Reactions In this seminar one of the things I heard a lot was that when Arnold left the Reservation to Reardan seeking for a better education, is when he started feeling like a part-time indian. This was caused by two main things. One of them is that the Junior that we met in the reservation is not the same as the Arnold that we get to meet in Reardan. The identity crisis formed by being in two different environment all the the time is what led Arnold to feel like a part-time indian.
Detailed Response To Arnold, being a part-time Indian means having a split identity between the Rez and Reardan. On the reservation, Arnold sees himself as weak and doesn't value himself. On page 5, Arnold draws himself as looking clumsy, sweaty and ugly. This drawing is important because it tell us how he perceives himself and how he thinks everyone sees him. It is important that we understand the way he sees himself, because that affects a lot the way of thinking. A person with high self esteem will think differently from a person with low self esteem. Junior draws himself ugly because of his lack of self esteem. Also, in this drawing his technique is “stick boy” and that makes him look uglier, he doesn't draw himself as a “normal person”. When Arnold lives in the Rez and he perceives himself as weak he is not just acting in a different from, he is also using a different name, “Junior”. At Reardon, Arnold gets more confident. He starts valuing himself and he starts being more confident. On page 182 we can see a self-portrait of Arnold and instead of being a stick figure he drew himself realistic, and actually he looks a bit heroic. This drawing is important because we can see how Arnold is developing, and how he is building more self esteem and starts to appreciate himself more. Here we can see how he is not thinking anymore as Junior the weak kid from the Rez with impossible dreams, he starts thinking like Arnold a really good basketball player that can win and accomplish his dreams. In this drawing he doesn't portrait as a “stick boy” as he used to. He draw himself as a “normal person”. As we read the book we can see an important split of personalities between Arnold and Junior, we can also see how the character mature and evolve. Connections: I can relate with Arnold because sometimes I feel like a part-time spanish speaker. In México, I was used to speaking in spanish all the time, but when I got here I had to start communicating all my thoughts and feelings in my second language, English. For me this gets really confusing and I think that maybe the same happened to Arnold. Because at the end of the day when you're alone laying in your bed for me it gets really confusing. I don't know anymore in what language to think or dream; in spanish: my native language or english: my second language. Applying this to Arnold maybe at the end of the day when he was laying in his bed alone he didn't knew how to think or behave as Junior: from the reservation or as Arnold: from Reardan.
Reflection
In this project I really like getting to know all the archetypes that exist and how main characters can be more than one archetype, I think I am doing really good at engaging with projects and making a lot of effort. I could work on listening more to other people's ideas and opinions.