The story begins with Jude and then unfolds across seven generations into the present, ending with baby Opal. Why is it important that the story is told through multiple generations in one family? What do the parents in the novel pass down to their children, both good and bad? What is lost over time?
Following several generations is a way to show that the native experience did not change over time, that it can’t be simply dismissed as the ignorance of a particular era—or a particular person. It is also a way to emphasize how all people need the same things from society—respect, a sense of belonging, a connection with their personal heritage, opportunity to earn a decent living and to contribute their gifts, and the freedom to practice their own religion and customs. Lacking these essentials, forced to exist on the margins, addictions become a way to cope. Showing the damage across generations emphasizes the extent of the harm, personal and social loss that racism perpetuates.
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What might happen to future generations of the three sons/men? Would their offsprings’ experiences carry the same burdens?
Good question that I bet the author wants us to be thinking about. These three boys show that what has been lost over five generations is a positive sense of their Native heritage. A quote that summed this up for me: “Then he (Lony) thought of their last name being Red Feather and wondered where it came from, and if they were talking about bloody feathers, but then he didn’t know who he could have meant by they.” (181)
It seems all the boys have to draw upon are stereotypical images from video games and Westerns and tidbits from the internet, or events like the powwow where his brother got shot, suggesting that rituals can’t be replicated outside of a rooted historical community, not without risk at least.
And the argument that Orvil’s classmate Sean Price, an adoptee of mixed Native heritage, has with his father raises the question of who “gets” to identify with being Native—his father reducing it to a percentage in a DNA test, as if one’s heritage meant nothing. Devastating. Richard Henry Pratt has prevailed.
Good points everyone. Indeed, seeing traumas manifest in each generation supports the theory that intergenerational trauma can change that person’s DNA structure. What I observed from reading the book was the disconnection and learned helplessness within immediate family members and also extended family members. Each person presented as an island without emotional support. Drugs and alcohol were used as maladaptive coping strategies that had catastrophic consequences. It was reassuring that after Orvil had struggled with his addiction to drugs, he started running as a way to get that surge of endorphins; it didn’t replace the thrill of the high, but it gave him an alternative that was not destructive and counteracted that helplessness.
I think it is to show that all these issues are generational and long-standing.I agree with JLPen77 that this quote: “Then he (Lony) thought of their last name being Red Feather and wondered where it came from, and if they were talking about bloody feathers, but then he didn’t know who he could have meant by they .” (181) was so meaningful.
I thought it was a particular part of the book to show how all the generations of this family faced so many of the same problems . That in itself was very disconcerting. I kept hoping one of them could allude the addiction cycle. The second Opal I think was the only character not addicted to drugs but unfortunately developed cancer.
Actually I found the many generations detrimental to the book. Each episode felt like I dropped into the middle and then the episode ended before any conclusion/resolution was reached. I never any connection with any of the characters.