815 Discussion discussion

Write a minimum of one paragraph for each question:

1.) Why would Mr. P want to “kill the Indian to save the child”?

2.) Think of the following quote: What does Arnold mean? Why might she prefer being “trapped”?
“My sister had become a humanoid underground dweller. There wasn’t much romance in that. Or maybe there was. Maybe my sister read romances all day. Maybe she was trapped in those romances.”

I think that Mr. P would want to "kill the Indian to save the child" because he thinks that being Indian is bad. I think that Mr. P thinks that Arnold won't amount to anything unless he leaves the reservation. He does call him a "bright and shining star" and says that he deserves the world and implies that he should go get it.

I think what Arnold means by Mary being "trapped" is that she gets so involved in her novels that she gets obsessed with these books and characters and thinks that she's living them; like she's in the book. We've all became "trapped" in a book before. For me, one of them was this book.

1) I think that Mr. P says he wants to "kill the Indian to save the child" for one main reason. I think that he doesn't like Native Americans, or he didn't used to like Native Americans because that saying means that if he killed a Native American, then he would save its future child, or the child the Native American might have, from being Native American later on. Mr. P is probably saying that he used to be racist against Native American's and I think he's talking to Arnold, and confessing about how much he used to hate Native Americans, because he wants to let Arnold know that he regrets being so horrible to the Native Americans. If I were Arnold, I wouldn't forgive Mr. P even if he apologized a billion times for hurting Native Americans. I would never feel the same about him again, because he was once cold and horrible to people that don't have the same skin color as him. I think Mr. P probably came back to the rez to teach, to show that he's changed and he wants to educate the same people he wanted to kill years ago.

2) I think that Mary Runs Away, Arnold's big sister, is "trapped" in her books. I think she's trapped in her books, because she's given up on her dreams of writing, so she just reads books all day so that she won't have to focus on the reality. Maybe she knows that when she reads books, she'll be caught up in a world of hope and dreams and love and inspiration. She might like being able to fantasize about that world better than she likes going out of the basement to see her tiny, poor reservation that reminds her that she thinks she will never get out of the rez. When she sees the rez, and all of it's lost dreams, she thinks that she can't ever become a writer like she dreams. If I were her, I would rather feel like I'm in a passionate, beautiful novel than on a tiny, poor, wasteland of a reservation.

I believe that Mr. P wanted to "kill the Indian to save the child" because he always thought that the culture of most Indians was wrong. He thought it was the right thing to go into the reservation and teach them how "white people think".

What Arnold means when he says his sister is "trapped" is he believes that she can do a lot better than staying around in his family's basement. He also feels like she might sit all day reading those novels so she might be trapped in them too.

I think that Mr.P wants to "kill the Indian to safe the child" means that in order for the children in the reservation to have opportunities, hope and dreams they have to make the Indians forget their ways and adapt to the world outside of the reservation in order to have a life outside of poverty. Mr.P wants to "kill the Indians to save the child" because he notices that everybody in the reservation has lost their hope and dreams because of their situation but he in order to save the future generation he needs to break the Indians habits and traditions in order to help the children get a future, instead of living in the reservation for their entire life.

I think that Arnold means that his sister prefers to be trapped in the basement because in a way its just her in there and no one can get in or out. Arnold could also mean that she has trapped herself in her dreams and won't get out because she knows that her dream cannot happen in real life. In a way people trap themselves because they know that if they come out they won't know what to expect or aren't expecting what they want.

I think that Mr. P wanted to "kill the indian to save the child" because he wanted to save Arnold. Arnold when Arnold threw his book at his teacher, Mr. P, that showed that he was not accepting the fact that he was using his mom's textbook. Mr. P turned all of the other Native Americans into bully but not Arnold.

I Think that Arnold means when he says that his sister is trapped is that she cuts her self out from everybody else and only works on her writing. Or maybe she is trapped in her writing and can't stop writing.

