How does Junior move from feeling exceptional to recognizing a shared experience?

Junior begins to understand himself better when he connects his unusual choice with other people’s attempts to build a future. During a time of grief, he describes himself as the one person brave enough to leave. He adds, “I was the only one with enough arrogance” (Alexie 217). This says that he views his decision as requiring an unusually strong belief in himself. It shows how being isolated can make him imagine his courage as something nobody else shares. However, his thinking soon widens. Junior, a student trying to understand his place in the world, remembers, “There were millions of other Americans who had left their birthplaces in search of a dream” (Alexie 217). This says that many people have made difficult departures to seek something better. It shows that he can evaluate his experience through a connection instead of only through separation. Immigrants, people who move to another country to live, become one comparison he makes. Junior’s school transfer is not international migration, but he recognizes a shared risk in moving toward an uncertain future. Because others have faced versions of that risk, he can value his courage without imagining that he is entirely alone. A wider perspective gives him belonging as well as confidence.