The Game of Silence

“Nobody said the name of those who had died. That was because to say their names would attract the spirits of the dead, even bring them back to visit the living. It was better to let even the most loved ones go along on their journey into the next world.”

This quote highlights the importance of resolving conflict through tradition. The death of Omakayas’s brother still grieves her and her family, but their relationship with mortality is markedly different than that of the white colonizers’ culture, for the Ojibwe people prioritize the natural order of things. This quote emphasizes the respect that the Ojibwe have for spirits and the natural world.

“Difficult questions and impossible news. Great attention was needed. The grown-ups needed to council, think, absorb the facts, without having to shush small children. The children could tell how important the meeting was from the degree to which their silence was required.”

This quote emphasizes the important relationship between children and their elders in the Ojibwe community. The children are allowed to be around adults even in the midst of serious conversations, which highlights the Ojibwe’s respect for children as members of their community. Learning from the adults is important for the children. This quote also emphasizes how serious the situation between the Ojibwe and the white people has become, as the silence of the children is symbolic of their fear.

“They would all fear to lose something huge, something so important that they never even knew that they had it in the first place. Who questions the earth, the ground beneath your feet? They had always accepted it—always here, always solid. That something was home.”

This quote foreshadows the continued loss of land and life at the hands of white colonists. The passage also emphasizes the human right of living on one’s own land. As a child, Omakayas does not conceive of her right to live on her land because she has enough innocence to experience life without fear of losing her home. This quote marks a certain loss of innocence now that she knows it is possible to lose her home and way of life.

“The Ojibwe relied on memory. They repeated stories, songs, the words to promises and treaties. Everyone memorized all that was important. Although people scratched elaborate signs on the birchbark and rolled them into scrolls, they relied on memory to go with the marks. Memory was Ojibwe writing. Things were not forgotten that way.”

The Ojibwe’s reliance on memory is indicative of the importance of storytelling. Oral traditions that might have been lost forever due to the genocide of the Indigenous peoples are saved through oral storytelling. Significantly, even Erdrich’s use of the narrative fiction form is designed to keep these stories and oral traditions alive. This quote also honors the value and longevity of memory, foreshadowing the fact that the Ojibwe can never be fully defeated by the white people because they will always have their memories.

“But the garden was more than the space it occupied. Its seeds, too, had been handed down for many generations. During the worst of the family’s hunger, two winters ago, Nokomis had finally insisted that they eat half of her seed beans, but only because she’d saved extra. Nobody even thought of eating more. Nokomis’s seeds, after all, were the future.”

This quote emphasizes The Supportive Influence of Family and community. By relying upon each other, the Ojibwe people ensure their own survival in harsh conditions and challenging circumstances. Within this context, the garden is a symbol of family, community, and the value in working together, and the seeds of the garden become symbolic of the intangible seeds of the Ojibwe culture, for both are passed down and cherished by each new generation.

“Chimookomanag. They were the source of some nice things like kettles and warm blankets and ribbons, and the source of terrible things, too. Chimookomanag brought sickness. Her grandmother’s medicines were useless when chimookomanag diseases struck.”

The tension between the white and Indigenous communities is complex because both communities have developed useful working relationships with each another. The white people have sold and traded new material goods that have improved the Ojibwe’s quality of life. But at the same time, the white people have sown destruction with their diseases. The question Erdrich poses here is whether adapting to life alongside the colonizers is worth the risk that the presence of white people poses for the Ojibwe community.

“Besides that, Omakayas and Old Tallow had a special feeling between them. It was a cross between the feeling that Omakayas had for her mother and the way she felt about her grandmother. There was a little of the way she felt about her father mixed in too.”

In this quote, Old Tallow is characterized through Omakayas’s perspective as powerful, influential, wise, and loving. Omakayas’s relationship with Old Tallow has a deep influence on her development. It is also important to note that Old Tallow takes up a decisive leadership role, indicating that the sexism inherent in the white society is not relevant to the Ojibwe lifestyle.

“The little flicker, or moningwanay feather that represented the strength of Old Tallow, had blown out of the hatband and into the rough, cold lake. The sharp black and yellow feather held as much power in it as an eagle feather.”

