Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
Written in the context of cultural change
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Heart-warming, intriguing, hopeful, enlightening
Protagonist and Antagonist
The main character is Indigo.
Major Conflict
The main conflict is when Indigo is abducted by the white soldiers and assimilated into the new culture.
Climax
The climax comes when Indigo gets adopted by the white family that loves her and gives her everything she needs to be happy. Later in life, Indigo decides to travel back to the dunes to look for her identity and family.
Foreshadowing
Indigo’s abduction by the police is foreshadowed by the white people’s hatred towards the cultural ways of the Native Americans.
Understatement
The oppression by the police towards the native people is understated. Despite sending the Indian children to boarding schools as a punishment, these children are bullied and tortured because of their color and culture.
Allusions
The story alludes to the oppression that the Native Americans go through at the white policemen's hands.
Imagery
The images of the dunes depict sight imagery throughout the text. Indigo spends her childhood watching the desert and dunes, which forms part of her history as an Indian Native American before assimilating into white society.
Paradox
The main paradox is that the native Indian children caught by the police are sent to boarding schools as punishment. Consequently, these children fail to see the value of education because they are forced to go to school where they are bullied and tortured.
Parallelism
There is parallelism between the role of police and the expectations of the native Indians in Arizona.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The oppression of the police is incarnated as futile.