"You Killed Her."

John
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part–Time Indian
5.26.13

Arnold had to leave the reservation in order to regain hope, in order to add excitement to his life. He ended up heading to the white school, Reardan, and he has enjoyed his time there. His sister, Mary, noticed his courage and bravery to break free from the Indian's typical path of life, and admired his choice to do so. Arnold believes that that was the reason his sister decided to run off and get married in the first place. He believed that Mary looked at him as a role model and decided to modify her life as well. It was claimed that if Junior never went to the Reardan school and showed those signs of bravery, Mary never would have fled to Montana and died. However, there is no proof that Mary wouldn't have died anyway without going to Montana.

The accusation has truth to it. Rowdy, who was the first one to blame Arnold for this, has a point. The chain of events in Mary's life was modified by her brother, leading to her death. However, It is not known if that would have changed even if Arnold didn't go to Reardan. It is possible that she could have gotten drunk at the reservation and accidentally died some other way. Or, some other event could have happened that would lead her to Montana anyway, even without the help of Arnold. Though what Rowdy said had some truth to it, I think that it is unfair for Junior to put all the blame on himself. There is nothing that says that she wouldn't have died any other way without moving away. Everyone has a time in which they will die. It is possible that no matter where Mary was or what she was doing, that she would have died anyway.