Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Reading #3 p. 67-98: Explain the significance/importance of the friendship with Gordy for Junior -Danny
Junior's relationship with Gordy helps Junior's confidence and helps lessen his loneliness. After a science class where Junior said that the science teacher was wrong and Gordy supported him, Gordy told Junior that he did not support Junior, but only supported science. Junior then came up to Gordy and started talking to him where he realized that Gordy was worse socially than Junior, and they became friends. Junior narrates, "I was an Indian kid from the reservation. I was lonely and sad and isolated and terrified. Just like Gordy"(Alexie 94). This shows how Junior understands that him and Gordy are akin because both are not popular and at the bottom of the social order. But, he realizes that Gordy is less popular and more strange when he narrates, "I wasn't laughing WITH him. I was laughing AT him" (Alexie 93). This helped Junior realize that his life in Reardan could be worse. When he understood this Junior wanted to become friends with Gordy because of their similarities and Gordy is stranger than Junior. This made Junior feel better because by comparison, Junior is less strange and because he has a friend that he can relate to, he feels less lonely. This situation partially reminds of Curly's wife in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This is because Curly's wife was so lonely that she wanted to make friends and Junior was also lonely and wanted to make friends. Overall, Junior needs Gordy because their relationship boosts his confidence and makes Junior feel less lonely. However, one question that I had about this part was why did Gordy answer the way he did to Junior? Was he autistic, or just anti-social?
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ReplyDeleteI partially agree with what you are saying. I think that their friendship is founded not just on the fact that they are both unpopular, but that they are in a similar situation at school. They appear to actually be friends, and that does not seem to be a factor that would change if one of them was to become popular. They are joined by both loving to learn, and liking drawing and writing: "If you are good at it (drawing), and you love it, and it helps you navigate the river of the world, then it can't be wrong." (95). As you can see, Gordy also thinks that it is a good think to express yourself on paper, and this common interest will probably give those two a friendship that will last a long time. (Ian McJohn)
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