I think Mr.P wanted to "kill the indian to save the child" because he didn't like indians. After saying that, Mr.P told Arnold that he doesn't deserve that he deserves better, and that he should listen to what Mr.P is saying. That is why Mr.P regrets bullying other Native Americans, because he likes Arnold.

I think when Arnold says his sister is "trapped" means that she is trapped with who she really is because she gave up her writing. Also, she is in the basement a lot because she probably doesn't want to think about the reservation. She is also trapped because she is trapped when she was writing romance novels because she loved writing her stories that much.

I think when Mr. P says "Kill the Indian to save the child" means that the parents are bringing down the kids. If the Indians weren't there being such a bad influence on the children, the children can go above and beyond.
I think when Arnold says that his sister is "Trapped" i think it means that she is trapped into being nobody. Her parents are drunks. Nobody does anything. There all poor, and don't try. She's trapped inside being nothing. I truly think she scared to do something big.

I think when MR.P says "Kill the Indian to save the child," He means that all the other natives are mistreating Arnold, and by killing the other native's spirit, he could stop them from harming Arnold. Also, the fact that Arnold had the desire to learn from something new, showed that he was not like the other natives. It showed that he was "Killing the Indian..." and looking for something more educational and seeing something beyond the Indian reservation.
I think, when Arnold says that his sister is trapped, he means that his sister is enclosed in her daydreams of being successful. She is trapped in all her romance novels of how good life was for them, but for her she has nothing else to do. She has basically given up hope on her dream of becoming a writer. Plus with all the depressing things surrounding her, it makes her dreams, be just a meaningless dream. That in fact she doesn't have what it takes to be a writer, that its only in her novels.

I think that when Mr.P says "Kill the Indian to save the child" because he wants them to forget how they were brought up. He wants them to have hope, and since they say that being poor, and having these adults being achohalics, they think that they have no hope on having a good life. So hes sayinig that to Arondald so he could still have hope, so he could see what hes seeing. And he succeced.
What I think that what Aronald said when he said his sister was "trapped", hes trying to say that his sister was trapped with her dream. She "knew" that her sream wouldn't come true. I think if she just believed a little more, it would've came true.

I think when Mr. P said "Kill the Indian to save the child" because he wants the children to forget their culture and become one of them. He wanted the children to become like everybody else in the country. This reminds me when back in the 1800's the whites will sent the natives children to boarding school and teach them how to become more like them. They'll cut their long hair, give them shoes to put on, and taught them how to speak English. This is what I believed what Mr. P was trying to say to Arnold.

I think what Arnold was trying to say about her sister being "trapped", was that she rather write her stories because she wished that her stories came to life. She didn't liked the real world, she wants to become one of the characters in her story. A total different world, where she didn't live in the reservation, and get the same respect as other people outside the reservation. She probably, always stayed in the basement because she didn't want to look outside and see her real life. This is what I believed when Arnold said that her sister was "trapped"

When Mr. P said that he wanted to "Kill the indian to save the child" he didnt really mean he wanted to kill the Indians, he used it to say that the common indian life of being poor and isolated was not a good way for smart indian kids like Arnold and his sister to grow up. That is why Arnold's sister ran away from home after her writing dreams were crushed. Mr. P wanted to kill the indian lifestyle and get all of those unfocused talents into a better place where they can strive.

I think what Arnold means by "She would prefer to be trapped" means that she wanted to live the same lifestyle as all the other normal indians who have a lesser potential than she does, she doesnt want to think outside the box, and that to me makes me think that thats the reason why she gave up and became an "underground dweller"

I think that Mr.P said "kill the Indian to save the child" because he knew that he did something wrong. He hurt Indians because he believed that all Indians should be "white" instead. I think he really regretted doing it and he felt bad. He gave up on himself and he excepted Arnold not to do the same. He thinks that Arnold still has hope and he should leave the rez so he can keep the hope that he still has.

