“I don’t know if hope is white. But I know that hope for me is like some mythical creature” (Alexie 51) (Lena)

The significance of this quote is that Junior is someone who is constantly trying to hope, but has trouble because of his Native American heritage. He explains to the reader that although it’s easier for most white people to hope and to try, hope is not always “white”. For Native Americans on the rez, it’s so rare for people to actually try for things that are so common for white people, like college, that hope has become a “mythical creature” for him and other Native Americans. Junior’s constantly trying to prove that just because he’s poor and Native American, he can still do something, although he sees himself as too weak to do anything. “Man, I was freaked. I didn’t say another word for six days” he explains on page 61 after a white girl named Penelope comments on his accent. This shows how he feels like he can’t do much about anything, being both ‘too weak’ and not white.