Describe what happens in Mrs. Jeremy’s class? Why is this so significant (important) to Junior?

When Junior returns to Reardan after Eugene's death, Mrs. Jeremy makes it a point to comment on his absence..... in a completely sarcastic manner. This incident is significant in Junior's life because even though this woman purposely sought to humiliate him, his friends at Reardan not only stood up.... they stood up for him.

"Oh, class," she said. "We have a special guest today. It's Arnold Spirit. I didn't realize you still went to this school, Mr. Spirit."

The classroom was quiet. They all knew my family had been living inside a grief-storm.

And had this teacher just mocked me for that?

"What did you just say?" I asked her.

"You really shouldn't be missing class this much," she said.

If I'd been stronger, I would have stood up to her. I would have called her names. I would have walked across the room and slapped her.

But I was too broken.

Instead, it was Gordy who defended me. He stood with his textbook and dropped it. Whomp! He looked so strong. He looked like a warrior. He was protecting me like Rowdy used to protect me. Of course, Rowdy would have thrown the book at the teacher and then punched her. Gordy showed a lot of courage in standing up to a teacher like that.

And his courage inspired the others.

Penelope stood and dropped her textbook.

And then Roger stood and dropped his textbook. Whomp!

Then the other basketball players did the same. Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!

And Mrs. Jeremy flinched each and every time, as if she'd been kicked in the crotch.

Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!

Then all of my classmates walked out of the room.

While being interviewed about a big basketball game, junior/arnold was unable to speak. Why do you think this happened