The moningwanay feather is a symbol of Old Tallow’s fortitude, leadership, and strength. When it falls out of her hat, it becomes symbolic of the possibility that Old Tallow will one day be separated from those qualities. However, the fallen feather can also symbolize Old Tallow’s power, for no matter where the feather is, Old Tallow remains resilient.

“She knew that her grandmother was making this gift because there was a special love between them. The love between Nokomis and Omakayas had to do with the things that Nokomis was teaching her every day about her plants and roots and medicines.”

Nokomis and Omakayas are bonded through a shared gift, for they are both capable of caring for their community with medicine. Nokomis teaches Omakayas about roots and plants because she recognizes Omakayas’s gift and is training her to take on the role of a medicine woman for her people. This is an important part of Omakayas’s coming-of-age journey.

“Now was the perfect time to speak, to surrender her secret, to tell her grandma about the dream that clearly said she should go out into the woods and fast alone. Her spirits were still looking for her! She knew it, but she didn’t want to hear it.”

Omakayas, like many children, is afraid of growing up. An important process in the Ojibwe coming-of-age journey is to go out into the woods alone to fast and meet the spirits. This act separates the youngest children from the children who, like Omakayas, are on the brink of maturing. Omakayas is not ready to leave her childhood behind, but she is aware that growing up is inevitable.

“For when they were cured of the war fever, the boys regretted having hurt the dogs who would, after all, have defended any one of them to the death. They knew very well that the dogs were loyal to all people whom Old Tallow told them to love.”

In this quote, Erdrich characterizes even the animals within the Ojibwe tribe as being part of the community. The Ojibwe have respect for animals and honor them as valuable members of the community. Additionally, this quote emphasizes the Ojibwe’s characterization as a peaceful people for they do not want conflict and would rather lead with love, as Old Tallow and her dogs do.

“Still, the cold had sunk right to her very center and took a long time, all night in fact, before the tender care of her family could transform it to warmth.”

This quote emphasizes the supportive influence of family. A major plot twist occurs when Omakayas nearly loses her life to frostbite and cold, but the love of her family keeps her alive. As they restore her to full health, it is clear that Omakayas’s family provides her with both physical and spiritual strength.

“Omakayas was impressed by the power of the cold. It had reached into her with phenomenal swiftness, and taken hold of her warm life with no warning…The cold had beckoned her to a death of deceptive ease.”

In this quote, Erdrich foreshadows the bad news that Cloud brings about the destruction of the Ojibwe tribe. Just as the cold is insidious and subtle in taking over Omakayas’s body, so too has the white government been secretly devising the destruction of the Ojibwe people.

“Although she wanted to learn the scratching and the meaning of the marks, she was also glad. She would learn the secrets, but she wouldn’t give her spirit in return.”

This quote characterizes Omakayas as a resilient individual within her culture, for she takes pride in her heritage and does not let the overwhelming power of white society change her beliefs. She is curious about their language and customs, but she refuses to sacrifice her true identity in order to learn these things. This scene serves as an important example of the internal battle against bigotry, racism, and oppression.

“Yet she would miss him. She didn’t want him to go. Because she was Yellow Kettle, it was hard for her to say this. She was very brave, but she was worried, or maybe she had an inkling even then of what would happen to Deydey and Father Baraga. Maybe she saw ahead and read the danger.”

In this quote, Yellow Kettle is characterized as being emotionally strong despite the worries that beset her. This characterization shows that Omakayas has learned her resilience and her vulnerability from her mother, and the scene serves as yet another example of the profound connections between the family members in the novel. This quote also highlight the Ojibwe people’s emphasis on intuition, which helps to explain Omakayas’s gift.

“Why should the spirits tell her things? She was small, she told herself, and ordinary to everybody except Nokomis and Bizheens, and sometimes Old Tallow.”

In this quote, Omakayas is characterized by her lack of self-confidence. She is still a child and therefore cannot yet acknowledge her great potential. Omakayas must trust in herself and believe that she is worthy of a great gift, and one of the primary aspects of the novel is the focus on her journey from uncertainty to acceptance.

