1.What do Juniors lists on pages 176,177, and 178 tell about him at the moment?

      When Junior is listing the things in his life that "give him the most joy in his life," Sherman Alexie sets in a very intentional order. For the people at the moment he has Rowdy listed at number one. I believe even though Rowdy hates Arnold's guts, and even if they never repair their severed ties they will always have the time they did spend together. There is  an old Billie Holiday song titled It had to be you, and there is a line in the song that goes "I would be glad just to be sad thinking of you." I could not have said it better for Arnold and Rowdy's relationship. Even when Arnold misses Rowdy he still is glad to remember the times they did spend together, and those memories are a signal of hope for Arnold when he needs to have the most hope.  Rowdy comes before the family as pointed out by Arnold on page 24, "I think Rowdy might be more important than my family. Can your best friend be more important than you family?". Next  on the list is his parents, who he still, even though sometimes is disappointed with he always respects. After that are the two dead people, but their memories still bring joy to him. Then are the Rearden people. The one that surprised me the most was Penelope being last. Penelope accepted him for who he is as a poor Indian, she brought him up the social scale, and helped his loneliness level drop way down. I just think Arnold does not think that she actually fully loves him, even though she has given him no reason not to.

      The next list is about the music that brings him the most joy. On the top of the list he talks about his mothers band being number one, and his being last. The music that brings him joy is not his favorite music but that of his mother. His is last This really shows a lot about Arnold's character and his care for other people.

   The next list is about his favorite books. The number one is The Grapes Of Wrath. It is about an impoverished family and focuses on economic issues. The number two book is Catcher in the Rye. It is about teenage angst. These are the two things that show his conflicts. Just trying to be a kid and being limited by the money issues that surround his everyday life. He shows this on page 119, "My parents gave me enough money so that I could pretend to have more money than I did. I lied about how poor I was."

    The last list is his favorite basketball players. Basketball is one of the most important things in Arnold's life at the moment. It gave him a support group more or less. For example on page 175, "And then Roger stood up and dropped his textbook. WHOMP! Then the other basketball players did the same.WHOMP! WHOMP! WHOMP!" This is a time when Arnold needs other people to stand up for him , and he has the team at his back. They are there when he needs people there.


Questions: 1. Imagine you are Arnold, in all he has been through. Who would be at the top of your list  (characters). Why?

2.  Is Sherman Alexie foreshadowing with any of these lists?

3. Why does Roger come before Gordy on his list? Is Roger a more important person to Arnold?