In the following quote, a similarity is drawn between how the government treats Native Americans and how gymnasts were treated. “Cathy the gymnast complained about the government, how they screwed the 1980 Olympic team by boycotting.
Sounds like you all got a lot in common with Indians.” Thomas said. Nobody laughed.” Page 108, from “This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona. Like the gymnasts, Thomas and Victor can relate to the gymnast in that aspect because they as Native Americans were also screwed over by the government. In The Trials of Thomas the Builder, Thomas is treated unjustly. It seems as if the government did not actually have any desire to listen to what Thomas had to say, and instead just wanted a confession of his crimes in order to punish him, despite what he had to say being important.
In the first story, no one seems to want to or even tries to listen to Thomas’s stories. He is ignored and looked down upon. However in the second story, people are actually listening to his stories and it is moving them. He is no longer going unheard.
I agree, the government already declared Thomas guilty and wanted to quickly put him in prison without listening to his side of the story.
Hello Braden,
I agree with your response and with your reasoning. The government was not willing to listen to Thomas’s stories due to the fact he was already claimed to be guilty.
Hey Branden! i also agree with your reasoning they did not want to hear any excuses and were quickly to lock him up.
Hi Branden. I like that you dove deeper into their conversation with Cathy. It was such a quick moment, it was easy to dismiss it’s importance.
Hey Brayden! i agree with you. the government was treating him very unjustly