Life as two people
Jemmy tells us about herself in the prose of the novel. She often comments on ways that her life seems to be split in half—at home she lives with her father and two younger siblings. Their mother isn't there anymore, so Jemmy is left without the Native American heritage that her mother represents. At home, she identifies with her dad, so she feels white. When she's at school though, her Native American ancestry is impossible to ignore, because everyone at school treats her differently. This schism is a reflection of the mistreatment of Native American people in situations like Jemmy's. She is concerned because they often treat her as if she isn't worth as much as they are, and they often misunderstand the cultural nuances of Jemmy's life.
Supporting a family
The first journey that Jemmy accepts is one that the reader will be astonished by, although Jemmy herself is unfazed. Her own father tells her to drop out of high school to get a job to support her siblings, instead of him quitting his alcoholism and supporting his own children. She accepts this responsibility happily, and she's happy to drop out. Her experience of high school was unpleasant anyway. So she does support the family. Ultimately this pans out well for her, because it puts her in the place where she meets Otis Chapman.
Finding a destiny
When she does encounter Otis Chapman, she learns he is painting a mural, and he asks her to be his model for the mural. She accepts, and for a little while, she is wrapped up in a new world where self-expression mattered. As a person who has never felt that she can be proud or confident of her full identity, Jemmy realizes that she loves art. Suddenly, Jemmy has a new destiny in life—to pursue her artistic curiosities. This shows that Jemmy's destiny was always to celebrate herself, and art allows her to do that.
