Tradition and culture
Tradition and culture play a central thematic role in this novel, both in the plot, which is steeped in cultural assumptions, and in the setting of the story, a time when cultures were dying left and right, and when tradition is no longer a guarantee of success or survival. This disturbance of culture also shows what a culture is designed to do—culture ensures future survival by handing down an inheritance of cultural knowledge from generation to generation. In this novel, that mechanism fails, because there is nothing in Native American tradition that can save them from plague and invasion.
Change and catastrophe
This novel depicts the horrific, insidious nature of true change. When the Europeans pushed West into the Huron's territory, suddenly truces among tribes begin to fall apart. There is a horrific plague killing most of the people, and not only that, but the religion of old is falling apart, given the martyrdom of an intensely earnest POW, Christophe, whom they call Crow. The signs point toward apocalypse, depicting this time as the end of an era.
Conflict and survival
During these seasons of intense paradigmatic change, this novel suggests there will be increases in conflict and survival. Why shouldn't Bird take vengeance against his neighbors? Because without respect for their tribal conflicts, they are all at risk of dying in the plague that sweeps through their communities. The European influence makes their resources more scarce, and survival becomes more and more of a priority until tribal warfare is almost entirely a secondary concern.
