Reservation Blues

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-5

Chapters 6-8

Chapters 9-10

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Broken Families

All of the main characters in the book come from families affected by death, divorce, or alcoholism. Thomas’s mother died when he was young, and his father subsequently became an alcoholic. Junior parents were both alcoholics who died in a car wreck. Victor’s father left. After Backgammon’s death, Chess and Checker’s mother left, and their father became an alcoholic. The problems caused by their parents continue to plague the characters.

Dreams

Throughout the book, the characters’ dreams and nightmares are described. As previously mentioned, Junior feels that his dreams should contain visions, just like those of Indians on television. While the characters may or may not gain knowledge from their dreams, the dreams often predict or foreshadow something future events, like when Thomas has a vision of someone coming into the sweat lodge and stealing the Indians’ songs. Dreams are also used as a device to reveal information about a character’s past.

The Guitar

When Robert Johnson arrives on the reservation with his guitar, he is afraid to play it for fear of calling the Gentleman. He leaves it with Thomas when he goes to Big Mom’s house. From the beginning, it is clear that the guitar has magical properties. After Victor and Junior smash it, Thomas finds that it has fixed itself over night. It then talks to him, telling him that he needs to start a band. From Thomas, the guitar passes on to Victor. Everyone who picks up the guitar is suddenly able to play wonderfully, despite having never played before. Despite the guitar’s magic, it is often unclear whether the instrument is a force for good or evil. On the one hand, it is aligned with the power of music, which has been strongly established as a positive force. It encourages Thomas to start a band so that he can help his people by playing songs for them. On the other hand, the guitar is also associated with the devil, with whom Robert Johnson bargained to gain his musical abilities. It causes great pain to those who play it, both literally by cutting their hands and metaphorically by serving as a reminder of obsession and ambition. Occasionally, it speaks in voice that is described as “strange.” During the band’s audition for the record company, the guitar seems to sabotage the performance.

“The horses screamed.”

Early in the novel, Big Mom remembers the brutal murder of Indian horses by U.S. soldiers. She hears them screaming as they are killed. Throughout the rest of the novel, the phrase “the horses screamed” is repeated. It often appears in the narrative during moments of tension or conflict. The use of this phrase serves both to heighten the stakes of the scene in which it appears and to connect the actions of the present day with tragedies of the past.

Religion and belief

Throughout the novel, many of the main characters struggle with issues of religion and faith connected both to Christianity and to traditional Indian beliefs. Chess, Checkers, and, of course, Father Arnold are devoted Catholics. Many of the other characters were raised Christian but have had bad experiences with religion. Their attitudes toward traditional Indian beliefs are more conflicted. Although none of them are overly traditional, they all turn to old customs occasionally, like when Thomas gives everyone an eagle feather during the plane ride to New York.