Thomas King, Medicine River, Chapter 4
Note tone of narrator; mainly relates, does little explaining or commenting; rather neutral, as if an observer (e.g., p. 45). Comments and judgements mainly come from bystanders, like a chorus, e.g., p. 50; speculation from Harlan. Leaves interpretive issues in suspension.
p. 43 January "was kin" - importance of relationship (but how effective?)
p. 44 Jake: friends with the boys, generous: male circle
p. 44 Bentham Indian Reserve, Henry's joke. Mrs Osborne in denial; all Canadians. Good intentions of the integrationist.
p. 45 Jake's ill-treatment of January at game, having "fouled out"; as if rejecting comfort of woman, feminine side; January behaves as if everything is normal.
p. 45 Mrs Oswald's tall figure, long blond hair; deceptive; her stance towards life, actually a cover up for being deserted by a violent husband; p. 46 on roof one day; why this incident? -- at edge of roof, suicidal? (if so reflects Jake story)
p. 46-7 Jake's supposed suicide letter of 7-8 pages: actually written by January; another cover up, normalizing; January's fantasy of a normal marriage.
p. 47 inadequate funeral, being suicide (echo of Hamlet -- Ophelia's "maimed rites"). Mormon guy (not "priest") conducts service; enjoys Harlan's basketball analogy, "fouled out" -- reminder of Jake's violence, p. 45.
p. 47-8 Mrs Oswald's plight; Will told to leave her along; but goes to help when called. No one actually intervenes in domestic violence: patch up and ignore.
p. 48-9 January wrote suicide letter: "He should have apologized before he died" -- January's sense of the justice due to her, so supplies it herself. Letter will become a part of myth of Jake's death.
p. 50 Mrs Oswald's injuries leave permanent mark. Merely an "accident": no one talks about real cause -- cover up. She appears to be solitary.
p. 50 attempts to explain Jake and January: "That's what men do." And rehabilitation of Jake in the month after his death, p. 51: restoration of defaults, what he should have been. Improbability of final vignette: shotgun in one hand, pen in the other.
So how do the two intercutting stories relate? What differences, if any, between white and native cultures?
Document prepared April 3rd 2001