Quote 1
I was born with water on the brain.
Okay, so that's not exactly true. I was actually born with too much cerebral spinal fluid inside my skull. But cerebral spinal fluid is just the doctors' fancy way of saying brain grease. And brain grease works inside the lobes like car grease works inside an engine. It keeps things running smooth and fast. But weird me, I was born with too much grease inside my skull, and it got all thick and muddy and disgusting, and it only mucked up the works. My thinking and breathing and living engine slowed down and flooded.
My brain was drowning in grease.
But that makes the whole thing sound weirdo and funny, like my brain was a giant French fry, so it seems more serious and poetic and accurate to say, "I was born with water on the brain." (1.1-1.3)
The very first sentence of the novel informs us not of our narrator's name, age, or occupation, but that he was born with too much water on his brain. That is, Arnold is a hydrocephalic, a medical condition that puts him at risk of brain damage and makes him susceptible to seizures. Arnold tells us this information up front, so we can guess that hydrocephalus is very important to how Arnold sees himself – and how others see him as well.
Speaking of which, how does Arnold perceive himself? Notice how many times he uses the word "weirdo." Take note too of the images he employs to describe himself and his brain. Why does he use the image of a car? A French fry?
Quote 2
"My name is Junior," I said. "And my name is Arnold. It's Junior and Arnold. I'm both."
I felt like two different people inside of one body.
No, I felt like a magician slicing myself in half, with Junior living on the north side of the Spokane River and Arnold living on the south. (8.72-8.74)
In Arnold's conversation with the beautiful Penelope, we begin to see a true splitting of Arnold's self. He is Junior at home on the reservation, and he is Arnold when he is at school in Reardan. Do you think Arnold's split personality is a positive thing? Why does Arnold use the image of a magician slicing himself in half? Do you think Arnold can reconcile these two people living inside of him? How?
Quote 3
"Who has the most hope?" I asked.
Mom and Dad looked at each other. They studied each other's eyes, you know, like they had antennas and were sending radio signals to each other. And then they both looked back at me.
"Come on, I said. "Who has the most hope?"
"White people," my parents said at the same time. (6.7-6.10)
Arnold wants to know who has the most hope, and his parents say that it's white people. Why? Is it because the middle-class white folks in Reardan have more money and resources? How does class also change how much hope we have? Do you think poor white people have as much hope as rich ones?