What tribe is junior from
William Taylor
Updated on March 28, 2026
(Junior) A young cartoonist and the narrator/protagonist of the novel. Junior is a 14-year-old Spokane Indian who decides to go to the mostly white high school in nearby Reardan, Washington in order to have better opportunities in life. His cartoons help him to make sense of his experiences on and off the reservation.
What Rez is junior from?
Junior lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. He was born with water on the brain and wasn’t expected to live past early childhood. Junior is short and skinny, he stutters and he talks with a lisp. He’s also very bright, all of which makes him a target for bullies.
How did Junior's dad and mom first meet?
Summary: Reindeer Games. Junior’s dad tells Junior how he met Junior’s mom. Junior’s mom is eight years older than Junior’s dad, and, when they were children, she lifted Junior’s dad up to get a drink from a drinking fountain. … Then Coach has the kids play full-court one-on-one.
Why is Junior a part-time Indian?
Junior calls himself a part-time Indian because he does not feel fully white or fully Indian. He is rejected by people on the reservation for his choice to go to the all-white school, and he is rejected by his white classmates at school because of his Indigenous identity.Why is Junior blamed for leaving his tribe?
Why is Junior deemed to have betrayed his tribe? Because he couldn’t just betray his tribe and then change his mind, it was like a one-way bridge.
What makes Junior mothers cry?
At home, Junior’s mother is crying. … Junior’s mother says he was actually kind of ugly. Junior tells us that the Montana Indians are so tough that the white people are afraid of them. Junior feels a little inspired because he realizes his sister hasn’t given up; she’s actually following her dream.
What is Junior's personality?
Still, for the most part, Junior is sincere, compassionate, resilient, and persistent. When he recognizes them, he is honest about his faults with himself and readers. Throughout the novel, Junior struggles with a sense of double-consciousness or internal contradiction.
What happened to Junior's sister after high school?
Mary Spirit (Junior’s Sister) For Junior, Mr. P’s revelation comes as a shock because Mary has spent the years since graduating from high school sleeping the day away in the family basement. Mary wanted to be a romance novelist—another fact Junior learns from Mr. P—but she does little to work toward that goal.What is the relationship between junior and rowdy?
Rowdy, at least according to Junior, is Junior’s best friend. But Rowdy seldom expresses his emotions in words, and, whenever Junior tries to tell Rowdy how much he means to him, Rowdy usually responds with a homophobic slur.
What happened between junior and Roger?One day at lunchtime, one of the jocks, Roger, tells Arnold a horrible racist joke (8.119). Junior is, of course, infuriated. Since he has been insulted, and since he lives by the “Indian Rules of Fisticuffs,” Junior punches Roger dead in the face. Roger is so shocked he can only stare at Junior.
Article first time published onWhat happens to Junior's grandmother?
Then Junior talks more about his Grandmother. Junior says her greatest gift is tolerance. … But, Junior continues, his grandmother was just struck and killed by a drunk driver on her way home from a powwow. Her last words were “Forgive him.” Junior concludes that she meant the man who hit her.
Who is the toughest kid on the rez?
Rowdy is the toughest kid on the rez and all the other kids are afraid of him, but he always protects Junior from bullies (or beats them up in return as revenge). In turn, Junior supports Rowdy as he deals with his abusive, alcoholic father.
How does junior and Gordy become friends?
Gordy is the smartest kid at Reardan. Junior decides to make friends with Gordy after Gordy defends one of Junior’s answers in class against an (incorrect) teacher. Gordy is intellectually gifted but, sometimes, socially tactless.
Why did billionaire Ted come to the funeral?
A white billionaire who is “famous for being filthy rich and really weird.” Claiming to love Indian culture and “feel Indian in his bones,” he shows up at Junior’s grandmother’s funeral to return a powwow dance outfit that he believes once belonged to Grandmother Spirit—at which point Junior’s mom explains that her …
Why does junior believe his family is being punished?
Why does Junior believe his family is being punished? He thinks that his family is cursed because he left the rez. He leads Reardan in their rematch against Wellpinit. … Reardan players do not have life-threatening problems like the players at Wellpinit.
How many people come to Grandma's Wake?
A few important events happen at Junior’s grandmother’s wake. First, her wake is a testament to how beloved she was, as almost 2,000 Indians attend, so many that they had to move the wake from the tribal longhouse to the football field to accommodate everyone.
Why does junior like to draw?
This is why Junior belongs to the “Black-Eye-of-the-Month Club.” Junior’s favorite thing is to draw cartoons of himself, his friends, and his family. He draws because he thinks it might give him a chance to become rich and famous, and he wants to be rich and famous so he can leave the rez one day.
How does JR feel about himself?
At the beginning of the novel, Junior doesn’t see himself in much of a positive light at all. He sees himself as a kid with brain issues. He sees himself as brown, not white, and therefore hopeless.
What does rowdy mean when he calls Junior nomadic?
Absolutely True Basketball Diaries Rowdy tells Arnold that he’s been reading a book about “old-time Indians, about how we used to be nomadic.” Rowdy continues: “So I looked up nomadic in the dictionary, and it means people who move around, who keep moving, in search of food and water and grazing land.”
Why does junior compare Penelope to his father?
Why does Junior compare Penelope to his father? When she says “Im only bulimic when I’m throwing up.” It reminds him of his dad when he says “Im only an alcoholic when I get drunk.” They are both addicts with different releases. the most perfect girl in the world.
How many funerals has Junior been to?
Junior says that at the age of fourteen he has already been to forty-two funerals. The white kids he knows can count the funerals they’ve been to on one hand.
Where did Junior's sister run away to?
Inspired by Arnold, Mary decides to leave her home in Wellpinit and run away to Montana to marry a Flathead Indian. Unlike Junior, though, she doesn’t completely leave the reservation.
Does Junior have any true friends?
At the very beginning of the novel, Rowdy is the best and only friend of Junior.
How old are the andruss brothers?
Choosing flight over fight, Junior runs away—straight into the camp of a set of very cruel triplets named the Andruss brothers. The three men (who are 30, by the way) start making fun of Junior and shoving him around and eventually knee him “in the balls” (3.96).
Why does junior say his sister is called Mary runs away?
Junior’s older sister, nicknamed “Mary Runs Away” because of her unpredictability.
What is the weirdest thing about Mr P?
What is the weirdest thing about Mr. P? He forgets to come to school. How does Arnold describe Mr.
What is Junior's grandmother's advice?
Summary: Grandmother Gives Me Some Advice She says it must mean that Roger respects him. The next day, Junior has to walk to school because the car doesn’t have enough gas to get to Reardan.
How does Mary feel about living in Montana quizlet?
How does Mary Runs Away like life in Montana? She is very happy.
What does Junior's father do every Christmas?
Christmas comes and Junior’s Dad takes what little money the family has and runs off to get drunk. He comes back on January 2nd with a big ol’ hangover. He apologizes to Junior, who is pretty heartbroken about the whole thing. His dad, though, does pull a crumpled five-dollar bill from his boot and gives it to Junior.
How does Mr Doge reply and how does this make junior feel?
Rowdy is Junior’s secret keeper – his best friend – losing his friendship is a giant loss. How does Mr. Dodge reply and how does this make junior feel? … She uses him to make her father angry.
How does Roger the giant help junior?
A star basketball and football player and a popular senior at Reardan High School. … After that, Roger, who is also friends with Penelope, respects Junior and they eventually become friendly, with Roger lending Junior money, driving him home, and reaching out to him as he tries out for the school basketball team.