Arnold's Dreams

  Arnold dreams of making something out of himself.  He wants to become a professional artist, not ending up like everyone else on the reservation.  He is tired of being picked on and escapes in his drawings.  He draws to make Rowdy and himself happy and to give them other worlds to live in.  He doesn't view the power of dreams as being very strong.  His view is that because he is poor, he does not have as many opportunities as other people not on the reservation.
   Arnold also thinks that no one cares enough to pay attention to his dreams and that he won't be able to achieve his dreams without help from other people.  In my opinion he is is partly right.  People with more money have a better chance of achieving their dream. However, I also think that if you work hard enough and want it enough you will be able more likely to achieve you goals.  In response to "Dream Big" Arnold would probably ask what the point of dreaming big is if no one will listen, or if he has no way of achieving it.
   I think that our dreams do depend on other people, but not as much as they depend on ourselves.  We need other people to support and encourage us, but we need the perseverance and the willingness to see it through.  I think that we sometimes give up our own dreams because other people discourage them or we see them as unrealistic. If we think that we are unable to achieve something we don't want to set ourselves up for disappointment.  When other people see our dream as being "stupid" then we start to see them as being stupid too.

The American Teenager

The first thing that popped into my mind when I had to describe the American teenager was that we want to feel unique, special, and different from everyone else.  Even if it means tattoos, piercings, and wearing ridiculous items, that sometimes parents cringe at, to mark our "style" and individuality.  Some even dye their hair a ridiculous color, wear mismatched socks,  combat boots, and paint their nails black.  Why? Because we want to be original. We want to form an identity and be memorable.  Appearance is a big part of that, along with the people you spend time with and the music we listen to.