The sheets are dirty. An Indian Health Service hospital in the late sixties. On this reservation or that reservation. Any reservation, a particular reservation. Antiseptic, cinnamon, and danker odors. Anonymous cries up and down the hallways.
The opening lines firmly situate one of the themes of the novel: how the world of “Indians” differs from the real America. This is a description of the hospital where a beautiful young Native American woman will shortly be giving birth to the novel’s protagonist who will immediately be taken from her and handed over the affluent white couple adopting him. The lines create a sense of not just the alienation and isolation of reservation, but anonymity of it. When John—that baby being born—grows up and imagines the scene of his birth, his mother is sometimes Navajo and sometimes Lakota, expressing non-Native American idea of reservations.
“Listen, folks, I admit that what was done to the Indians was wrong. But that was hundreds of years ago, and you and I were not the people who did it. We have offered our hands in friendship to the Indians, but they insist on their separation from normal society. They are an angry, bitter people, and treat the rest of us with disdain and arrogance..they want to take all of our money. They want to corrupt our values. They want to teach our children that greed and avarice are good things.”
One of the chapters is titled “Greek Chorus” and indeed the interpolations of first person narration by a conservative radio host in the mold of Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck do seem to serve as commentary outside the narrative per se. In fact, Truck Schultz is an essential part of the storyline because the seemingly obvious irony of such opinions as those stated above are passed on as unfiltered sincerity to his oblivious listeners. The anti-Indian sentiment being driven by a series of murder is good for ratings and the more he can whip that sentiment into a froth, all the better. It should be noted that not every appearance by Truck Schultz is in the form of his radio show address.
“difference between”
A recurring motif is conceived and developed over the course of the novel in which a comparison is made between two things by using the phrase “difference between” as a thematic underscoring how John Smith represents both the Indian world and the white world and enormous differences between them. Some examples of the use of this motif include:
“The leather, metal, and rope could tell the difference between white skin and Indian skin.”
“He did not know that, in the Indian world, there is not much social difference between a rich Indian and a poor one.”
“There’s a big difference be-tween what those white people think about Indians and what we know about us. A big d-i-f-f-e-r-e-n-c-e.”
Father Duncan’s visits continued until John was seven years old. Then, with no warning or explanation, Duncan was gone…Duncan’s eccentricities had become liabilities. After the strange Sunday when he had openly wept during Eucharist and run out of the church before the closing hymn, Duncan was summarily removed from active duty and shipped to a retreat in Arizona. He walked into the desert one week after he arrived at the retreat and was never seen again.
Father Duncan was a Spokane Indian Jesuit and John Smith becomes obsessed with his strange story. Duncan is not important as an active participant in the storyline, but specter of his presence hangs like the ghost of Hamlet’s father any time the perspective shifts to John. Duncan becomes a kind metaphor for the concept of “difference between” as he represents to John the symbolic incarnation of fusing two different cultures and the effect that has upon a single individual.
