#6 What was Junior’s grandmother’s greatest gift? What has happened to Indians’ sense of tolerance? Why has that occurred? (Daniel K.)
Grandma's greatest gift was her tolerance. She could accept anybody and anything for who they are. Junior says that a long time ago people were valued for their eccentricity and weirdness. Gay people were considered more than straight people basically. Now, white people brought Christianity and made people scared of anything out of the ordinary. Indians could be more judgmental than any other white person, but Junior's grandmother has hung on to that old sense of tolerance. When Arnold went to Reardan she thought that it was a perfect idea because of all the new experiences that he would have. Everybody else thought that he was insane and was a traitor because he didn’t follow the same path as everybody else.
I agree, Arnold wishes that his fellow Indians on the rez would have more tolerance for him and be accepting of his high hopes. His grandmother is one of the very few people who accepted his decision to go to Rearden and he is very grateful and appreciative of it. Everyone on the rez treats Arnold like an outsider and that is a very hard thing to deal with. Tolerance is hard to come by on the rez because of all the poverty and lack of hope. Arnold’s Grandmother was one of the very few people who could overlook these obstacles and be welcoming to anyone and everyone.
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