The reason Arnold cries in pages 216 and 217 is because he realized everyone on the rez is drunk and unhappy and that they will never leave and be anything bigger or better than what they are “I cried because so many of my fellow tribe members were slowly killing themselves and I wanted them to live. I wanted them to get strong and sober and get the hell off the rez”(Alexie 216). Arnold realizes he has been able to escape the depression and imprisonment of the rez, and he wants that for the Spokans, but he knows as a fourteen-year-old he can’t change the minds of broken and drunk Indians so he cries “I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance (Alexie 217).
I agree with you. Arnold realizes what he has become versus what everyone at the rez has, isn't even a close comparison. I think that it is very kind of Arnold because he cares about everyone and he wants everyone to get opportunities and he wants them to live "a good life". Arnold states "But I was crying for my tribe, too. 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" (Alexie 216).
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