“But most of all, I hated that kids like Nathan - good kids, decent kids - got involved with drugs and crime and gangs, because there was nothing for them to do here. No after-school jobs, no clubs, no tennis lessons. Every month in the Lakota Times newspaper there was an obituary for another teen suicide, another family in the Burned Thigh Nation who'd had their heart taken away from them.”
The narrative tackles the opioid epidemic in America in particular within the reservations. It highlights the social problems that hamper the development of youth in terms of pursuing career opportunities and financial freedom. Drug addiction, alcoholism, and suicide have become trending issues in the native communities among young people with no employment or programs to join. Virgil is a self-proclaimed vigilante working to destabilize the criminal underworld that has been left unchecked by the authorities. The drug problem hits close to home when his nephew overdoses and is caught at the center of the drug trade. Therefore, the novel demonstrates the impact of government negligence when it comes to providing social facilities to nurture productivity and development.
“What I’d discovered was that sadness is like an abandoned car left out in a field for good—it changes a little over the years, but doesn’t ever disappear. You may forget about it for a while, but it’s still there, rusting away, until you notice it again.”
Even though Virgil is solving the community problems, he is undergoing a personal crisis that is taking a toll on his life. Not only does he lack a sense of belonging in the community but also has no family left apart from his sister’s child, Nathan. The loss of his parents altered his perspective on life, transforming his worldview into a more cynical and disenchanted one. Moreover, the death of his sister was sudden, and Virgil hardly processed this grief since the responsibility of catering for Nathan was in hand. His mixed-race background contributes to the identity crisis that he struggles with while navigating the Native culture. The statement demonstrates the sadness that defines his outlook on life when he is both aware of it and not.
“I wondered what it was like to live without that weight on your shoulders, the weight of the murdered ancestors, the stolen land, the abused children, the burden every Native person carries.”
At the core of the story is the injustices against the voiceless and powerless, with a protagonist seeking justice for them. The narrative explores the disenfranchisement of the Native Americans through structural racism and forced assimilation. The quote encompasses the violent and brutal history that defined the reality of the Native tribes for centuries. Government neglect and broken promises continue to affect them with crime, poverty, and addiction ravaging the communities. The dark history and the current broken justice system allow for social problems to recur in the present. Virgil contemplates a reality where his people were just that, people, without the marginalization, labeling, or segregation that is now their burden.
