In the last sentence on page 167, Junior says: "And all of us laughed as we walked and drove and rode our way back to our lonely, lonely houses." What is the irony in this? Why is this such a powerful moment for Junior? What is he saying about his tribe?
On page 167, when Junior says, "And all of us laughed as we walked and drove and rode our way back to our lonely, lonely houses", there is definitely some irony in that statement. The irony in this passage is that all the Indians are laughing at a funeral, and then after the laughing, they don't say another word, and they just drive back to their houses, their former ways, where there will be no more talking. Also, after they laugh, everyone goes back to getting drunk and living sad lives. This is a powerful moment for Junior, because he sees that one moment you are happy and laughing and the next your sad and crying. Junior notices that he can connect with the rez people and laugh with them when they aren't trying to bully him. He knows that he will never be able to laugh with the Indians on the rez, as long as they keep being very mean to him. At the funeral, everyone is connected. As they returned, the houses are "lonely," because they return to their regular lives, where they are not strong in a group. Junior won't get the chance to connect with his tribe if they can't get over the fact that Arnold is different.
Sherman Alexie made Junior experience this because this is making the plot move forward, in a way that Junior actually connected with his tribe, and he wasn't being bullied. Junior was able to laugh with his community, but Junior may never experience that again. Sherman Alexie chose this scene to happen, because it shows that after all the laughing that was done during the funeral, when it ended and when everyone was going home, everyone went back to being depressed again. No lesson was learned. This moment was significant because it makes Junior realize that at the rez, there is one emotion at one second and another emotion the next second. Nothing has or will change. Do you think that Junior will get to experience the laughter again? Will the death of Junior's grandmother interfere with Junior's time at Reardan or his social life?
Laughing at his grandmothers funeral was okay due to the earlier events having to do with Ted and the Powoww dress. The laughing was in context and so it was not disrespectful. The tribe laughing at the grandmothers funeral was a one time thing because if there are any more deaths (like Eugines) it will be more sad than anything. Also, it is unlikely that anyone like Ted will come back to the rez with a story like that.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the death of Grandmother Spirit has already, and will continue to impact Arnold's life. It has already caused Arnold's classmates to be more supportive of him than they already were. I believe that later in the book Arnold will not be able to deal with the deaths very well and that will cause him to become anti-social and detached. The death of two huge influences in his life will obviously won't be easy, but Arnold is clearly having an extremely hard time dealing with it thus causing me to believe that Arnold's social life will deteriorate.
ReplyDeleteJunior's grandma's death and the death of Eugene have really taken a toll on Arnold's family. Throughout his life, Arnold has relied on his parents, who relied on Grandma spirit and Eugene, and now since that those people aren't there to support Arnold's mom and dad, it may interfere with their support to Arnold. But we see that towards the end of the chapter, Arnold is getting new origins of support. For instance when his teacher mocks him in front of the class, everyone slams their books in protest and stamers out of the room showing that they won't stand the persecution of their friend.
ReplyDeleteI think that him laughing at his grandmother's funeral was deffinitly one of the more ironic points in the book. His grandmother was loved so much by all of the Indians, and at her funeral all of them have the nerve to laugh at the man trying to help them. It shows how tough and ruthless the rez is. They have enough guts to take joy from a moment of sorrow. What was really shocking was that Arnold was laughing himself. He showed no respect to a woman who had affected his life so much. I dont think that this will affects Arnold's life a lot. He's already experienced a ton of pain, to him its not that impactful
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