Summary
The following day, Soren returns to the Coutts’ home to ask Geraldine about the file. Geraldine doesn't respond to Soren’s questions, instead remaining catatonic in bed. Frustrated by Geraldine’s condition, Bazil initiates a new nightly routine in hopes of lifting her spirits—he brings a table into her room so that the family can dine together. During one dinner, Bazil tells the story of Geraldine’s great-aunt, who was carried to shore by a turtle after she was abandoned by her parents. Bazil recounts another Native legend in which a child was rescued by a dolphin.
One day, Bazil tells Geraldine and Joe that he hopes to contact the governor of South Dakota. The governor, named Curtis Yeltow, is attempting to adopt a Native child—this is ironic since his policies are known for disenfranchising Native communities. Geraldine’s interest is piqued by Bazil’s mention of Yeltow, and she asks Bazil a few follow-up questions. Geraldine is then moved to tell her version of the story.
The day of the attack, Geraldine received a call from Mayla Wolfskin with hopes of enrolling her child as a member of the tribe. She asked Geraldine to meet her at the round house in order to discuss an urgent matter. Upon her arrival, Geraldine was attacked by a man inquiring about a file. Mayla and her baby were also at the scene, and the attacker prodded Mayla for missing cash. The attacker tried to set both Geraldine and Mayla on fire, but Geraldine escaped before he was able to do so. Geraldine is unsure whether Mayla and her baby survived the attack.
Geraldine is hospitalized again, and Bazil sends Joe to live with Sonja and Whitey. One day, while working at the gas station, Joe speaks to a customer who has a disturbing affect. He later realizes that the customer was Linden Lark. At the gas station, Joe also runs into Larose, Geraldine’s childhood friend and Mayla’s cousin. Joe interrogates Larose in hopes of finding more clues about the case, but Larose doesn’t have much insight. While staying with Sonia and Whitey, Joe realizes that the two have an abusive relationship. He leaves their home to stay with Clemence and Mooshum instead.
One night, Joe awakes to hear Mooshum telling a story in his sleep. The story is about Akii, a woman who was believed to be possessed by an evil spirit. Although Akii’s husband intended to kill her in order to rid her of the spirit, Nanapush, Akii’s son, saved his mother. Later on, when Nanapush was endangered, Akii saved him. The next day, Bazil picks Joe up from Clemence’s home. There, he learns that they have arrested a suspect in connection with Geraldine’s attack.
Joe goes to the lake with Angus, Cappy, and Zack. There, they encounter a church youth group. The boys all fall in love with Zelia, a Mexican girl from Montana visiting the community in hopes of converting the Native Americans to Christianity. Cappy gets into a fight with the boy accompanying Zelia, and the boy begins to have a seizure. Later on, Joe returns home where he speaks with Bazil about whether his mother’s attack took place on tribal land or not. A few days later, the boys return to the lake to watch a search team look for Mayla’s sunken car and evidence of her body. When the car is pulled from the water, Joe realizes that the doll stuffed with money came from the submerged vehicle.
Bazil finally tells Joe that the attacker in custody is Linden Lark. Now that she knows that her attacker is being detained, Geraldine is more comfortable around the house. Brazil and Geraldine travel to South Dakota, and Joe stays once again in Clemence’s house with Mooshum. In his sleep, Mooshum tells the origin story of the round house–it was born from the story of Akii, when Nanapush realized that the Chippewa people needed a gathering place for spiritual healing.
A few days later, Joe notices that Mooshum is acting suspicious and is hurriedly asking for his whiskey. Sonja walks in, and it is clear that she is going to do a strip tease for Joe’s grandfather. Joe, who has had a longtime crush on Sonja, is keen to stay for the charade. When Sonja refuses, he threatens to tell people about the money they have recovered from the doll. Sonja angrily complies with Joe’s request, and this forever alters the course of her relationship with Joe. Additionally, Mooshum passes out during Sonja’s dance.
Joe returns home and learns that Linden Lark has been acquitted of the crime. The reason for his acquittal is rooted in “Indian Law,” a flawed system based on colonization and the persecution of the indigenous population. Joe is noticeably frustrated, and he mocks Bazil for not being able to enact change due to restrictive Indian Law. Later, the boys go to church for confession. Cappy confesses that he has had sex with Zelia on church property, which prompts an infuriated reaction from Father Travis.
At the end of Chapter Nine, Mooshum tells Joe that Sonja has left Whitey. She wrote a note explaining that she would never again return home. Panicked, Joe runs to the lake to find the bank receipts that Sonja has buried. At the lakeside, Joe finds a note from Sonja explaining that she is able to start a new life with the money Joe recovered from the doll. She leaves Joe ten thousand dollars and some additional cash to buy a new pair of shoes.
Analysis
In this section, Joe learns about Curtis Yeltow. As the infamous governor of South Dakota, Yeltow has defended legislation and carried out political actions that have negatively impacted the Native American population in his state. Furthermore, his relationship with Mayla—who is decades his junior—is riddled with exploitative power dynamics and injustice. It is ironic that Yeltow is so hasty to adopt Mayla’s daughter and put on a public display of good graces. Clearly, Yellow’s actions are motivated by his own hopes for career advancement.
In these chapters, we also see how Joe fares during his mother’s second hospitalization. Once again, Erdrich reiterates the importance of community. During moments of tragedy, community is an essential support network. As both Joe and Bazil struggle with their current circumstances, the reader observes how various characters show up and take care of them. In this way, Erdrich portrays the reservation as a larger family unit that looks after one another and shares responsibilities.
Sonja, Joe’s aunt, takes particular responsibility for the protagonist. She becomes a pseudo-mother, encouraging him to get a job and helping him navigate his every day. However, Joe does not see Sonja as a maternal figure. Although he relies on her in certain ways that resemble a parent-child relationship, Sonja is the object of Joe’s affection. He frequently has sexual fantasies about Sonja, which falls in line with a pattern of behavior shared by other men in the Coutts family.
Erdrich uses the character of Sonja to further investigate how Native American women are mistreated, even by the men closest to them. As a former sex worker, Sonja was physically abused while working at a strip club, and she has the scars to prove it. Sonja’s previous work makes her sexually tempting to the men around her. Whitey, her partner, is particularly insecure about his relationship with Sonja and easily grows jealous. Instead of handling his own feelings, Whitey physically and emotionally abuses Sonja on numerous occasions.
As the story unfolds, it is increasingly clear that Whitey, Mooshum, and Joe have sexual expectations of Sonja. A major shift occurs when Joe chooses to sit in on Sonja’s performance for Mooshum. Previously, Sonja’s relationship with Joe held special significance because he was one of the only males that seemed to respect her. After he watches the dance, however, Sonja realizes that Joe is no longer a “boy” that she can help raise and educate. Rather, it is clear to Sonja that Joe has internalized many of the misogynistic attitudes held by members of his own family.
