Junior has to pretend that he is middle class rather than poor and stuck in poverty. In the chapter, Dance, Dance, Dance, Junior’s lies start to become unusable. He realizes this, “Of course, you can’t lie forever. Lies have short shelf lives. Lies go bad. Lies rot and stink up the joint.” (119) Junior has pretended to have money since he transferred to Reardan so people would be friends with him for his personality, not because they pity him. So far he has been able to avoid showing how poor he is by coming up with different lies and excuses. When the Winter Formal happens he cannot use his list of standard lies because he is afraid Penelope would go to the dance with somebody else. Junior cannot pay for gas, for food, for photos, or refreshments because he has no money. He has to wear his dad’s old suit, a 1970’s polyester disco suit. However, Penelope likes the suit and Junior did some funny dance moves. Everybody thought the suit was a choice and they loved it.
However, this becomes a problem when Roger and a group of other kids go out for pancakes after the dance. Junior ordered a lot of food and he couldn’t enjoy it because he was lying so often it was starting to make him feel like throwing up. Roger realizes that he is sick and in the process realizes the truth. Junior does not realize that Roger knows he’s poor, “I thought about telling him the whole truth, but I just couldn’t.” (126) After Roger lends him money Roger tells Penelope. Penelope asks him about it and he confesses to her that he is poor. He is still lying that his dad is coming to get him but Penelope catches him in the lie and Junior confesses the truth again. Roger started giving Junior rides home to prevent Junior from walking twenty two miles. Roger made it impossible to lie to him and Penelope, which is a good thing. This is the second time Roger surprised Junior, the first being his reaction after Junior hit him for saying something extremely racist against Indians. Junior learned he had two true friends in Penelope and Roger. This is a better foundation for a friendship rather than a friendship based on lies. Do you think Junior will be able to tell the truth with everybody else at Reardan, or do you think he will still pretend to be middle class? Do you think pretending to have money was helpful to Junior in the first place? Do you think people make friends based on their economic status?
I don't think Junior will lie about his class with the rest of Rearden because they probably won't even ask. If you have nothing to do with a person you aren't going to ask about their financial status. I think that pretending to have money was helpful Junior in the first place because without lying he would have been bullied. But because he lied about not having money he got to go out with his friends and eat some pancakes.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Junior will become more comfortable with Penelope and Roger, now two of his closer friends. Except, Junior tried so hard, using every excuse he could think of for others to think of him if he were in middle class, so the fact that it was hard enough for him to tell his new closest friends, I believe it will be a large struggle for him to share with others how poor he is. Now that Junior is dating Penelope, and others think of him towards being more popular, I could understand why Junior may not want to tell other Reardan students about his poorness, which could ruin his chances with creating more long lasting relationships.
ReplyDeleteI believe that lying about your heritage is in no way a positive way to conduct yourself. To be respected or appreciated by your true friends they must recognize who you really are. So for Junior this was not helpful for his situation because now when he goes to school he will have to tell his peers that he was not being truthful and dig himself out of an even bigger hole. However I understand why Junior decided to lie about who he really was because he thought it would change his friends perspective. Arnold also believed that Penelope would stop going with him "I realized that Roger and Penelope looked good together...After they found out I was a poor- ass Indian,I knew they would be a couple. This statement shows why Junior wanted to be someone else not himself.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Junior is not going to tell the rest of the school that he is poor because he believes that social status ties into wealth and class. Although, he has Roger and Penelope as his good friends and he knows that can be trusted, he isn't ready to tell the school about him being in poverty because he is scared that he will loose his popular social status. To Junior, his identity is based on popularity in this part of his life because he doesn't want to be viewed as a poor non-social kid but by lying about his class he can believes he can get people to be his friend. At one point, Junior will be forced to tell the school about how is poor like he had to will Roger and Penelope but until that happens he will continue to pretend to be middle class.
ReplyDeleteWith Roger and Penelope aware of his actual state (in wealth/class), I think a weight will be lifted off of Junior's shoulders; lying to the people around him increasingly troubled him, so having someone who he knows he can confide in will make it easier for Junior to deal with those issues (in wealth/class). I also believe pretending he was middle class was a key part in establishing his identity; similar to the Oscar Wilde quote, "The first step in life is to assume a pose. What the second step is, no one has yet discovered." Junior has assumed the pose of a social, "cool" middle class student, therefore gaining him the position of being "popular". I think to find his real identity he has to stop being afraid of what others think of him. By revealing to Penelope he is a "big, goofy dreamer" like her, he is exploring his own identity. I think he needs to reveal that to the other kids at Reardan, but at this point is still afraid to let go of the mask he has established for himself.
ReplyDeleteI think that lying about how much money Junior's family has helped him a little in the beginning because if he had not, people would have bullied him even more. However, like Junior said, "Lies go bad," (119). Junior's lies soon expired. I think that the truth had to come out sooner or later in order for Junior's friendships at Reardan to progress. Now that Roger is aware that Junior walks miles and miles back to the rez at night, he can help him out. This shows Junior that he has somebody there for him. Though Junior spilled the truth to Penelope and Roger, I don't think he will tell everyone at school about his poverty because it could risk his new found popularity, which he is enjoying.
ReplyDeleteI think that lying about being poor has a big impact on Arnold's closest friends but not really to anybody else at Reardon. I think that Arnold does not really want anybody except for Penelope and Roger to know he is poor because people might make fun of him and tease him. I think that Arnold will continue to act as middle class even though it is not relevant anymore. I do not think in the first place pretending to have money was positive or negative because I do not think the Reardon kids would care. I think that no matter how much money you have in Arnold's case, it does not matter.
ReplyDeleteI think he should hide the fact that he is poor from everybody else because then it will spread and start turning into a negative thing. This will affect Juniors daily life because he will enter the loneliness stage again. Junior needs true friends have his side. I think pretending to have money was helpful in the first to boost up his popularity and get himself up there with Roger but now he needs to tell someone the truth or he will feel very guilty and this is why he threw up. Roger and Penelope are good friends to keeps his secret and back him up.
ReplyDeleteI believe that at Reardan, people judge each other based off of popularity. In past chapters, Junior becomes Penelope's boyfriend and then he is all of a sudden so popular at school. Penelope and Roger are the two most popular kids at Reardan, in that order. After Junior becomes friends with Penelope, Roger is Junior's bro. So then every one is Junior's friend. This means that it didn't help Junior in the first place that he was "in the middle class". Also, I do believe that the word will spread across somehow, but won't affect Junior except in a positive way. Everyone at Reardan will feel sorry for Junior that he barely has enough money to make it to school everyday.
ReplyDeletePretending to have money overall, was helpful to Junior. Right from the start, you can tell he’s eventually going to run into a problem relating to money, and in this case it was not being able to afford the food. In the end, though, Junior ends up becoming friends with Roger, which affects him positively. Like how the math book he used back at the rez was his mother’s, this friendship happened for a reason and it was because of Junior pretending to have money. Without that lie, he never really would've gained such an impactful buddy, and also a way of transportation back home.
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