The Indian Reservation that Arnold "Junior" Spirit calls home in the book is a breeding ground for alcoholism, drug use, poverty and depression. On a daily basis he wakes up in a place where the only goal people have is to forget where they are in life, whether it be through substance abuse or physical abuse onto Arnold. Broken, angry and depressed people emerge from their trashy trailers and rundown homes to go about the day in a place where no one cares what happens to them. And this setting is not fiction, I've been to a place like it.
Last June my family was visiting other relatives in the Tennessee/North Carolina area of the country. We took a rode trip through Appalachia. It was the most depressing trip I have ever been on. We passed through towns that were crazy tourist attractions, theaters and show rooms and restaurants that seemed very... glamorous. Eventually we would drive past the bustling town to see the real town of just old houses or trailers held up by sheet metal and decaying wood. Everyone lived in some small cage that looked nearly abandoned. They worked in the "booming" town for the tourists, but actually lived ten miles away in trailer parks and hovels, the yards littered with bottles and random, rusting farm tools. We passed dozens of liquor stores and fast food places, and they got a lot of business. Everyone was overweight, everyone looked like a seasoned drinker, and everyone was poor. There was just nothing out there for anyone but the tourists. The locals just scraped by. I never knew what white trash looked like until then. Just like on the reservation, which is all poor Indians, that area of Appalachia is all poor white people. Both groups cater to tourists and both groups suffer from the same problems.
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