Lucy Garber

1. The “inside/outside” positionality presented in the first three chapters of the novel is

displayed through Blue Bird and her grandmother’s stability in their original tribe versus

their “otherness” in the tribe that took them in when Blue Bird was 14. With no social

position and power to leverage their station, Blue Bird married poorly. However, when

they return to their original tribe Blue Bird, her grandmother, and Waterlily are met

positively due to their inside positionality.

2. Hunka (child-beloved) is the elevation of a child’s station in the tribe through a

ceremony.The child is typically celebrated because of a vow, like the one Rainbow

promised to Waterlily, or because the child survived a close encounter with death. It

sometimes takes multiple years to prepare for Hunka. A custom gown is made for the

candidate to wear along with jewelry and decorated moccasins. One the way to the

ceremony, the child is carried. Ceremonial lodging is built for the ceremony and the

candidates are placed in an honor-place seat behind curtains. The candidates faces are

painted with tiny pencil lines of red vermillion down their cheeks. The candidates now

have the right to mark their face for important occasions. After the painting, the curtain is

drawn to reveal the candidates holding an ear of blue corn on a stick to symbolize the

hospitality to which they are in effect pledging themselves by accepting hunka status.

Then, an officiant declares his qualifications to the tribe and sings holy songs over the

heads of the candidates as to bless them. After the song, each candidate is offered a drink

and food that was held over incense and cut into two. Only half of the food was meant to

be eaten to signify mercy. Hunka is an honor of the highest prestige.

3. The distribution of work according to gender in these chapters is evident. Manly duties

included: scouting, hunting, and butchering and broiling meat. Womanly duties included:

child-bearing and rearing, carrying meat, gathering firewood, mourning in solidarity, find

a husband for their daughters, fetching water, drying animal parts, and digging up

produce. The men take on traditional masculine work roles while the women take on

traditionally feminine, domestic roles.