When Arnold said that his sister was "trapped" he meant that she wanted to live in a place where happy endings and romance existed. She knows that reality in the rez isn't exactly all butterflies and glitter. She rather be stuck in a book than to be walking down the streets of the rez. The basement reminds her of the world that she dreams of being in.

I think the reason why Mr.P said "Kill the Indian to save the child" is because he also said that Arnold had to leave the Rez because all your hopes die and all people do is give up and since the Rez is filled with Indians I think one of the main reasons why they give up their hopes is exactly that- they're Indians. I'm not saying this to be racist or anything but I say this because since they're not white they can't have a rich life filled with hope but instead they think their Indian and Indians can't do the same that whites can, they just lay there hopelessly just thinking that because they're not white they have no future. WELL THAT'S WRONG! It doesn't matter whatever you are you can persue the life you want and dreams and so the only thing holding themselves back is themselves! That is why Mr.P said you have to "kill the Indian to save the child", you have to stop (kill) the negativity of being an Indian/ thinking you have no future, inorder to save the child's future in their life ahead so they can live their dreams filled with hope.
I agree with what Alice said about Arnold's sister was "Trapped" because she doesn't want to be at the rez but instead she'd rather be living in her own fantasy and so she lives in the basement so she ould get herself as far away from the reality of the rez as she can and so she just "traps" herself into her own fantasy that she would want to live in.

I think when Mr. P said "Kill the Indian to save the child" he wants the Indian children to have a better life like the white people. I think that because all of the people in Arnold's life didn't go far because of their background. I think that is why Mr. P say that to Arnold.
“My sister had become a humanoid underground dweller. There wasn’t much romance in that. Or maybe there was. Maybe my sister read romances all day. Maybe she was trapped in those romances.” I think Arnold was surprised that his sister had hope of becoming something when she was younger but when she got older she lost the passion for it. I think his sister is trapped in a dream that she once wanted to become and now she is just stuck in the bottom of her parent's basement everyday because she never got to go farther with what she wanted to do.

1) I think what Mr. P means is that he has to kill the Indian culture and spirit to save the whites. Although Mr. P may act like he cares about the Indians and he wants to make sure they are treated properly but on the inside he really is a bitter old man who is racist and agrees that white people have superiority over Indians. Even though he told Arnold he had to leave the reservation because there was no hope on the reservation I believe that Mr. P told him that just to scare him off, to get rid of him. Maybe Mr. P is like all the other people who bully Arnold and he is just bullying him discretely.

2)
I think that Arnold refers to his sister like this because she is uncomfortable with herself and likes to conceal herself in her basement. And the second part of the quote means that maybe she isn’t uncomfortable with herself, and maybe she is uncomfortable with what she likes. So to resolve this problem she runs away to her basement so she can read her romance novels. I think that mybe Arnold is right and she is hiding something in the basement something she can’t afford to let people to see. She knows that if people found out it would destroy her macho-man reputation and people would undermine her.

I think that Mr. P would want to “kill the Indian to save the child” because he was referring to the fact that Indians mean less than other people. I think that Mr. P thinks this because if he could kill an Indian to save any other child, it would mean that Indians are less important than any other person, as said by Mr. P. Mr. P would want to do something like this because he recalls how he physically punished many Indian kids in his earlier life, due to his claim that all Indians should be “white”. Mr. P therefore felt very guilty and told Arnold that he is still young and has hope, unlike the rest of the reservation.

Arnold means that his sister lives in the basement (“my sister had become an underground dweller.”) and reads romance novels all day because that separates her fantasy and her reality. Arnold’s sister might prefer to be trapped in those romance novels because if her head is stuck in the book, I guess she can’t see anything else. What I mean by this is that Arnold’s sister had hopes and dreams of becoming a romance novel writer because it was her only way out of the reservation. But since she gave up on that dream for some reason, she decided to keep her head in the bowels of a romance novel so that she doesn’t have to pay attention to her sad reality.

