I also feel that Junior, while in a very different situation, is also going through what a lot of high schoolers go through. When junior talks about how, when he first started at Reardan, the people on the reservation hated him and the people at Reardan hated him. This is similar to kids that for some reason or another do not feel like they fit in at their own high school. This applies to the cool kids and the not so cool kids. For example, Penelope is loved by almost everyone in the school however she still does not feel that completely fits in. This manifests itself as an eating disorder. In real life many students do not feel accepted in high school nor do they feel accepted at home. This could be due to teen hormones but the feels are still very similar to Juniors.
Thus, I feel Junior is a very realistic character by the way he acts and voices his problems and by the experiences he has gone through.
I agree completely with how the humor in the book allowed the character of Junior to be more relatable. His sarcasm as you mention was not witty but it was still sarcasm and maybe it was better that his sarcasm wasn't above others because he wouldn't have appeared relatable to a larger crowd. Only those who were well versed in witty sarcasm would have found him relatable and after observing in elementary, middle schools and high schools the un-witty sarcasm that I hear gets the most laughs. I do think that Junior is a very realistic character for me he appeared to be the more of an observer than a doer at the beginning of the book and he was finally able to come out of his shell throughout the book. I feel that being able to be yourself is one of the most difficult challenges of adolescence and Sherman Alexie was definitely able to put into words the embarrassment, discrimination and realization of that scenario to write a terrific book.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that humor was an important part of Sherman Alexie's novel. Without that, between Junior's physical problems and the fact that he was an impoverished minority the story would have been depressing. It was the sarcastic wit together with the great illustrations that kept the book relatable. I think alot of us can relate to Junior, even if we didn't share a similar background. By the time we hit college, we've passed through the universal trials of adolescence, and most of us will never forget a traumatic experience or two. I too liked the fact that the prettiest and most popular girl in the school had some of the biggest problems. I think I was left with the fact that things aren't what they seem on the surface. As it turns out, Junior's home for all of its dysfunction turned out to be a solid loving one.
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