Identity and Heritage Theme Analysis

Franklin Starlight grows up knowing he is half Indian. But his guardian, the old man, isn’t Indian, and he only has irregular contact with his biological father, which means that he doesn’t know much about his heritage. In his early life, the kid’s primary connection to being indigenous comes through feeling somewhat alienated and rejected by his non-native classmates. Even his Ojibway surname, “Starlight,” holds no special meaning for him, and the old man can only teach him vague ideas about native ways. When Eldon is dying, he admits to the kid that he was always too busy trying to survive to learn much about his culture, and he can only tell him bits and pieces about his own and Franklin’s mother’s past. Between the old man’s efforts, Eldon’s deathbed stories, and an unexpected encounter with a native woman named Becka, both Frank and Eldon arrive at a fuller, if still incomplete, sense of their cultural identity. The novel suggests that one’s ethnic and cultural heritage is important to understand, though it’s not always possible for such heritage to be passed down in a comprehensive, traditional way—sometimes it comes to a person through indirect and unexpected connections.

Frank grows up unconnected to his biological heritage, but the old man does his best to provide him with a sense of it. When Frank makes his first kill, the old man marks Frank’s cheeks with the deer’s blood to symbolize his connection to the animal. Frank knows that the old man does this “Because I'm Indian.” The old man adds, “Cuz I'm not […] I can't teach you nothing about bein' who you are, Frank. All's I can do is show you to be a good person.” The old man knows there’s only so much he can do to convey a sense of Frank’s Native heritage. He teaches Frank the bits he knows—like encouraging Frank to respect the animal whose life he’s just taken—in hopes that, even if it’s inadequate culturally, it’ll add up to Frank being a good man someday.

The old man also takes Frank to visit some sacred painted rocks, figuring that though he doesn’t know their meaning, they’ll teach Frank something about who he is. Frank later tells his father, “I spent three days here once when I was thirteen. Sorta thought if I spent enough time studying them drawings I could figure out what they were supposed to tell me.” Though he still isn’t sure what the pictures are telling him, he feels pulled to remember them in case everyone else forgets. His understanding of his heritage is piecemeal and beyond his reach in some ways, yet maintaining an awareness of it—however inadequate—seems to be worth doing in its own right.

Unlike Frank, Eldon grows up mostly surrounded by his Ojibway family, but fails to connect with his heritage. When he visits the painted rocks with Frank, Eldon says that thinking about “Indian stuff” never seemed to contribute to survival, so he didn’t bother. “Most of the time I was just tryin' to survive,” he tells Frank. “Stories never seemed likely to keep a guy goin'.” Eldon never saw much inherent value in understanding his heritage. Ironically, he learns about it from his son rather than the reverse.

Frank learns about the origin of his name indirectly, too. Eldon tells him that his childhood friend Jimmy taught him his surname’s connection to old Ojibway legends of the Star People. “I never even knew where my name came from,” he admits to Frank. “Never thought to ask. When I told [Jimmy] that he got right upset […] He said that a man oughta know why he's called what he is.” In their focus on survival, Frank’s family has forgotten significant parts of their heritage. While the wider community can help supply what’s missing, that lack of knowledge can never be made up completely.

Becka, who was raised with Indian ways, models a more well-rounded way of connecting to one’s heritage. When Eldon and Frank spend the night with Becka, Eldon criticizes Becka’s offering of food to the spirits of her ancestors, calling it “witchcraft” and “a waste of good food.” Becka’s practices are unfamiliar and pointless to Eldon, while for Becka, they’re woven into the practices of daily life.

Because of her background, Becka understands better than Frank what Eldon is trying to do by seeking to die in the “warrior way.” She tells Frank, “He don't savvy spirit talk. So I know he ain't been schooled in traditional ways. […] So now he figures that goin' out in some kinda honourable fashion is gonna fetch him some peace way yonder.” Though Becka seems dubious that Eldon will find the peace he seeks, she recognizes that he’s now trying to connect with an aspect of himself that’s important, even if he’s coming around to it late in life.

Though neither Frank nor Eldon has the benefit of a life spent immersed in traditional ancestral ways, they both embrace aspects of this identity to the extent that they can. Eldon is unaware and skeptical of aspects of Indian culture, but his choice to be buried as a warrior reflects the fact that some connection to heritage is worth seeking, even at the last possible opportunity in life. Frank’s cultural heritage has been almost entirely indirect, but reconnecting with his father—even though Eldon doesn’t know much about Ojibway culture either—seems to help him arrive at a sense of himself that’s more whole. At the end of the book, Frank envisions his Ojibway ancestors traveling across Bunky’s land, suggesting that he feels more connected to his Indian identity than he did at the beginning of the book.