I think what Mr.P meant to "kill the Indian to save the child" means that to have the native children learn, he has to have them forget their old ways. His mentality might be that for them to learn about American History or get somewhere in life, they had to like forget their heritage or customs. Kill their heritage but save them from getting no where just because they come from an Indian heritage. Mr.P probably meant by keep on achieving your talents. Don't shy away, be successful, do something with your life. Grasp it and do something with it before it becomes too late to put it to use.

I think that Arnold means that Mary Runs Away finds a comfort of staying in the basement. It is like her sanctuary,just her writing and reading her romance novels and stories. Somehow just by staying in the basement for so long and maybe almost never going outside is most likely why Arnold described his sister as a "humanoid underground dweller." Staying in the basement, it also seems that it is not a kind of a place to have inspiration for writing romance stories. I think that Mary Runs Away somehow doesn't want to make her writings to the reservation or to the public. Also, it seems that probably she thinks she lost her place in the world, like she doesn't have so much to share.

I feel Mr.P meant when he said “kill the Indian to save the child” to kill the Indian in side o the child. To kill the moccasins, long hair, language and beliefs to create the perfect “white child.” To give the child a white life and not the Indian life. He feels that if an Indian child becomes a white child it would be easier on them. He feels being Indian will restrain you from being the brilliant person you are and staying on the reservation will only lead to you giving up your life.
Basically Arnold means that she is basically living underground she is taking herself out of o society. Like falling off the face of the earth. She is hiding like a rat and will only come out when she is being fed, but other than that she will hide underground. Also when he say “Maybe she is trapped in those romances” he means maybe she is a living romance. Maybe her life, to her is the romance novels she reads. I feel living on the rez is not the greatest for pursuing dreams and reading the novels is all she has to look forward to.

I feel that Mr.P was told to "kill the Indian to save the child" in a manner of the stereotypical things that indians do. Things like their culture is what Mr. P means by "The indian". Not literally a human being of the Indian race.

Arnold means that perhaps she has put herself into her own world, that she wishes that she could put down on paper, but cannot, so she stays in the basement just thinking about the life she wishes she had, and thinks about the romances she wishes she could write.

I think that this first quote "Kill the Indian to save the child", Mr. P was referring to Arnold as both, the Indian and the child. He was trying to tell Arnold that if he wanted to live and become successful and be happy that he has to leave the reservation and “kill the Indian out of him” because then he can be happy and be a regular child and live and make money and accomplish things that he never would if he continues to live on the reservation. I think that Mr. P believes that Arnold can do great things off the reservation and that is only hope for being able to succeed in the things he can do is by leaving and “erasing some Indian out of him.” I think that Mr. thinks, that if he is Indian he won’t be able to achieve in the things he wants to do in life, which can make it seem like Mr. P is being racist, and I think that by him saying that, makes him a little racist.

I think that by Arnold saying that his sister is “trapped” he means that she really cannot succeed by being on the reservation because people really don’t give Indians a chance, so he is saying that if she wants a chance to be able to write good books for the public, she might not be able to do it on the reservation. I think that by saying this, Arnold is referring to is parents and how they could have achieved something in life if they were not stuck on the reservation. I think that Arnold thinks that if he wants to “get somewhere in life” he cannot do it by being on the reservation.

I think Mr.P is is saying that saving the child would be to remove him from his bad culture.All the adults in his reservation are alcoholics and didn't do anything with their life. Mr.P was trying to remove Arnold's "Indian"
to save Arnold from the same fate his family and people on his reservation suffered.

I think Arnold is trying to explain how his sister is "trapped" because she has a talent and the skills to succeed but got sucked into the bad ways of the "Indian".

1.) Why would Mr. P want to “kill the Indian to save the child”?

When Mr. P says that, he means that the teachers were trying to end Indian culture, not really kill people. The white teachers thought that the Indian culture was not important and productive. He used to think that Indians would be more productive if they got rid of their songs, stories, language, and dances. Stopping the Indian culture is what “killing the Indian” means. “Saving the child” means not giving up making their dreams come true. But Mr. P changed a little. Now, he thinks that the only way to have hope is to get away from sadness. Getting away from sadness means leaving the reservation.

