Reading Response

               In the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a part time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a bout a boy named Arnold, who lives with a poor family in a reservation. Arnold was born with many medical conditions which cause him to have an over sized head, and because of that, he gets bullied even more. He goes to a school named Reardan in the reservation. But one day, his teacher told him that going to Wellinpit, a small school full of white people      (he was Indian) that was 22 miles away from where he lived, would help him and that he would have a bright future if he goes there. Arnold decides to go there, but the entire rez turned against him, even his best friend Rowdy. The rez thought he was being a traitor because nobody else from the rez went to college. I think Arnold overcame transferring to Wellinpit by Meeting Penelope, Roger, and Gordy, beating Reardan in basketball, and talking to his grandma.
              One reason Arnold got over transferring to Reardan was by meeting Penelope, Roger, And Gordy, they became very good friends with Arnold, one way Roger helped Arnold was in the dance when Arnold only had five dollars. " 'but the thing is, My stomach is messed up because I er, forgot my wallet at home, I  forgot my money man.; 'Dude!' Roger said, 'Man don't sweat it, you should have said something earlier. I got you covered' He opened his wallet and handed me forty bucks'" I think that this shows that Roger is there for him, he just wants Arnold to have a good time. One way Penelope helped Arnold was when she found out he was poor "I figured she was going to march right out of my life right then, but she didn't. Instead she kissed me. On the cheek." This shows that Penelope doesn't care about how poor or rich Arnold is, and she excepts him for who he is, the normal pretty girls in his school would go "ew" and walk off if they found out their boyfriend is poor, but I think that what Penelope did was unbiased and in a way brave that she was going out with a really nice poor kid rather then some mean jock. And lastly, I think Gordy helped Arnold because, one day, Arnold answered a question and the teacher thought it was wrong, but Gordy proved it right. " 'Gordy' Doge said All happy and relieved and stuff, ' I'm sure you can tell us the truth' ' Uh, actually' Gordy said 'Arnold is right about petrified wood. That's what happened'" that shows that Gordy would actually tell the truth even after seeing his teacher so mad, he defended Arnold.
                 Another way Arnold overcame transferring to Wellinpit was by beating Reardan in basketball. Arnold blocked Rowdy when he was going for a layup and he hit a three in Rowdy's face " And then I took my three pointer and buried it. Just swished that sucker. AND THE GYM EXPLODED! this play ended up being the game winner, Willinpit won by 40, it gave them the momentum to win. I think this is important, because the last game against Reardan, it was on Reardan's court and people threw rocks at him, I think this paly was just a "HA! IN YOUR FACE!" Arnold basically said, I play for Reardan now, I play for a white school, deal with it. This also highlighted how he's fitting in with these new people, he doesn't care, he has these people, why need more people, in the rez, his only friend that cared about him was Rowdy nobody else, but here, he has many friends his team all care for him, even the crowd loved him after that play, people are excepting him more as an insider than outsider.
                  And lastly Arnold overcame transferring to Wellinpit by talking to his grandma. Over his entire life, Arnold's Grandma was one of his favorite people, he could talk to her about whatever and she would give him great advice. After Arnold punched Roger in the face, he thought that he would get revenge, but his grandma told him he respects him, and in the end that's what happens. IN the theme of coming of age, you always need someone to talk to about your problems, Arnold has his grandma, I have my brother, having someone to talk to is really good, it lets you release your feelings, and you feel good after that.
                  In conclusion, I can relate to Arnold, at one point in my life, I had problems fitting in,  I didn't get bullied. I think that Arnold should go to Wellinpit, he has such talent and it could lead him to a very good career, Arnold overcame transferring and it helped him, going ot a school where you can be successful

writing prompt number 2

How does your environment have to do with coming of age?
(This is a little short story)

Jake was very excited to start his first day at school, he couldn't wait to meet all new friends, he walked to the schoolyard and found K-101 imprinted on the floor and lined up with his class, he was amazed by all the different people there. A women, named Ms.Smith, guided the students to a classroom. Jake was amazed by the classroom, it had an entire section for, painting, blocks, and dressing up. His teacher let everyone introduce themselves to each other. Jake came across a girl that was very pretty, as soon as he was about to talk to her, A boy named Ralph came in and said
        "Hey, I'm ralph, I have every single action figure of the superheroes."
This got Jake angry, he was about to introduce himself to the pretty girl, Betty, and Ralph just took it away.
        " Oh yeah!" Jake said " I have 200 action figures in counting!" Jake didn't actually have 200 action figures, he just wanted ot make himself look good. Now ralph got mad, " Okay, we will have a action figure battle tommorow"