On page 211, Rowdy tells Arnold that Arnold killed Mary. In the middle of Mary's funeral, Junior runs off into the woods and bumps into a crying Rowdy. He had been lurking in the woods watching the funeral when Arnold bumped into him. As soon as Arnold sees him crying, and mentions it, he starts to laugh, which triggers Rowdy's emotions. He protests furiously as Arnold touches his shoulder and tries to punch Junior but misses. In the heat of all this, because Rowdy is so angry, he claims that Junior killed his sister. He accuses him of this because of his transferring to Reardan. Because Rowdy was so angry at Junior for leaving, he pinned Mary's death on him. And the reason of the death you ask; because he went to Rearden. There is really no truth to what he said, although Junior believed it, because it isn't true. It was not his decision for Mary to leave, although Rowdy claims his transferring to Reardan was the cause. It was not his fault she got married, became drunk, and threw a party which led to a fire, even though Rowdy accused him of it. With all of the new gaps in his life, he appointed the blame to himself to make himself feel better. The viewers and him take the news differently.
I agree, there is not truth to Rowdy's accusation. Junior influenced some factors that had to happen for Mary to die, but there are millions of other scenarios that could have happened. There is some truth to the idea that Junior was the partial cause of her move, "But she only got married so fast and left the rez because I had left the rez first,"(Alexie 211). The move didn't mean any of the things directly related to her death had to happen. She didn't have to have the party, which led to the stove staying on, or get drunk and no one controls wind. All the things that actually caused Mary to die had nothing to do with Junior.
ReplyDeleteI partially disagree, there is some truth in Rowdy's accusation. Junior was the younger brother of his late sister Mary, and took the lead on not being a failure. Junior did this by leaving the rez. His sister noticed that Junior did this and it worked, he was no longer failing. She felt that she would try the same thing and go off to Montana. The difference between Junior and his sister is that he didn't drink and his sister did. Junior's father said, "She was way to drunk" (Father 205). Junior's sister died partially because she moved of the rez, but really she died because of a major problem with alcohol. As Junior contrasts Indians with booze, " I was crying because I knew five or ten or fifteen more Spokanes would die during the next year, and that most of them would die because of booze" (Junior 216). The statement that Rowdy makes is partially true, but the main reason his sister died and many others are killed is because of alcohol, and that is not Junior's fault.
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