What does Junior realize about his own identity, his life and Rowdy (these are all different)?

Throughout the novel Junior realizes many things about his own identity and his life.  He also always compares his life to Rowdy’s life.  Junior transferred to Reardan knowing that would help him have a brighter future.  He knew he had to leave the rez to have any chance in life.  He also knew his best chance was in the white world.   “I realized I might be a lonely Indian boy, but I was not alone in my loneliness. ” (217).  Junior notices that he identifies with many groups of people and he knows that he is going to be ok.  By leaving the rez he learned that he could make friends with all different types of people and learned that he had something to contribute.

However, Junior has different predictions for Rowdy.  Rowdy chose to stay on the rez unlike Junior, and Junior sees where that life will lead him.  Rowdy understands this as well, “You’re an old time nomad” (230) he tells Junior.  This leads Junior to feel deep regret about leaving the rez.  Junior is torn about leaving his people and being confident in his ability to search for hope.  At the end of the book Rowdy and Junior play basketball and don’t keep score.  The no score keeping shows the score might be impossible to calculate just because their lives will be very different but they will still remain friends.