What effects does interracial adoption have on Native people and communities as represented in the book? What did you think about Vicky’s adoption in particular?
Certainly there would be confusion regarding identity, likely a lack of confidence, and a lot of questioning, although thoughts and questions might not be voiced aloud. The family’s emotional support or lack of would affect all members of the family unit. Vicky’s adoption was sad to accept for me.
I thought it was terrible exploitation and abuse to keep the truth from her even or especially when she began asking questions. She felt she was treated as a servant. And ultimately, after her “mother’s” death, her “father” distanced himself and rejected her. The only good thing he did was pass on her mother’s box of letters.
Later in the story, we see Orvil’s friend Sean, also adopted at birth but in the present day, who likewise feels a sense of loss and “otherness” even though it seems his adoptive parents treated him more kindly. It drives him to try and fill the void with some reckless behavior, as it did Vickie.
It is very difficult to read Vicky’s (Victoria’s) story. It is so terribly sad to read: “Nothing true will be explained to you until after your mother dies.” And then her father shows up with the box of some of her mother’s belongings and tells her a little about her “real” Indian mother – but he also leaves her to find out how to be an Indian on her own.
It was a very painful part of the story. Vicky’s travails gave me sleepless nights for a while. What sadness and what a level of exploitation. Unfathomable cruelty. A really devastating chapter of the book.