“Usually the late sunlight, slanting long beneath the clouds, was Omakayas’s favorite time of day. Nokomis had called it the time when the Creator shows us the most beauty in the light, just so that we can remember it in our dreams, and believe in it until the next morning.”

The beauty and clarity of the late sunlight parallels the beauty and clarity of Omakayas’s journey towards self-discovery. The reference to dreams in this quote further creates this parallelism, as Omakayas’s gift lies in her powerful, visionary dreams. Because Omakayas’s journey is metaphorically reflected in nature, the author highlights how inevitable and inherent her gift is.

“Omakayas put her hand into her grandmother’s hand. Nokomis’s hand was tough and kind, just like her. Her touch was gentle, but the strength in her fingers could pull a rough medicine root or pinch off a bleeding vein.”

In this quote, Nokomis’s hands are symbolic of her deep love, wisdom, and strength. Likewise, her gentle touch highlights her gift for healing, which she is sharing with Omakayas. The juxtaposition between the strength of her fingers and the gentleness of her touch establishes Nokomis as a profoundly supportive mentor figure in the young girl’s development.

“Two Strike’s unexpected goodwill shamed Omakayas. After all of the bad thoughts she had had about Two Strike, her cousin’s rageful heart was gallant and free of jealousy. Omakayas felt humbled. She was nothing, it was true. She was insignificant and small. But then she looked at Deydey and he looked back at her. There was a warm and shining light in his eyes. Warmer, brighter, it told her she was not ordinary. Not to him. Not at all.”

Omakayas is defined through her connections to her family and tribe. Two Strike Girl and Deydey’s pride in Omakayas is representative of the pride that her entire family feels, emphasizing Omakayas’s importance to her people. The scene indicates that every contribution to the greater good is important in this community, and when she realizes this, Omakayas’s confidence and sense of self are strengthened accordingly.

“She was afraid of her dreams. She both wanted to know, and didn’t want to know, what they might tell her. Their power frightened her. They were so real, so shattering, full of such joy and sorrow. Sometimes they were just too much to feel.”

Omakayas’s journey into her spirituality intensifies as she struggles to embrace her gift and come to terms with the fact that she must grow up and assume adult responsibilities. This quote shows that Omakayas wants to remain in the innocence and freedom of her childhood. However, despite her fears, it is clear that Omakayas’s growing maturity comes from within as she learns to accept the inevitability of change.

“The events occurred so quickly that she couldn’t remember them all, though she’d try time and time again, over the coming year, for the vision she received and the stories she told, the scenes of emotion, good and bad, that she endured, was the story of her life. She had been shown the shape of it.”

Omakayas’s gift becomes integral to the well-being of her community. As is foreshadowed in this quote, Omakayas’s visions will help her family and tribe to survive a year of hardship and displacement. This quote also highlights the fact that life contains a multitude of joys, triumphs, hardships, and fears. This moment gives Omakayas and her family hope in the worst of times.

“She had seen the message, though not the messenger. She had seen the shock of sorrow and the gathering of strength. She had seen the going away. Now it was happening. She was experiencing in truth what she dreaded, what she had seen. Omakayas looked around her at the small beach and listened to the ever talking waves. All things change, all things change, they said to her. All things change, even us, even you.”

Even though Omakayas can see visions of the future, both near and far, she cannot stop or control the future. She has no choice but to allow the future to occur as it will. Understanding this distinction requires resilience and wisdom, and the contemplative moment outlined in this quote also highlights the inevitability of change.

“Omakayas could feel the difference as they left the bright, open spaces of the island and the big lake, and went into the mouth of the mainland stream. Soon the leaves closed overhead. The air went dappled green. The river was a narrow road of water through the tree-confined woods of the country of the dangerous Bwaanag.”

As Omakayas’s people leave their ancestral lands, Erdrich uses the change in setting to shift the tone of the novel and highlight the dangers that await the Ojibwe people. As the natural world around Omakayas becomes more closed in and foreboding, Omakayas’s mood shifts to foreshadow future dangers. This scene also allows Erdrich to set the stage for the next installment of the series.