The Sniff

At the end of this chapter, Arnold walks into school and sees "Penelope the Beautiful." Before he knew it, his heart began beating a thousand miles per minute and he was walking up to Penelope. Then, when Arnold said "Hello," Penelope merely responded with a sniff and asked "Do I know you? (Alexie, pg 73)" Earlier in the novel, Penelope and Arnold had a brief meeting a few chapters back, so it wasn't like she really didn't know him. Because she responded this way, I can only believe that she thinks herself to be better than Arnold. Penelope thinks that, because she's white and considered popular at the school, she is better than Arnold since he's "just an Indian boy."

Furthermore, after he responds by saying "I'm Junior, I mean I'm Arnold (Alexie, pg 73)" Penelope says "Oh, that's right, you're the boy who can't figure out his own name (Alexie, pg 73)" Then, her friends behind her giggled. By the way she said that, it seemed as if, again, she believed that she was better than him. It was as if she was so much more, and he was just that ordinary Indian kid who couldn't remember his own name. Though she knew he had a nickname and a real name, she acted as if he had a problem with himself, making him feel horrible.

All of Penelope's rude remarks to Arnold made him feel, not only horrible, but ordinary. And, that's the last thing that Arnold should feel because then it goes against the whole reason he went to Reardan. He wanted a chance. He wanted to fit in and get a better education. But, he won't be able to fit in if people continue to discriminate against him. These incidents with Penelope hurting his feelings could make him believe that coming to a white school was a bad idea, and it could make him change his mind about the type of person he is. Is he really just an ordinary Indian boy? Now, as we know, Arnold is not the type of person to give up easily, however, discrimination can be very hurtful and difficult to deal with.

In conclusion, I believe that Penelope was quite rude to Arnold in making him feel helpless, and Arnold could have different thoughts about white schools and white people based on this experience.

--Sophia