2.) Think of the following quote: What does Arnold mean? Why might she prefer being “trapped”?
“My sister had become a humanoid underground dweller. There wasn’t much romance in that. Or maybe there was. Maybe my sister read romances all day. Maybe she was trapped in those romances.”

So far, in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Alex has talked about Indians who used to have great dreams about their future but gave them up. His mom wanted to go to college but didn’t. His dad could have been a professional saxophone player or singer but wasn’t. When Alex has to go to talk to his teacher, Mr. P, Alex learns from Mr. P that his sister wanted to be a romance writer. He also learns that his sister wrote short romance stories and had romance books that she hid. But his sister Mary doesn’t write stories anymore. She gave up. She wanted to go to college but didn’t. His sister has given up her dreams. Instead of doing something creative or making her dreams come true, she is just escaping into her reading world which could make her feel better while she is reading. So she reads all day in the basement. But a trap is something that keeps you from escaping. So, she does nothing but read her romance stories all day, but it keeps her from having her real life and escaping her poverty and sadness.

I WAS ABSENT FIRST PERIOD DOING THE TOUR JUST A REMINDER

Mr.P wants to "kill the Indian to safe the child" means that for the Native children on the rez. to have opportunities, hopes, desires, dreams they have to make the Indians forget their customes and adapt to the world outside of the rez. in order to have a life that does not involve poverty. Mr.P wants to "kill the Indians to save the child" because he notices that everybody on the rez. has lost their hopes, desires and dreams because they lived on the rez. Their whole life,so in order to save the future generation Mr. P believes he should break the Indians traditions instead of living in the reservation for their entire life. Mr P. is trying to be a good person and repent from his sins.

I think that by Arnold saying that his sister is “trapped” he means that she really cannot succeed or do much by living on the reservation (just like Mr. P said) because everybody on the rez. has lost their hopes, desires and dreams because they lived on the rez. Their whole life. Mr. P basically says that if she wants to be able to write romantic books, she she CAN NOT do it on the reservation. Mr. P says that the rez. is holding her back from her great potentials. I think that Arnold believes that if he wants to get anywhere in life, he can't do ANYTHING by staying on the reservation. I hope Arnold leaves the rez. because if he does then he has a really good chance to do something amazing with his life, and not just be another poor native living on a poor rez. regreting that he did not leave the rez.

I think Mr. P meant to get rid of the insecurity, and get rid of the unfaithfulness inside of some of some of the kids. Most Indian kids feel like they've lost hope and feel insecure because other people pick on them and act racist towards them. I think Mr. P meant to show them that you're no different from them, and get rid of the feeling that you're a loser and a quitter because you're indian. Thats what I think he meant by that quote.

I think Arnold's sister feels alone, hopeless and sad inside. I think romance novels and writing her own romance stories allow her to have a world where she doesn't feel hopeless and alone. She has a love in her life, or she's creating love for other people. It takes her mind off the reality of her life and traps her in this fantasy world where there's romance everywhere and love surrounding her. When really she's just in a basement.

Mr P. might want to kill the Indian to save the child because the people of the east thought that their ways were barbaric. We are learning about this in social studies. They don't think that it is "civilized" the way they sing learn and dance. Mr.P was taught to make them act more "white." He would beat the Indians to teach them, make them act more civilized. A lot of people were achoholics and GAVE UP HOPE. Mr.P was trying to avert the Indians from being so hoplesness. He thinks that white people can change Indians from their barbaric ways.

I think that Arnold means that Mary is deeper than Arnold knew about. At first that he thought that Mary was an ant-social underground dweller, but after Mr.P told Arnold that Mary liked to make little romance novels, Arnolds perspective of Mary change significanyly, and i think that Arnold started to think of who Mary might actually be something more than Arnold knew her as. I think that Arnold really respects her sister more now because there is not much to respect of your sister if she stays in the basement all day long.