Turning Point

The turning point of the book is when Bruce meets the boy who will soon become his best friend. His name is Bobarishora but Bruce calls him "Bobby" because he has trouble pronouncing his name. As Bobby grew older, he was able to become more influential among the tribe. Because of their friendship, Bruce was also able to become more outspoken and well liked. Bruce was even accepted as next to family for Bobby when he was invited to attend Bobby's ceremony for becoming a man. This ceremony is held way out in the jungle and only the family and occasionally those who are close alliances with the family are able to attend. Before their friendship, Bruce did not really have a place in the Motilones tribe. However, afterwards his influence and the services he was able to do greatly mulitplied. He was able to go back to the city and get antibiotics and other medication that would cure the many epidemics that spread throughout the Motilones tribe. One example of where this happened was when there was when there was a pink eye epidemic. The witch doctor was singing incantations on the people and praying to false gods in order to heal the people. However, Bruce knew that a simple antibiotic would heal the person in less than two days time. So Bruce purposefully got pink eye and then let the witch doctor treat him with the antibiotic cream. When the witch doctor saw that this healed him, he started using all the Western medication that was available on all of his patients. After that, medical centers were formed which were staffed and organized by the Motilones people.