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Post by shelbygraham on Jul 8, 2024 4:05:05 GMT
In section 7 of part one there is a short description of the horse called old Bird. Even though the horse was no longer needed for work, he stuck around the shed as if still important. These sentences stood out to me:
"No matter what season, what weather, he was always there. Perhaps he felt he had as much right to this place as we had, for even now he was whinnying out a welcome. He was old and had seen almost everything."
I wonder if this sense of being important, and more specifically, feeling like you have a right to be somewhere, has more meaning or applies further to the rest of the novel; not just old Bird. It seems like there is a deeper message here. Kind of reminds me of the grandmother - old, has seen a lot of life, and sticks around the house/is always there.
Anyone else feel the same?
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Post by gnicholson3 on Jul 8, 2024 7:20:02 GMT
This reminds me of the scene when Lame Bull and our protagonist are drinking together. Our protagonist remembers seeing his father drinking and joking with the white men who were "acquaintances" but "they were foreign" (33). Our protagonist seemed fixated on the idea that "somehow their lives seemed more orderly" (30). These men were apparently there often enough to warrant remembrance and recognition as drinking friends, but our protagonist also seems to other them, as if they also didn't belong in a way. It is interesting to think about how often a place must be frequented to belong to that place. It makes me wonder about the idea that when you act on something it not only changes who you are but also the environment around you.
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 9, 2024 4:47:20 GMT
Agree that Bird seems to exist outside of the narrative space and time (he does do some work on the farm, to be fair). And your likening of Bird to the grandmother is adept as well... they've both seen a thing or two, and both as still valuable even through their age.
SPOILERS
Both Bird and the grandmother die in the end, so they're linked there too.
The other thing to mention here is that Bird is involved in several of the story's most powerful moments: the accident to the narrator's knee/ Mose's death, and the scene at the end wherein Bird is killed but helps to rescue the stuck cow. The progress of the narrator between those episodes is quite important, and I think the horse helps us to understand why...
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Post by shelbygraham on Jul 9, 2024 20:05:11 GMT
Grace - That is a good connection. As the narrator shifts from the past and present, I wonder how much he has changed as a person and how much his frequenting of places changes others or himself. It makes me think about each time he visits Yellow Calf. He seems to walk away each time with a different perspective or a revelation of some kind.
Dr. Nemmers - Initially, when I made this post I wasn't very far into the book yet. I see now how involved Bird is in many significant moments. This quote kind of makes it seem like Bird is useless, at least at this point in time, however he is crucial in saving the cow and in other instances in the past. Now that I've finished the novel, old Bird really is an important or impactful character for the narrator. Bird doesn't want to be distant like the narrator; he wants to remain useful and therefore sticks around the shed.
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Post by gnicholson3 on Jul 10, 2024 8:50:22 GMT
Yes, I noticed that there was that connection with Yellow Calf and, in the first conversation they have, our protagonist claims that Theresa says Yellow Calf is dead. I wonder if we're supposed to take that at face value. Has our protagonist been speaking with death?
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Post by shelbygraham on Jul 10, 2024 13:28:51 GMT
I think Ferdinand and/or his wife also believe that Yellow Calf is dead. Not only does everyone think he's dead, it's almost as if he is a ghost to everyone but the narrator. Could it also be he is facing his own personal "ghosts" from his past? Yes, it's like he is facing/speaking with death. Very interesting, I hadn't thought of that. It seems like everyone else in his life is dead or dying. It is not unreasonable to think that he is speaking with death because he is already so familiar with it.
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 10, 2024 14:51:54 GMT
Whether or not Yellow Calf is alive or not (which is a good debate, for sure), I think we're meant to understand him as a Native authenticity touchstone. He's a man frozen in time, who was almost frozen in time, and who embodies this sort of pre-white locus that has remained separate from that world. In that sense I'd agree he's a sort of legend or ghost; whether he's alive or not, he represents the sort of unconquered Blackfeet who survives nevertheless.
Of course the grandmother plays the same sort of role, but she's sort of been taken captive and doesn't really move or say anything, and of course she dies at the end of the novel.
But Yellow Calf lives on, and presumably will be visited frequently by the narrator moving forward, now that he realizes Yellow Calf is his grandfather, and that the narrator is now a "full-blood" Native. He does play the role of a mentor of types, the Dumbledore/ Obi Wan figure, but he doesn't die, which is significant in my opinion.
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