I think that Junior made the team because of his warrior mentality. I think that the first sign of this is when Junior took on Roger in tryouts, “‘Roger’s a big kid’ (Coach) said. ‘He’s huge (Arnold) said. ‘You want to take him on again? Or do you need a break?’ Ninety percent of me wanted to take a break. But I knew if I took a break I wouldn’t make the team.” (140). I think that this shows how he refuses to back down and surrender no matter what the odds are. He knows what he has to do, which is make the team, and he fights his way on.
Once he gets on the team, more adversity comes his way as he plays the rez high school in the first game. He is ruthlessly taunted by the crowd and showed hatred from his own people. They yell “Arnold sucks!” (143) repeatedly and yell abusive things at him. The coach is very scared about what may happen throughout the course of the game and calls Arnold over, “‘Are you okay?’ (coach) asked. ‘No’ (Arnold) said. ‘You don’t have to play this one,’ (coach) said. ‘Yes, I do” (Arnold) said’”. This shows how Arnold reacted to the crowd, he knew he would get utterly abused if he cowardly didn’t play and he would have let the abuse get to him, which is exactly what the fans wanted.
1. How did Junior make the basketball team? In what ways was this related to his conversation with his dad earlier?
2. Who is the first game against? How is he treated by the crowd at the first game? How does the team (and coach) react/support him? How does this impact him?
3. In “Red Versus White” what does Junior realize about parents? What is the irony?
4. What was Junior’s grandmother’s greatest gift? What has happened to Indians’ sense of tolerance? Why has that occurred?
5. Free response/guiding question: Will Rowdy ever reunite with Junior? Even after the incident?
The first game is against Junior's old team which Rowdy is on. The crowd has a really bad reaction when they see Junior come in because they think that he is a traitor. The coach supports him by giving a speech to the whole team about getting your feelings out and getting mad. Not only that, the Junior's basketball coach also gives Junior a personal talk about how when he was younger he also used to throw up before games. Because Rowdy is such a big part of the book, I think that him and Junior will reunite sometime in the future. Rowdy has been Junior's best friend since Junior can remember. If they weren't to reunite it would be a tragic ending, and I don't think that this book will have a tragic ending.
ReplyDeleteI feel that it would be very hard for Rowdy to throw away all of their memories. When Rowdy kept Junior’s picture of the two of them, it made me think even more that they were close to forgiving each other. Except, Rowdy seems to not want to let anything go. When Junior sacrificed a possible scar on his forehead, just to lay the last few minutes of his first basketball game, Junior had the ball. He was running and close to shooting (which is one of his specialties) when Rowdy fouls Junior so hard he hurts his heads and suffers with a concussion. Rowdy was always protective of Junior’s head too, but when Rowdy was so mad that he almost damaged Junior’s head even more, it makes me think that Rowdy is going to need a lot more than a drawing of them to make up with Junior again.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Junior made the basketball team by having hope. For Junior having hope is believing that not all Indians are destined for failure and that "the never-ending" cycle isn't really never-ending. Arnold's father gives you a glimpse/ quote of what going big or going home "So your mother is eight years older than me... You got to dream big to get big." These few sentences apply for a large scale. However,sports can help you understand life lessons like perseverance as well as determination which Junior dearly needs to survive in this world.
ReplyDeleteArnold made the basketball team because he didn’t give up. As Charlie said in his blog, he was being a warrior. A warrior never surrenders and that is what Arnold did in the tryouts, even though he said “Ninety percent of me wanted to take the break. But I knew if I took that break I would never make the team” (140). This relates to his dad's experience because Arnold was dreaming big in his own way. On page 135 Arnold's dad said, “You have to dream to get big”. Arnold didn’t dream massively of making the team, but he didn’t give up. He didn’t surrender until he beat Roger. Arnold’s way of dreaming big was by not giving up.
ReplyDeleteJunior made the basketball team by working very hard and not giving up even though Roger had run him over and intimidated him very much. I think Arnold's strength told the coach that he was special and he need to be on varsity even if he was mediocre, he tried really hard. The first game against Wellpinit was a disaster for Junior. He was nailed in the head with a quarter and Rowdy's elbow. The crowd was very unsupportive and I think that this really hurt Junior's feelings. I think that Rowdy will reunite with Junior because Rowdy that night I think was just focused on the game and did not realize what he did to Junior. i think they will reconcile for both of there mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI Think ROwdy will reunite with Jr. because I think they are both realizing that the fight they are having is futile and that they should make up already. I think Jr. showed great spirit by doing everything to stay in the game and maybe people will respect him for that and maybe they will have a rematch and Jr. will have another chance. I think it was great how the coach supported him throughout the whole game as well. Honesty it is sickening how much identity there is in the chapter of the basketball game but I think this is a chapter to reference throughout the rest of the book.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the fans wanted the abuse and negative chants to get into Arnold but he blocked it all out. Even when he got hit in the forehead, he didn't run into the crowd. He kept his cool. I agree with everybody who said he was a warrior and I also think he is very committed to Basketball because he has the spirit a warrior needs. At this point it is hard for rowdy to reunite with Junior especially after he knocked Junior unconscious. After all the moments Junior has missed Rowdy, Junior will start to care less because Rowdy is careless. He doesn't show any feelings of sympathy which shows he really doesn't care. This will turn both of them against each other and might even get Junior angry.
ReplyDeleteJunior made the basketball team because of his heart, effort, his ability to take on challenges, and ability to not give up. Most people would give up if they are trying to guard somebody who can dunk (not me I just dunk over them and block their dunks). Junior however does not give up and plays good physical defense. The coach recognizes this and he makes varsity. The first game at was at the rez high school. He was not treated well at all. It was almost like DeAndre Jordan in Dallas or LeBron James in Cleveland when he played for Miami. The fans felt like they had been betrayed. They threw stuff at him causing Junior to miss the first half. When he went in, Rowdy demolished him and got T'd up when it should have been a flagrant 2. The refs get scared of the Indians and call four techs on the Reardan team.
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