Summary
Bazil and Joe go to the grocery store, and they find Linden Lark in one of the aisles. Joe watches mesmerized as Bazil attacks Linden with grocery store items, then proceeds to have a heart attack in the aisle. Later on, Cappy tells Joe that some of his family members beat Linden up in revenge. Geraldine learns of the attack and swears that Linden is a wiindigoo, a possessed spirit. Joe worries about Geraldine’s new theory, and he worries what may happen to his mother if she were to try and get revenge.
In the car on their way home from Fargo, Joe first entertains the possibility of killing Linden Lark. Although he realizes it is a risky and violent plan, he thinks about how his family would be able to find peace if he was no longer a looming threat. Joe visits Father Travis, who was once in the military, in order to learn how to shoot. Joe is unclear about the morality of the murder, and he asks Father Travis about sins that justify vengeance. He later goes to a Sunday mass in order to hear Father Travis speak about evil and free will. It is clear that Joe is turning to Catholicism in hopes of absolving himself of his imminent sins.
Ultimately, Father Travis doesn’t allow Joe to practice shooting with him any longer. Frustrated, Joe rides his bike to Cappy’s house. While there, Joe realizes that Cappy can help teach him how to shoot, since he has been hunting for many years. Joe insinuates that he hopes to learn to shoot in order to avenge Linden Lark. Despite his potential implication in the crime, Cappy is supportive of Joe’s plans. Joe buys some ammo to continue practicing behind his family’s back.
Joe decides that he needs to speak to Linda in order to find out about Linden’s golf schedule. Joe continues to have his doubts about the crime he is bound to commit, but he proceeds with his plan. Joe and Linda have lunch together, and Joe tries to coax information out of Linda. Linda orders the most expensive item on the menu and reveals that it is her “birthday,” which she celebrates as the date of her adoption. Joe discovers that Linden golfs a few times a week at seven in the morning, and he is able to put a plan into action.
Joe and Cappy decide to steal Doe’s rifle while everyone is at a powwow over the weekend. Joe, highly anxious about his plan, is bed bound for the entire week. During his illness, he tries to read a book called Dune that Father Travis gifted him. Over the weekend, Joe stages a fake break-in in order to cover for him stealing the gun. Joe wakes early over the next few days to try to catch Linden at the course. He shoots him from a perch in the distance and hits Linden in the stomach. Linden collapses, but is still alive. Cappy steps in and shoots the final round that knocks Linden dead.
Cappy and Joe work hurriedly to bury the evidence of their crime. The two vow never to speak of their actions again. Later on, Whitey tells Joe that Linden has been killed on the golf course. Whitey mentions that there is a lack of evidence because the rain has made it difficult to survey the crime scene, but the police are searching for people in connection with the incident. Anxious, Joe vomits behind Whitey’s gas station. Whitey gathers that Joe is connected to Linden’s murder, and he collects “evidence” to help develop the boys’ alibi.
Meanwhile, Bazil and Geraldine express their concern over Joe’s wellbeing—they notice that he has fallen ill and have a notion that he is responsible for Linden’s death. As Joe lays in bed sick with the flu, the police continue investigating Linden’s murder. Whitey attests that Joe and Cappy were with him during the time of the murder, and he presents the evidence of their presence to the police. Joe continues to be racked with guilt, and he is convinced that he left other evidence at the crime scene.
Joe goes to see Linda, who is also suspicious about his involvement in Linden’s death. Though Linda thinks Joe is “too sweet” to have killed Linden directly, she thinks that perhaps he fed the information about Linden’s golfing habits to a hitman. Joe asks Linda why Linden was motivated to attack Geraldine in the first place. Although Linden had deep hatred for Joe’s entire family, Linda explains that Linden was particularly obsessed with Mayla. Mayla had an affair—and a baby—with governor Curtis Yeltow, and Linden was embarrassed by her infidelity. Linden tried to prevent Mayla’s daughter’s tribal enrollment to protect his own masculinity; however, Geraldine became an obstacle in Linden’s plan.
Linda tells Joe that she found the murder weapon hidden on her property. However, she disassembled it and threw its remains in the Missouri River in order to protect Joe. In the days following Linden’s murder, Cappy and Joe both suffer from night terrors in which Linden “haunts” the boys. Later on, Bazil speaks to Joe about his own feelings about Linden’s murder and the issue of justice. Bazil explains that Linden’s murderer could be defended on the basis that Linden was a “wiindigoo.”
Joe visits Bugger, a local alcoholic, in the hospital. During the hospital visit, Joe realizes that Bugger most likely discovered Mayla’s body at the construction site. Joe then goes to visit Cappy, who is upset that he can no longer continue his relationship with Zelia due to her parent’s intervention. The boys travel to Montana to help Cappy win Zelia back. On the drive, they realize that Yeltow’s “hush money” is the cash that Joe discovered in the doll. The boys veer off the road and experience a traumatic car accident in which Cappy dies. Geraldine and Bazil come to pick Joe up from the police station, and the three of them drive home in silence as they pass an ice cream store Joe frequented in his childhood.
Analysis
Although Joe has considered getting revenge on Linden before, Bazil’s heart attack is a turning point for the narrator. Joe realizes that Linden continues to provoke his family by reappearing in places he knows they will be. In this way, Linden is like one of the ghosts in the story—he appears when Joe is most vulnerable, reigniting his feelings of trauma. Once Geraldine tells Joe that she believes Linden is a wiindigoo, Joe realizes that he has a moral basis for which to execute his plan. Thus, Joe’s course of action begins to materialize.
It is interesting that Joe turns to Father Travis during his planning stages. Although there are logistical reasons why Joe seeks Father Travis’s advice, there is a religious element that is motivated by Joe’s anxieties and his sense of guilt. Father Travis used to be in the military, and Joe hopes to learn how to shoot a gun under his apprenticeship. However, during the time spent with Father Travis, Joe also learns about the Catholic understanding of good and evil. While the story of the wiindigoo provides Joe with justification for carrying out his plan, he seeks a similar moral justification in Catholicism.
In the final section of the novel, Erdrich explores the importance of adolescent friendship. Cappy, Angus, and Zack are key characters throughout the story, and they support Joe in numerous ways following Geraldine’s incident. Aside from providing lighthearted distraction amidst an otherwise dark time, Cappy, Angus, and Zack accompany Joe during the various steps of his sleuthing missions. Joe’s final decision to ask for Cappy’s help with Linden’s murder signifies the connection and the sense of trust that the two share. Cappy’s consent to Joe’s proposal demonstrates his steadfast loyalty.
Cappy is not the only one complicit in Linden’s murder. Interestingly enough, Linda provides Joe with essential information that allows him to execute his attack. Additionally, Linda helps to cover up Joe’s tracks after she understands that the murder weapon has been hidden on her own property. Linda ultimately understands how Linden was possessive and violent towards women, and how his misogynistic behavior caused a lot of harm. She feels more allegiance to her Native American community than she does to her own biological twin, and although she does not explicitly approve of Joe’s actions, her agreement is implied.
Following the murder, both Cappy and Joe fail to feel a sense of relief. Even though they seem to have come to the conclusion that their actions are justified, both are haunted by what they have done. Still, the two remain prideful, never admitting to one another that they are continually coping with feelings of residual guilt. Instead, both turn to substances in order to alleviate the pain they experience. Their vices turn out to have fatal consequences: Cappy’s death ultimately signifies Joe's final loss of innocence.
