Monday, March 10, 2014

Response to Shadow of Nation- Smith

 I feel like Smith is telling us the premise in the beginning of the piece and then centers it around Jonathan Takes Enemy. I guess the real significance of this character is that he made a decision to start his life with what he wanted to do: going to college to study and play basketball. I was confused by Smith’s tone in the beginning because it sounds like he is describing player after player that had athletic talent and wasted it on booze. This definitely sets up the contrasts between Takes Enemy and these other players but I also think Smith is partly making light of probably troubled teenagers’ deaths. In parts, I found myself asking what is so special about Takes Enemy? But, I think the best way to answer that is to realize that he comes from an Indian descent and that he lives in America where whites are the majority. I felt that Smith wanted to feel like Takes Enemy felt like he didn’t have a place between the two. He was trying to find something within himself and I guess Smith was trying to show that in the end, I just don’t know whether I believe it or not. I felt like he was trying to put a bow on a depressing story.

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