Summary
The third volume is labelled as "West/Black" in the Cherokee syllabary. Robinson Crusoe begins a third creation story by introducing the character of Thought Woman. Thought Woman is taking a bath in the river when she gets caught up in the current and swept away. She eventually floats ashore where she is greeted by an individual named A.A. Gabriel, who makes her undergo a kind of border crossing, and processes her in preparation for her to be impregnated. Thought Woman refuses to participate and gets back in the water. She washes ashore a second time, on an island where she is greeted by Robinson Crusoe. He tries to name her Friday and plans to educate and civilize her. She rejects this role and gets back in the water. When Thought Woman washes up a third time, she is in Florida where she is met by soldiers. She tells them that her name is Robinson Crusoe.
In the plot line of the contemporary characters, a new day has begun. Lionel wakes up on the day of his fortieth birthday committed to changing his life. His major plan is to quit his job and return to university. Meanwhile, Charlie briefly encounters the four elders at breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards, he is dismayed to find that his rental car is no longer parked outside. Alberta is feeling unwell, and hesitant about going to see Lionel, so she lingers at the hotel. Eli reminisces about how after his and Karen’s visit to the Sundance, he refused to return, and also thinks about how he should spend more time with his nephew, Lionel.
In their journey to get to the elders, Babo and Dr. Hovaugh have crossed the border into Canada, and their progress is watched by the narrator and Coyote. The four elders gather outside Bursum’s store, joined by Coyote, who performs a dance that seems to trigger a rainstorm. By now, Babo and Dr. Hovaugh have checked into the Blossom Lodge. Alberta catches sight of them while eating breakfast, but is preoccupied with her own memories. When she exits the hotel, she finds that her car is no longer parked outside. When Babo and Dr. Hovaugh leave after finishing their breakfast, they make the same discovery. After a visit to the police station to report her stolen car, Alberta is given a ride to the Dead Dog Café.
Meanwhile, Eli is making his way towards Blossom to meet up with Lionel, and recalls how Karen became seriously ill, and asked him to take her back to the Sundance. Charlie has been unsuccessful with getting a replacement rental car, so he decides to take a taxi to Bursum’s store and wait there for Alberta. When Lionel arrives at the store, the elders are there and so is Eli. Bursum shows off his television display, and a short time later, Charlie also arrives. The group gather to watch a Western movie on the TV display, and are astonished when the Indians defeat the cowboys in the climactic battle scene.
Analysis
Border crossings play a significant role in this section of the novel. Babo and Dr. Hovaugh literally cross a border to enter Canada, while Alberta reminisces about a difficult border crossing from her childhood in which ceremonial clothing was seized from her family. Thought Woman’s encounter with A.A. Gabriel also mirrors the sort of screening and interrogation that might be expected at a border crossing. These scenes reveal another layer of vulnerability for people of colour and women. Babo is assumed to be Dr. Hovaugh’s “personal property” which potentially alludes to the history of slavery in America. Thought Woman is asked to produce documents attesting to her virginity, and no respect is shown to the fact that border guards are handling sacred objects when they stop Alberta’s family. All of these highlight how people in official positions of power, driven by a nationalist need to show strength, tend to become abusive of their authority.
Thought Woman’s narrative combines critiques of Christian doctrine and European literary narratives. Her experience with A.A. Gabriel (a pun on ArchAngel Gabriel, the figure who announces to Mary that she will bear the son of God) highlights how a traditional Christian belief of the Immaculate Conception robs female figures of their agency. Thought Woman blatantly resists the idea of simply being a passive vessel, which is what the figure of the Virgin Mary has traditionally been celebrated for.
Likewise, when she encounters Robinson Crusoe, she resists an imperialist stereotype. Robinson Crusoe is the main character in the 1719 novel written by English author Daniel Defoe. In the novel, Crusoe is shipwrecked on a desert island and rescues a native from a tribe of cannibals, whom he names Friday. Crusoe educates Friday, and converts him to Christianity, thus “civilizing” him, and also introducing a tradition into European literature in which non-white characters can be redeemed through the intervention of European education and values. King’s character clearly has the same plans for Thought Woman, but she firmly rejects them. She also gestures towards the arbitrary designation of authority by asking him why he can’t be Friday, and later taking his name for herself.
This reversal of power dynamics and overturning of narratives is also visible as the group of characters gathered in Bursum’s store is shocked to see the group of Indians defeat John Wayne and his cowboys. Even in different movies, the idea that one group will be dominant and the other will be defeated is taken for granted as part of the tradition of the genre. Bursum in particular is horrified to see the kind of narrative that has always reaffirmed his superiority as a white man suddenly undermined.
This reversal and destabilizing signals the chaos that Coyote and the elders are beginning to unleash. They have already “fixed” the other Western movie and offered encouragement to Lionel by presenting him with the leather jacket, symbolizing that he can be both true to his identity and still powerful. In other seemingly harmless ways, such as with the disappearance of the cars and the outbreak of the rainstorm, they are unsettling the lives of the characters around them, signaling that not everything is under individual control.
