On the Rez

The reservation, as Junior stated in the book, was made originally to kill Indians. They were death camps in disguise, similar to the "concentration camps" that Jews were put into during the Holocaust, to kill them. However, the reservation might not have killed them physically, but it did figuratively. It really killed their spirits. Doing some research, I found out that the reason Indians have a very bad record of alcoholism is because by being forced onto the reservation, they lose their land: they are treated like savages and slammed into poverty. They drink to escape their pain, to escape shame that has been given to them by Europeans. And drinking really does kill their hopes and dreams (In Part Time Indian, most of the fathers (or mothers) are alcoholics).

There aren't just alcoholics, there are abusive parents, and there are children of those abusive or alcoholic parents that can't go to college because they are too poor, and they become just like their parents. It's a vicious cycle that Indians cannot escape. Junior is a different case: he is trying to escape, trying to build a better future for himself by going to a good school, and he will work hard in his life to avoid the bad path his parents went down and go another way, and we applaud him for that, of course. He has been criticized by his fellow tribe members, when really, they should applaud him for his noble efforts: none of them realize that they have a future that has been robbed from them, which means that they will be forever reading from their parents' textbooks, forever going to powwows and getting drunk, because that's really all they can do. Junior will fly just like Penelope is.

Be the Judge and Jury of Bigger

The question this time is address whether Bigger really deserved to die.

My answer is yes, but of course I should support this with evidence:
Very good arguments for Bigger have been made, most of which I agree: yes, Bigger has been oppressed and pressed down by white people in a very messed up society. Yes, he has felt like he could not breathe, that he did not have options in his life because they have been taken away from him. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'll have to say that word a thousand times to justify that most of the things in Bigger life are unfair and unjust. But his actions, although influenced by the people in his life and the way the world was, are unjustifiable.

You could definitely say that what happened with Mary was a mistake: because it was! Although him touching her was not, he certainly did not mean to kill her. Because I do think that he killed her out of fear. However, chopping off her head and throwing it in the furnace was a serious stretch. People might ask, "But what else could he have done?" ANYTHING BUT CHOP OFF HER HEAD AND THROW IT IN THE FURNACE. Yes, these actions were also influenced by his fear, but they were so extreme that they border-lined on insanity.

People are naturally more interested in the fact that he "raped and killed" a white woman and Bessie sort of fades out of the picture, because Mary is white and Bessie is black. But really, Bessie's crime is the reason I feel that Bigger owes his life. The things that Bigger did to Mary are described as sexual assult and second degree murder, both of which he owes time in jail but not his life. However, with Bessie, he actually DID rape her, it is shown in the book, and he did kill her, very intentionally. Unlike with Mary, these actions could DEFINITELY have been avoided. He hit her several times in the head with a brick! I look to his second crime as what influences me to make the decision of the death penalty, and to his first as icing on the cake.

Principle to Keep

I do not consider myself a principled person. This goes along with the fact that although I consider myself opinionated, I do not have enough support in those opinions to keep them and have them never change. But with principles, I feel like the trivial ones I have don't mean much, and they can be bent in my mind while facing different scenarios. However, there are two that I have that I think will not be bent in any situation, and one of them is very important to me:

Do not make anyone feel significantly small for no reason. If I say something bad to someone, most of the times it is meant as either a joke, or retaliation for that person making me feel like less of a human being. For every action I go through, for every thing I say, there is always an ulterior motive. But in no situation would I be able to call someone a derogatory name, or somehow point out one of their flaws for just no reason at all. Even when I make fun of someone for a joke, or maybe as retaliation for that person "starting it first", I will lie in bed and stare at the ceiling and over think every word I've said, and feel this sickening feeling of guilt.

The reason for that is because many times in my life this has happened to me: people pointing out my flaws, calling me names, for no reason at all. Well of course there was a reason: to make me feel bad about myself, and just because they're bored with their own lives that they feel the need to disrupt mine. But would I do that willingly? Would I want a person to over-think their flaws as they lay and try to sleep? No, I wouldn't. I'm sure that there are definitely some people who don't care about other's opinions of themselves. Everyone says that they don't care, but it makes me feel weak, hearing insults about myself. Of course, I understand the fact that I do not like everybody and that nobody can be liked by everyone and that nobody likes everybody. This is not a principle that I could have everybody live by, not even the people that I really like. But regardless for myself, I do not want to make the people I care about feel weak. 

Janie

With Janie, the one thing I can say that I admire about her is her maturity. Did she really need the hardships she received from both Logan and Joe in order for her to get to a mature point? I think so. I observed this maturity in certain points of the book. After Joe died, she complained about how much she hated Nanny, what a horrible woman she was! Making her marry a person that she doesn't love. As she grows older, she realizes that Nanny was only trying to do the best for her. She didn't want Janie to end up like her and Leaky. I feel like had Nanny not made Janie marry Logan, she would've run off with Johnny from the peach tree, and who knows how that would've gone.

All Janie really wanted was love. I can't say that this is a good thing, because this desire of her for that love rushed her into the obvious bad decision, running away with Joe. Although she does make a good decision for love and herself by going with Tea Cake, it does make for a tragedy in the end. But really, who can blame her? As human beings, we naturally have a desire to seek affection and love. Janie is just human. She made decisions with her heart and what she believed would be the best for her, although it didn't really work out.

I also feel bad for Janie. How unlucky could you be? To have a relationship that wasn't even a relationship (Logan), rather than her being forced to work, then to be stuck in a store 30 years with her hair put up (Joe), and finally when she does meet that person who is the ONE, he gets sick and she's forced to kill him. To go through just one of these horrible scenarios would scar a person for life, and Janie was forced through all three of these! I believe the universe works in a system of karma, but I don't think karma was an issue with Janie, but I do think she is certainly very unlucky to have to go through all of these hardships in her life.