Genre
Historical Fiction
Setting and Context
The novel is set in Canada in the early 17th century.
Narrator and Point of View
It alternates between three first-person narrators (Bird, Snow Falls, and Christophe) with an occasional third-person speaker.
Tone and Mood
Tragic, Harrowing yet sublime
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Bird; Antagonist: The rivalry between the two tribes (Haudenosaunee and Wendat) and the plague.
Major Conflict
Bird’s life becomes intertwined with the young girl Snow Falls when he takes her captive after murdering her family from the rival tribe. He has to grapple with the loss in his life, the dynamic between him and Snow Falls, the threat that is the Haudenosaunee tribe and the Jesuit settlers.
Climax
The climax occurs when the Haudenosaunee tribe attack the Jesuit settlers in a violent battle that lasts for days.
Foreshadowing
The poisoning of both Snow Falls and Delilah by the tortured Jesuit is foreshadowed earlier in the narrative.
Understatement
“Rumour has it the Crow was caressed for three days and never uttered a sound except for his strange singing.”
The act of torture is understated with the term caress as the Iroquois call it.
Allusions
The novel alludes to the rivalry between the Huron and Iroquois people during the 17th century in the Great Lakes territory. Furthermore, the arrival of Jesuit missionaries and settlers with a mission to convert the native tribes into Christianity.
Imagery
“I see that my father lies in the snow, a ring of blood circling his head like a bright ring around the moon in autumn, and his arms stretch out from him as if he’s pointing with one to where the sun rises and with the other to where the sun sets, and I see one foot crossed over the other as if he can finally relax now that he has slipped through to the other side.”
Paradox
Snow Falls finds a father and a home in Bird and the Wendat tribe respectively despite being the reason she was separated from her family and original tribe.
Parallelism
The narrative is told from the perspective of the three main characters Bird, Christophe, and Snow Falls. Therefore it parallels their sentiments and version of events regarding the changes and conflicts taking place in the territory.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“They call this life force the orenda.”
Personification
“My orenda overpowered its orenda,”
