In this section of
the book, I think that you really start to see Junior’s inner self. He is
stronger than he will admit to being.
Junior demonstrates
his strength in the basketball game against Wellpinit. Sure, he may throw up
before every game but it doesn’t stop him from playing. He may claim to be
scared but I find that part of Junior is fearless. Part of his strength comes
from Rowdy. Rowdy never allowed Junior to be afraid. That is why Junior was
able to climb the 100-foot pine tree.
Junior’s strength is
also shown every time that he loses someone close to him. He lost his grandma,
Eugene, and his sister in this section. Yet, he has the strength to continue
his dreams of finding hope. Theses deaths don’t tear Junior down and make him
give-up. In fact, it encourages him even more.
I also think that Junior realizes something in
this section that I find to be truer than the novel intended it to be. Junior
says, “I used to think the world was broken down by tribes. By black and white.
By Indian and white. But I know that isn’t true. The world is only broken into
two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not.” (p.176) I find
it interesting and not a coincidence that he separately compared both blacks
and Indians to whites. Junior went on to compare himself to whites again. On
page 182, Junior asked himself if he could be “a legacy in a white town.” I
think the fact that Junior feels the need to compare everything to being white
proves his feeling of inferiority.
