Summary
The next chapter begins with Ruth washing the dishes and thinking about the future. She thinks about how her tribe never really recovered from the war. She believes that they have become trapped in bad circumstances, as there has been too much damage done to their way of life. She also thinks about how much she loves whales and how much harm has befallen the natural world around her. She then begins to peel potatoes. A pelican watches as she serves herself food.
Shortly thereafter, the men of the tribe plan to undertake a whale hunt. They hold a secret tribal meeting. There are some objections to this decision but Dwight, a friend of Thomas's, is aggressive in stating that the hunt will happen. Ruth comes in and says that the hunt would be a terrible mistake and would go against custom. He says that the tribe is not a democracy. A local reporter comes in and takes note of Dwight's comments. A flurry of unflattering news reports appear. Another man, Dimitri, tries to justify the hunt in a second meeting, but Ruth remains steadfast in her objection.
Thomas, now in San Francisco, reads a news article about the upcoming hunt and decides to return home. He believes it will redeem him for his past transgressions. He leaves for Dark River. Around the same time, it is decided that Marco will lead the hunt, taking on Witka's role as the one who will listen for the whale. Thomas arrives in town and talks to Ruth. He is extremely cold and does not acknowledge Marco as his son. Marco feels that Thomas's heart must be made of stone. It is later decided that Marco will also be the one to throw the harpoon to kill the whale.
Ruth continues to take a stand against the hunt, even though she knows it will almost certainly occur. In another meeting, she says that the hunt will amount to a desecration of the land that has nurtured them for many years and a complete rejection of all of their rituals and rules. Finally, she says that this is clearly all being done for money, a comment which surprises Thomas, as he was previously unaware of this fact. Both Thomas and Marco only know about the whale hunting rituals, having no understanding of the shady business deals that Dwight has undertaken. The night before the hunt, both Marco and his mother struggle to sleep, as they both feel overwhelmingly anxious.
The next chapter picks up on the day of the hunt. The men head out in canoes and the women watch from the shore and their homes. Everything is extremely tense, as everyone is nervous about what will happen. The weather turns stormy and the men return with their kill. Thomas tells Ruth that they are still bringing people in because things got hectic out in the water when they killed the whale. Ruth is concerned when Thomas says Marco still hasn't come in. She grows increasingly certain that he was lost at sea.
Women come over to Ruth's house to comfort her. Milton, a man who went on the hunt, claims to have seen a man with a big ring hit Thomas and knock him under. Thomas is upset about the loss of Marco and feels guilty for being cold to him. He looks at Marco's birth certificate and confirms, based on the timing of his birth, that he was in fact the father. He had doubts previously because Dwight cruelly said that Ruth was having an affair with Thomas's father. He feels disgusted with himself and his behavior. The whale is washed out to sea that night by the storm.
Ruth is overwhelmed with grief and pain in the aftermath of Marco's death. She goes out in a canoe one night. As the waves grow larger, she becomes afraid of being swept out to sea. She thinks about the pain she has endured and how it seems linked to the immense suffering of her tribe over the years. She eventually makes it to shore and is greeted by an elderly group of men and women. They take her in and let her rest for the night. Before she leaves for home in the morning, one of the elders says Marco must have been drowned by someone, because he knew the water too well to fall in. He adds that there will be a drought, as natural retribution for what has occurred.
Analysis
History is a major theme in this part of the book. Throughout these chapters, Ruth reflects on how their tribe has been diminished over the years by various forces. She considers how the colonization carried out by the American government has robbed them of their land and customs, forcing them to cling to their small reservation. At the same time, she is also critical of the way men from the tribe, like Dwight, have no respect for the past and are also hurting the tribe by throwing away its rituals. Of all of the characters, Ruth has the most nuanced view of history, as she is able to see everything that has gone wrong for the A'atsika but still manages to hold onto the meaningful values of the tribe's past. By recognizing the forces of history, she is able to not become trapped in its cycles.
Tradition is another major theme in the section, as the whale hunt becomes a major source of tension within the tribe. Traditionalists like Ruth argue that the hunt is being carried out under the wrong circumstances and is disrespectful to the tribe and nature. Ruth knows that Dwight has only chosen to have this hunt in order to sell the whale meat. While the tribe has hunted whales in the past, this hunt will clearly be rushed and done for the wrong reasons. In this way, the novel endorses Ruth's view of the tradition, as it shows that the whale hunt must be carried out under the proper conditions and done with proper treatment of the whale. Ruth believes that Dwight's plan is nothing less than a direct insult to their ancestors. Her view of this is later proven correct, as the whale hunt goes terribly awry.
Nature is another major theme in this part of the book. After they kill the whale, various men disrespect its body by carving things into it and putting a beer can in its blowhole. Thomas is disgusted by their behavior as it makes it clear to him that they have no respect for the animal. It also immediately gives him flashbacks to Vietnam, where men behaved similarly with the corpses of the dead. He is disheartened because it shows how these men have no reverence for nature and how this hunt brought him no closer to regaining the dignity he feels he lost in the war. The mistreatment of the natural world shows how wrong things have gone in the tribe and how their bond with nature has been significantly harmed.
Loyalty is a major motif in this section. Marco's murder makes plain the major rifts within the tribe and the lack of loyalty beneath its surface. After the hunt is over, Marco does not return. Ruth is panicked as she feels certain that he has drowned. Her fears are confirmed when more time passes and he is not found. A man from the hunt says he saw a man with a ring knock Marco under the water and hold him there. While the man's identity is not confirmed, this terrible act is made more plausible when one of the tribal elders says that Marco knew the waters too well to drown by accident. What becomes apparent is that tribal loyalty is deeply frayed, as the whale hunt was already an issue filled with tension, all of which reached its boiling point when this injustice occurred. The murder of Marco shows that not only are the traditions falling away, but the very fabric of the tribe is beginning to wear away.
This section shows the extent to which things on the reservation have deteriorated. The whale hunt, a major tradition, has been reduced to a get-rich-quick scheme that doesn't even pay dividends. The most promising young member of the tribe is killed by one of its other members. A decorated war hero returns for the whale hunt seeking spiritual healing and finds only base cruelty and callousness. This part of the book explores how much the tribe as a whole has lost through the lens of Ruth's personal devastation, as she is now left with neither husband nor son, losing both to war and betrayal.
