The Game of Silence

In Part 2, Erdrich continues the tone of tension that contributes to Omakayas’s stress even in the midst of happy moments. The lingering absence of the Ojibwe men who have traveled to deal with the white people unsettles the tribe and makes them deeply uncertain about their future. As the narrative states, “Omakayas couldn’t help but wonder whether this would be the last time they would move from their summer camp to their winter cabin on her beloved island” (97). Thus, this passage reveals that even the innocent Omakayas has now internalized the fear that she and her family will be robbed of their lands, highlighting the theme of Redefining Home in the Wake of Displacement. The uncertainty of her future is a constant preoccupation, but her intrusive thoughts about the future also indicate her growing maturity, for she comes to understand the broader reasons for the tension around her.

Yet despite the prevailing mood of her people, Omakayas still retains hope, for her experience with white people is limited to friendly interactions with individuals like Break-Apart Girl. Given her innocent outlook on life, she cannot conceive of the fact that the white people would betray her family by forcibly moving them out of their ancestral lands. Her friendship with the Break-Apart Girl is therefore symbolic of the fact that it is possible for Indigenous and white communities to live together peaceably despite their cultural and linguistic differences. Omakayas nurtures her friendship with the Break-Apart Girl, who “was so friendly, so good to them. Surely she did not want them to leave!” (132). At this point, Omakayas is still young enough to hold an unquestioning belief in other people. She knows that her tribe does not deserve to be forced out of their land, and she chooses to believe that white people would never do such a thing. Because the Indigenous and white communities have been living together for so long, Omakayas underestimates the extent to which racism and greed permeates white society as a whole.

In Part 2, Erdrich shifts the setting in order to address broader questions about identity and  the true definition of a home. For Omakayas, home is wherever her family is, and this will later become an even more important concept in the quest of redefining home in the wake of displacement. Even before this point, however, their habitual move to be closer to town during the harsh winter highlights the people’s nomadic customs, for they place less emphasis on physical location and focus more on the value of living and surviving together. From a more pragmatic storytelling standpoint, the setting of the town also allows the author to introduce new information about life as an Ojibwe in a society that is growing to be predominantly white. Significantly, Omakayas’s family has taught her how to preserve her culture and identity despite the encroachment of white culture. It is for this reason that Omakayas and her family reject the white people’s Christian religion; instead of adopting white customs, they limit themselves to trading with white people, and they do not let the settlers take advantage of the tribe. The change in setting is therefore a literary structural strategy that develops Omakayas’s character as she interacts with the white world and becomes more attuned to their intentions against her.

As Omakayas continues to mature, she discovers new things about herself and the world around her. Erdrich therefore uses Omakayas’s perspective to depict the child’s journey into young adulthood. Omakayas’s coming-of-age story begins at age nine because of her intuitive gifts and her value to her community. The looming journey that Omakayas must take into the woods to meet her spirit is another stressor for the girl, indicating her reluctance to take the first steps toward adolescence and adulthood. She wants to hold onto her childhood, even though she is torn between the freedom of childhood and her more grown-up desire to become a respected contributor in her community. This conflict introduces the theme of The Journey toward Self-Reliance, and her long-term role is further foreshadowed in the stated expectations of the adults, who anticipate that she has the ability to become a gifted healer for her community. Being a healer and having deep knowledge of natural medicines is a rare talent that is crucial to the well-being of the tribe, and with the help of her grandmother, Omakayas is just beginning to step into that role. The adults in her life see that her destiny lies in this direction, for she already has an inherent spiritual power that she has yet to fully access. Omakayas’s character development is therefore foreshadowed and connected with her journey to realize and claim her identity as a healer.