he will have a different future than them?
I agree that Junior thinks that he has to win for his future and his confidence, and that he cries because he felt bad for his former teammates. He realizes that they are in very bad situations, similar to the one he used to be in, before he left for Reardan. They may not have even had enough food that day because of poverty. I think there are 2 reasons this hurts so much now, rather then when he was on the rez. First, when he was on the rez., he was too busy looking out for himself to worry about others in a similar situation. Second, this probably makes him feel like a traitor. His tribe members already consider him a traitor, and remind him of that fact constantly. Now, he realizes that his team has unfair advantages due to social class, and he didn’t even care until the very end of the game. Rowdy and sometimes Junior used to hate Reardan because of these advantages due to social class, and now he is realizing that he is doing just that. This is causing him to think that he is in fact a traitor, and his tribe members are right. They have also said it so many times that he is more likely to believe it. So not only did he cheat at the sport that means so much to him, but he also feels like he betrayed his tribe, and his heritage.
ReplyDeleteI think that Junior always had empathy for the people around him in the Reservation. It may seem unnoticed, but from the start of the book, Junior has realized all the tough conditions that his classmates and their parents and his friends have to go through. Junior will continue to have empathy, but not look down on other people. Even though Junior has a better chance at getting a good job and having a good life, he will never look down on his teammates and pity them because he thinks that he is better. Junior will probably always have an emotional feeling towards his teammates, whether it is anger or kindness, because those are the people he grew up with in his childhood. Junior is now more 'white' than ever in the sense that his hope has grown more than the people on the reservation, but I bet at times he still feels like he is equal to the people on the Reservation because, at the end of the day, his outer appearance says that he is Indian.
ReplyDeleteQuestions: If Junior has a good income and a good house/job and is doing well in life, do you think that he would ever come back to the Rez and support the people there? If he did, do you think that the people on the Rez would be more apt to take his offer to support them because he has more money than they do?
I agree with you Isabella that Junior has realized all the tough conditions that Indians live through because he is also one, but also that he has way more hope than they will ever have. I think that Junior will continue to have empathy for his old teammates now that he will have a different future than them. The most important passage that supported this was after the basketball game when he compared his team to the team from Wellpinit and said that "maybe my white teammates had problems, serious problems, but none of their problems was life threatening" (195). He realized that his old teammates from Wellpinit did have life threatening problems like no food, drunken parents, and parents that may be in jail. I think that at that moment it really showed that he still cared about the people at Wellpinit. He would never look down at them because he was once in the same situation and he knows how it feels.
ReplyDelete