The Name "Wazhashk" (Muskrat)
Names take on symbolic importance that connect individuals to larger lineages and histories. For example, names are animated by origin stories, the most prominent example being Thomas Wazhashk's name. His surname, Wazhashk, means "muskrat," an essential animal in Chippewa origin stories. He recounts the story of the Creator lining up the animals that were the best divers and asking them, one by one, to dive into the water and find the bottom. All the animals failed, until the humble water rat, who dove so deep and for so long that he drowned but still managed to grasp a paw of mud, from which the Creator made the whole earth.
Names connote belonging and lineage. For example, Wood Mountain, at least temporarily, bestows "Archille" as the baby's name after his father. However, when Vera arrives, she tells him that the baby's name is "Thomas," for her uncle, asserting her own claim of ownership over her baby. However, as the two continue to take care of the baby and grow to love each other, they begin calling the baby "Thomas Archille," signaling the merging of their families in their eventual marriage.
Hauntings and Ghosts
The world of Thomas and Patrice is a spectral one. Roderick is an itinerant ghost who occasionally breaks into the novel, mostly appearing during Thomas' night watch. We learn his backstory midway—he was a young Indian classmate of Thomas who was locked in the cellar by their missionary teacher and did not survive. His death is a consequence of the assimilation that white Christian settlers imposed upon Indians and illustrates that the violence of colonialism exists not only in physical world, but also persists in the afterworld. Roderick is not the only ghost. When he travels to D.C., he finds himself in a city full of Indian ghosts. On page 440, he notes, "It turned out the city was packed with ghosts, lively with ghosts."
Blankets and Jackets (Clothes)
It was a quilt of patches left over from the woolen coats that had passed through the family. Here was his mother’s navy blue. It had been made from a trade wool blanket and to a blanket it had returned. Here were the boys' padded plaid wool jackets, ripped and worn. These jackets had surged through fields, down icy hills, wrestled with dogs, and been left behind when they took city work. Here was Rose’s coat from the early days of their marriage, blue-gray and thin now, but still bearing the fateful shape of her as she walked away from him, then stopped, turned, and smiled, looking at him from under the brim of a midnight-blue cloche hat, daring him to lover her. (27)
The blanket is more than a piece of clothing; it symbolizes an assemblage of Thomas and Rose's history as a couple and as a family, a depository of time and experience. Living in a state of relative poverty means that everything gets saved, and what might otherwise get thrown away becomes recycled and reconstituted, like an old jacket becoming a corner of a blanket. The blanket demonstrates the enduring and resourceful love that unites Thomas and Rose and their entire family, despite and even through their lack of material wealth.
The Cosmos
Thomas, disturbed from his nighttime nap by the sound of drumming, leaves the factory and witnesses shining people amidst the stars dancing in formation. He soon joins them in dancing, wearing a radiant headdress and singing.
Near the end of the novel, Millie Cloud and Juggie are working late at night in an office but are disturbed by sounds of voices. They exit the building and are astonished by a display of northern lights dancing across the sky. Juggie tells Millie that the lights are dancing spirits looking after them.
These cosmic encounters are examples of a kind of ancestral and spiritual intervention into the present human moment. They encourage the human characters and instill knowledge that they are being benevolently watched over and cared for by ancestral spirits. The presence of the cosmos is a continual reminder of intergenerational survival and life.
Owl
The owl that visits Thomas is a recurring symbol in the novel. While LaBette interprets the owl as a negative sign of death, Thomas appears to be on good terms with the owl and welcome its presence during his lonely night shifts. Like the owl, Thomas is nocturnal, keeping guard of the factory and writing letters to persuade people in power to support their fight against termination. The owl shares Thomas' solitude and symbolizes the mental and psychic loneliness of his battle.
