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Being born as a Native Indian is being born into an oppressed group in society. The stories that Junior tells himself almost are always based on the fact that he is a Native Reservation Indian. The stories that his family have told themselves affected Junior as well, what his parents believed in played a role in Junior's own story. When he talked about his parents failing to chase their dreams and that this is all that the future has in store for Reservation Indians like him, he has internalized that fact that because he is born into an oppressed group in society, he has no chance against the odds. Constantly in the beginning of the story, he tells himself that because he is born into this nationality, he deserves all the bad things that happen to him.

Originally, others at Reardan saw Junior as a savage, a monster, non-human. The story that they told about him was negative and were heavily based on stereotypes, but then Junior proved them wrong but upon being accepted by those at Reardan, he soon was cast out from the Reservation by other Indians including Rowdy, who was his long time childhood friend. Now the story that others internalized about him was that he was a "white-lover" because he has made friends with those of a different ethnicity.   He had a moment in his life where he was questioning his identity due to the fact that the stories that others told him were contradictory. Where the Indians back on the reservation told him that he was a traitor while those at Reardan saw him as a hero. Conflicting stories in your environment affects the internal story that you tell yourself. You could see the internal conflict he was having as one of his drawings showed a side by side comparison between how Junior is treated by those in Reardan and those in the Reservation. Junior even showed his thoughts explicitly, he asks himself who is he?

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The story that Junior tells himself after his Grandmother's death

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The story that Junior tells himself after his Grandmother's death

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The story that Junior tells himself after his sister's death

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The story that Junior tells himself after his sister's death

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How our resilience, wounds, tramas of the past and present define us

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How our resilience, wounds, tramas of the past and present define us

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Junior has experienced more deaths in a single year than most of us experience in a lifetime. From losing his grandmother and sister to his pet dog who he found to be close to him than any human. Despite losing many people who he holds dear to him, Junior remains resilient and is thankful for what he has rather than holding onto who left him. For example, when his father comes to Junior’s school to pick him up after the death of his sister, he is thankful that his father shows up and ends up laughing all the way from his school to his home because the rest of his family is still alive. He coped with his sister’s death better than anyone else in the reservation had with a death. Junior did nothing that harmed others to numb the pain; he didn't drink nor gamble as most people on the reservation do. This is close to Nietzsche's idea of a Superman or Übermensch where the person that is facing an emotionally challenging and they do not attempt to numb the pain.

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How our environment and others define us

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How our environment and others define us

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Junior was born into a family suffering from poverty. He sometimes wouldn't have food on his plate and would go to bed hungry but he told himself that he deserves this because he's a Reservation Indian. This is not something he can control, his family was never given a chance to chase their dreams and be able to make a proper living and yet, Junior still tells himself that this is who he is; a Reservation Indian who lives in poverty. He mentions it several times showing that he is aware of his situation and he accepts that that is who he is. However, by the time he goes to Reardan, his environment changes, he is surrounded by people who have much more money than he does. He suddenly is very shy about that fact that he is living in poverty because he realizes that his friends here don't have the same lifestyle as he does. He becomes afraid of his friends finding out this about him so he goes on keeping it a secret. He's afraid that if he tells his friends that he lives in poverty, he will be looked down upon and pitied, which he does not want. However, when his friends do find out, they do pity him but never look down on him. They help him and they find that Junior is brave a resilient, knowing that even though he lives a tough life at home, he still comes to school everyday and brings his best. Suddenly, they have another story about him, about how strong and positive he is, even when living with such a rough lifestyle. Junior's story does change as well, he views the fact that living in poverty with tremendous love and support from his parents is better than living with money and no love and attention from his family. He sees how even though his parents don't have money to give him, they give him something more valuable, their love.
Upon going to Reardan, he thought of himself as the dumbest person in the school. Not because of how he performed in class but rather how the teachers treated him, what stories the teachers didn't tell him. The teachers found him unworthy of their time. Whenever they ignored him, the absence of the story that they acknowledge what he said is a story itself. The story Junior told himself was that "the teachers were treating [him] like an idiot" (Pg. 88). Even if he did know more about a subject than the teachers themselves, Junior didn't see it that way because he was constantly being told that he was dumb.
Ever since the beginning of the book, Junior mentions quite a lot of people in his reservation drinking and gambling, even those of his age. However, Junior himself doesn’t do any of those things that a Reservation Indian would stereo typically do. He is fighting this construct from the beginning and he may have internalized this stereotype about other Indians but he doesn’t want this to apply to him. He ignores the story that others tell about him for the better, making sure it does not jeopardize his health.

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How our genes (or nature), the stories we tell ourselves, and environment define us

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How our genes (or nature), the stories we tell ourselves, and environment define us

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Junior was born with a stutter, a lisp, with hydrocephalus, and 10 extra teeth in his mouth. He's always been constantly picked on since he was little for looking rather peculiar and different from others. When he describes the fact that he has 10 extra teeth, he says he has "ten teeth past human" (pg. 2). He's internalized this story about himself that he is born with so many defects that he's no longer human. Not only is he born into a nationality that is constantly facing oppression, but he is also born with physical defects. He is labeled as part of a minority group in a minority group. However, he learned to rise above these labels and understand that he is not defined by his handicaps.

In the beginning, the pictures that he drew of himself were very self-deprecating and didn’t seem realistic, such as the picture below. You could see him exaggerating his flaws such as his crooked teeth and large feet. Those flaws made him feel inhuman and the story that he told himself is that this is what he looks like to others. Later on, as the book progresses, the drawings become more realistic and we see how his view on himself changes for the better. He starts to realize and understand that he is more than a social construct. Junior began to draw things more realistic; his head a normal size, his feet a normal size, like his profile picture above (it may be a bit awkward but is less self-deprecating then the one below). This goes to show that even if Junior does not explicitly say so, the story that he tells himself changes for the better.

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Inside Outside On Arnold (Junior) Spirit

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Inside Outside On Arnold (Junior) Spirit

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By: Natalie 8H