eugene, pg 71.Eugene was Arnold’s father’s best friend. He gave Arnold a ride one day in his motorcycle. To Arnold Eugene seemed like a normal indian. But, to the students at his school, Eugene and Arnold looked “dangerous” because of their looks and because they didn’t have helmets on. So, on the exterior Eugene looked like a distinctively tough person. But, as Eugene drops Arnold off at Reardon he says, “It’s pretty cool, you doing this. I could never do it. I’m a wuss.” So, in some ways a tough guy like Eugene believed that Arnold was tougher than him.
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metaphorical boner, pg 96.When Gordy and Arnold became friends, Gordy taught Arnold how to study and how to read. On reading, Gordy said “You read a book for the story, for each of its words, and you draw your cartoons for the story, for each of the words and images… but you should also read and draw because really good books and cartoon give you a boner.” Arnold was puzzled at what Gordy meant about getting sexually aroused about books meant. Yet, later Gordy clarifies and says, “I don’t mean boner in the sexual sense, I don’t think you should run through life with a real erect penis. But you should approach each book — you should approach life — with at the real possibility that you might get a metaphorical boner at any point… When I say boner, I really mean joy.” Gordy teaches Arnold a super valuable life experience where you should take every detail seriously and you should always be joyful about things you are passionate about. Arnold realizes that the world is full of ideas and things that you don’t know and that no matter how much you know, theres always more to learn.
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billionaire ted, pg 162.The Billionaire Ted, is a representation of the whites who treat Indians like art displays. As Arnold mentions, many white people come to the Indian Reservations and go on and on about how much they love indians. Arnold says, “It’s sickening. And boring” that so many whites come to the reservation praising the Indians but it’s bothersome because the whites are the very reason the Indians are so secluded and not true to their way of being. These type of people treat Indians as if they are something foreign and unhuman almost. I think this is what upsets Junior because he feels like these people are so superficial. Which he confirms is true, because as soon as he finds out the pow-wow outfit does not belong to Grandmother Spirit, he is shocked and drives off never to be seen again.
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