Reading #5: In "Red Versus White" what does Junior realize about parents? What is the irony? - Elisa

In the chapter “Red Versus White” Junior realizes that parents should listen to their kids, and that a parent shouldn’t ignore his or her children. Junior says, “I’ve learned that the worst thing a parent can do is ignore their children. And, trust me, there are plenty of Reardan kids who get ignored by their parents” (Alexie 153). He believes that parents should make sacrifices for their kids, worry about them, talk to them, and listen to them. Earlier in the chapter he had explained how he is not in love with the white people from Reardan, and how much he loves his own family. Junior narrates, “Ever since I’ve been at Reardan, and seen how great parents do their great parenting, I realize that my folks are pretty good” (Alexie 153). Reardan is very different from Wellpinit reservation, where “Everybody knows everybody” (Alexie 153), which shows how much every kid’s parents cares about them. The irony in this is that the white kids whom the Indians believe are always successful have parents who don’t take care of them, while the Indian kids who are “dirt poor” have great parents. In Junior’s opinion, parents should never ignore their children, and the Indian parents from the reservation are generally better at being there for their children than the white parents from Reardan.