Question - Junior describes his reservation as "located approximately one million miles north of important and two billion miles west of happy." Yet when he and Rowdy look down from almost the top of an immense pine, he says, "We could see our entire world. And our entire world, at that moment, was green and golden and perfect." what force drives the dichotomy of Junior's perceptions of his world and allow him to see the land in apparently disparate ways?
Response - Most people take things for granted, because it's easy to. It is so easy to forget about how thoughtful your mom was, when she made you chicken noodle soup, the second she screams at you for not taking out the trash. That's just how it is and in some ways Junior can relate to this. The quote of Junior explaining where he lives ends with, "two billion miles from happy." Yes, most of the time the rez is not a happy place for Junior. He is constantly getting beat up, and he doesn't feel like anyone likes him. But in the quote about having a perfect world involves Rowdy. Junior finds happiness in Rowdy because being friends with Rowdy comes with protection and humor. I think when Junior thinks about the rez he thinks about the bigger picture and can forget about the happiness that Rowdy brings him. They always say to find the good in the bad. Junior doesn't realize this but he picked up drawing comics because of the way the people in the rez treated him. He felt he couldn't talk to anyone else so he created comics where the characters would listen snd understand him. Because of the terrible people in the rez, Junior found a creative output to express himself and find his identity. With the geometry textbook Junior was furious when he found his mom's name in it. He was mad and disappointed at this place he's been in all his life. But with all this disappointment came light. If Junior had never opened that textbook and got frustrated and threw it, her would have never had that conversation with Mr. P. Mr. P led Junior in a direction that he didn't think was even possible. All the bad surrounds Junior only makes the good more apparent, only makes the good more stronger. When Junior sat on that pine tree with Rowdy all the good masked the bad. Many people can relate to this uncertainty and Junior is just one example of many that doesn't realize the worth behind all the negative.