There is a lot of racial discrimination against Indians.
The government brought in many white teachers to the reservations to
help change the Indians to what they believed as real people.
They ruined all of the faith in Indian society so that the Indians
started to have faith in whites or "real people." A quote form the book
is "we must kill the Indian to save the child." I believe that this
quote is saying that they must kill the mental aspect of the Indian so
they don't know what to think and become a little slave.
The part about saving the child in the quote above means that
they must change the Indian into a white so that they are a real person.
Its like how the Spanish had to convert all of the Indians
into Catholics so that they were real people and how they
didn't believe that blacks were real people so they could use them as
slaves. Manifest destiny also had a part in this. The whites belived
that every one not white wasn't human and it was their god given right
to make everyone white. That is what I think the quote "we killed the
Indian to save the child" means. What do you think?
I believe that the comment "kill the Indian to save the child" is the whites not believing that Indians are real people. Just like when Arnold is getting his teeth pulled, the doctor only gives him half the medicine because he believes Indians feel half the pain as people. Mr. P confesses to Arnold about hurting the Indians. Why do you think he did this?
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ReplyDeleteI think Mr. P confessed to Arnold because he wants Arnold to know the truth. Mr.P wants Arnold to gain self-confidence before it's too late. The way Mr. P chose to do that was telling Arnold the ways that the world around him is trying to shoot him down. By revealing this to Arnold, I believe that he hopes Arnold will break the cycle of people on the rez having a dream but amounting to nothing. Arnold has a new understanding about "hope" after their conversation. Why do you think there is no hope on the reservation?
ReplyDeleteI think that there is no hope on the reservation because life on the rez makes it impossible for hope to survive. All the people on the rez are forced to face oppression both on and off the rez and they see people lose hope on a regular basis. The harsh realities of being told that their dreams will never come true and seeing people who once had dreams and hopes turn into bitter drunks causes everyone to give up on their dreams. They begin to believe that if all of those people didn't succeed in following their dreams then there is no chance for them to succeed. That forces themselves into the "cycle". Why does Mr. P want Arnold to succeed?
ReplyDeleteMr. P wants arnold to succeed because he thinks no one else can. He says that everyone has given up. He thinks it was a good thing that Arnold threw that book because he hasn't given up. Arnold was furious with the way they had to learn and he showed it. Mr. P thinks Arnold can do something and be someone. He doesn't want to be a bystander and watch Arnold fade to nothing like Mary. He didn't do anything the first time he is not going to mess up again. When Arnold leaves the rez what will happen? Will there be negative or positive effects?
DeleteMr. P wants Arnold to succeed because Arnold carries the only hope on the rez. That also includes Mr. P's hope. I think the Mr. P personally wants Arnold to succeed because he regrets what he did to the Indians when he first started teaching. If Arnold succeeds then Mr. P would feel redeemed. If one kid who had the toughest time than anyone else on the rez succeeds, something that no one else has done, then Mr. P would feel like everything he had done in the past will not matter anyone more. In a way Mr. P feels guilty about what he did, and since he can't change the past, he places his hope on Arnold to change to future. Why did Mr. P change from beating on the Indians to hoping they will succeed?
ReplyDeleteMr. P saw that what he was doing was inhuman to the Indians and he needed to correct his mistake by giving Arnold hope and support to succeed. I think that Mr. P must have realized his mistake when Arnold had his fit of rage and threw the book at him. He realized that Arnold was upset because people didn't give him the opportunities that other people outside the rez had. So when Mr. P went to Arnold he had the intension of giving him a chance by sending him out of the rez.
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