Why is Junior hesitant to tell Rowdy? Why does he tell him? How does Rowdy react? Why does he react this way?

       

·           In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior makes the decision after meeting with Mr. P to switch schools to Reardan. Junior is hesitant to tell Rowdy because he is scared that it will affect their friendship, but he tells Rowdy because he wants Rowdy to trust him. Rowdy reacts by attacking Junior because he wants Junior to feel the pain he is feeling.  Junior is scared that Rowdy will be furious with him because he is Rowdy’s only friend. Without Rowdy, Junior will not be safe because he will have no one to protect him. Junior decides to tell Rowdy that he is switching school because he feels like Rowdy would be even angrier with him if he didn’t tell Rowdy he was leaving. At first, when Junior tells Rowdy that he is leaving the reservation Rowdy doesn’t believe him, but when Junior continues to tell him that he is leaving Rowdy starts to believe him. Once Rowdy fully understood and believed Junior, he was furious. When Junior tells Rowdy that he is leaving Rowdy says '”You better quit saying that,’ he said. ‘Your getting me mad.’” (49). This shows how Rowdy cares about Junior and how he doesn’t want Junior to leave because then he will be an outsider. Rowdy punched Junior in the eye and attacked him because he could only feel pain.  Sherman Alexie wants to show the reader Rowdy’s pain and how he feels like Dally did when Johnny died in the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton because Johnny was the one thing that Dally cared for and Junior is the one thing that Rowdy cares for. When Rowdy yells at Junior he starts to cry and then scream, this is Juniors reaction to it, “It was the worst thing I’d ever heard. It was pain, pure pain,” (52). Sherman Alexie wants to show the reader that Junior is the one this that Rowdy cares about, the one thing that Rowdy has hope for. Junior cares about his friendship with Rowdy greatly and the last thing that he wants to do is end it, but he had no choice but to leave the reservation because he was different and he belonged somewhere else.                                                                           

Do you think Rowdy's reaction was reasonable?
      Do you think Junior will be able to forget about Rowdy and make new friends? 
      If Rowdy and Junior were to see each other in the future do you think they will be able to forgive each other? Why?
      Do you think that Junior shouldn't have told Rowdy? Why or why not?

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