Tuesday, November 5, 2013
What does Arnold hide and ultimately reveal in "Dance Dance Dance?" What does he learn? Be sure to discuss the final sentence on pg 132 (Alexandra)
Arnold hides, and ultimately reveals the fact that he is poor in "Dance Dance Dance." He didn't want Penelope, or really anyone, knowing that he is in poverty. Arnold really likes Penelope, and didn't want to lose their relationship just because he is poor. Roger made a big impact in his decision to lie. Roger is very big and popular and Arnold didn't want to be considered "less" then he already was to the other students at Reardan so his first instinct was to fib. Arnold learned that not everyone is racist and will judge him. Roger lent him 40 dollars and Penelope even started crying for him, which really shows how much both of them care. "He (roger) drove me home plenty of other nights too. If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing." (Alexie 129) This quote shows that when Arnold was living on the rez, he was taught that any white person was going to be against him, but that isn't true. Arnold learned a lot from this experience, especially that you don't have to be opposed to everyone you cross paths with.
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I liked how you included the key quote: “If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.” This was my favorite quote reading this chapter because it showed me that Arnold is opening up. It is interesting that he complains about the stereotype that everybody in Reardan has for Spokanes, he also has his own bias toward Roger. When Roger was being nice to him, he “couldn’t believe he was so nice” and Arnold questions, “how many great football players are polite? And kind? and generous like that?” Only with Penelope’s love and Roger’s “kind heart and generous pocket”, Arnold was able to let people into his life.
ReplyDeleteI love that you used the quote "If you let people into your life a little bit, they canbe pretty damn amazing" and that his view has changed so much throughout the story in the way that he was so scared to accept people into his life earlier "I figured she was going to march out of my life right then. But she didn't." (Alexie 127) but now he has learned a valuable lesson in just a short few seconds and I think he is going to be alot more comfortable in school from now on.
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