this must be one of the most insightful, informed and informative discussions we've been having in the club! I have finally finished the book, too, and going through all the posts so far has been thoroughly fascinating.
I have enjoyed the book first and formost for Welch's ability to make the reader experience the life in the camps: the language used is most effective in this respect, and after the first few pages in which I had to find my pace, I got completely comfortable with Cold Maker, Morning Star and the grease-shooters. For this alone I must repeat my thanks to BelleZora for the great selection (
The Inconvenient Indian is going to be next :-) ).
In terms of story inside this novel, however, I am less enthusiastic: I too found the magical realism in the last part excessive (which is a matter of personal taste anyway), but more importantly for me many of the characters came across as rather flat, or put it differently I could not reconcile myself with the degree to which most characters were wise, superhumanly patient and collected.
On the other hand, thinking back to this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
For the secular reader, I think the dreams and visions related in this style are justifiable. Some can be seen as a goad. It doesn't matter whether Fools Crow truly freed the wolverine; he thinks he did and acts accordingly. There's also a significant element where the dreams can be evoked in light of events. Did Raven tell the Napikwan about Red Paint and set up the justifiable murder? Or was this just how Fools Crow reconciled his killing of him?
If Fast Horse had had a successful raid and not caused the capture of Yellow Kidney, would his dream have been tweaked so that he did as Cold Maker said? Almost certainly. The title of the book tells us so. White Man's Dog didn't actively fool Bull Shield; there was a huge element of luck involved, but the story evolves so that it was all a cunning plan, Fools Crow gets his name, and even he comes to believe in the story, more or less. It takes Raven, his inner voice, to recall him to the facts.
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the dreams and visions are indeed the perfect tools to pacify conscience.