Junior tells the reader that he feels alone, mainly because Rowdy, his childhood best friend, isn’t there for him. At home on the reservation, Rowdy had always been the person to stand up and protect Junior from the other Indians. For example, when the Andruss brothers had teased and beat up Junior, Rowdy took revenge on them by cutting off one of their most prized possessions, their hair. Junior’s feelings are reinforced in science class when he states a fact arguing against the teacher’s lesson, making Mr. Dodge furious; but when another classmate, Gordy, agrees with him, the teacher is irritated that Junior was correct and then goes on by giving the credit to Gordy. Junior felt even more alone after class. “Thanks for sticking up for me back there. For telling Dodge the truth.” “I didn’t do it for you,” Gordy said. “I did it for science.” (Alexie 87). While Junior thought originally that finally someone stood up for him just like Rowdy would, Gordy simply denies that it was for him and only tries to stay as far apart from the new poor Indian kid as possible, just like the other kids at Rearden. Junior feels alone because he needs someone that can support him just like Rowdy did back on the reservation, but can’t seem to connect with anyone, even though he is trying to make friends like Gordy.
I agree that Junior feels alone because Rowdy deserted him. Along with the fact that Junior lost his best friend, I also think that he feels lonely because he is degraded as a human being. Junior explains "once I arrived at Reardan, became something less than less than less than Indian" (Alexie 83).
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