38 pages • 1 hour read
Scott O'DellSing Down the Moon
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1970A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Fourteen-year-old Bright Morning is a member of the Navajo tribe of Native Americans, and she lives in a village populated by members of her tribe. Her name is not revealed until late in Sing Down the Moon, and even then, she states that Bright Morning is not her true name. The village is in Canyon de Chelly, near the confluence of four states: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. As the novel begins, Bright Morning is in a good mood because there are signs of spring’s return. The season, she hopes, will offer the chance to lead her mother’s sheep as they graze.
Although her mood is high, Bright Morning also feels sad as she remembers her brother. She believes the lightning strike that killed him was punishment for his pride after a successful deer hunt. Memories of her former shepherding experience also dampen her mood. A year ago, Bright Morning’s mother allowed her to take the sheep out; when a storm approached, she became scared, ran home, and abandoned the sheep. Her mother returned to the sheep with Bright Morning, and together they stayed with the sheep overnight during a snowstorm. After this experience, Bright Morning lost permission to take the sheep out. She explains that sheep are important in Navajo culture, and they belong to the women.
Chapter 2 Summary
Bright Morning is overjoyed when her mother says she can take the sheep out. As the sheep graze on the mesa, White Deer and Running Bird, two other girls watching flocks of sheep, join Bright Morning. The girls talk about being married and having children. White Deer and Running Bird tease Bright Morning for things like being too thin. They also say that someone will want to marry Bright Morning primarily because of her mother’s many sheep. Bright Morning explains that they are all friends and the teasing is in good fun. However, when White Deer and Running Bird mention Tall Boy, a brave young warrior Bright Morning likes, she becomes upset. She feels better after she points out that White Deer and Running Bird’s sheep are straying.
Chapter 3 Summary
A group of young warriors led by Tall Boy prepares to leave on a raid after a long night of celebrating. Bright Morning explains that her mother does not like Tall Boy. As Tall Boy departs, Bright Morning looks at him longingly. She takes the sheep out again, enjoying the beautiful scenery and the sight of an eagle. In the canyon below, Bright Morning notices white soldiers entering the village. Her people call the soldiers “Long Knives” for the bayonets attached to the ends of their rifles. Bright Morning is afraid because last year the Long Knives threatened to burn her village.
Bright Morning sends Running Bird to the canyon to find out what happened. The Long Knives talk to the head of the Navajo village, Old Bear. They ask about the absent warriors, and Old Bear says they are out hunting. The Long Knives explain that if the warriors are on a raid, they will kill everyone in the village and burn it down. Running Bird tries to console Bright Morning and assures her that Tall Boy is safe.
Chapter 4 Summary
That night, the villagers talk about their fear of the Long Knives. Bright Morning sings to the gods. The next day, she and Running Bird are out with the sheep again. It is another beautiful day, and Bright Morning daydreams of someday having her own sheep. Suddenly, the black dog that helps her with the sheep barks. Two Spaniards on horseback come upon Bright Morning and White Deer. At first, they chat casually, but Bright Morning recalls stories of men who captured Navajo girls and sold them into slavery. The Spaniards hit the black dog, then ensnare Bright Morning and Running Deer. As the Spaniards lead Bright Morning and Running Deer off the trail, they leave the sheep behind.
Chapters 1-4 Analysis
The traumatic events described in Sing Down the Moon stand in stark contrast to the novel’s start, which begins on a joyful note. Bright Moon greets the “day the waters came,” a symbol of spring, with happiness: “I felt like singing, I wanted to leap with joy” (1, 2). The contrast of Bright Morning’s optimism with the darkness that follows serves to heighten the poignancy of the traumatic events to come. Her joy also foreshadows the hopefulness of the novel’s conclusion, when Bright Moon returns home just as the spring rains arrive. These joyful moments bookend the horrific events of the novel’s central chapters, conveying a message of hope in the face of trauma.
As the narrator, Bright Moon enters the novel as an intelligent, thoughtful girl, despite her fears. Her friends tease her because they suspect Tall Boy is interested in her only because her “mother owned many sheep” (9, 10). Sheep are undeniably important in Bright Morning’s Navajo culture, in part because they belong to women. For Bright Morning, however, the sheep are not simply a commodity that will help her gain a husband; tending them is an opportunity to prove her independence and maturity.
Her guardianship over the flock also represents Bright Morning’s bravery. She associates her tribe’s fear of the Long Knives with the fear she felt when she left her other’s sheep out during a storm. Bright Morning notes that there seemed to be “only women and children who had nothing to say and old men who had seen the power of the white man and feared it” (19). When the Long Knives first appear, she attempts to uphold her sense of bravery, singing and thinking of her sheep. Later, Bright Morning is the only member of her tribe brave enough to escape the Long Knives, and this moment reflects the courage she later exhibits when the stakes are even higher.
The first major conflict of the novel comes not at the hands of the Long Knives, however, but the Spaniards who appear and capture Bright Morning and Running Bird. This new threat indicates the encroachment of a variety of external groups upon Bright Morning’s Navajo world. Bright Morning anticipates the nefarious intentions of the Spaniards from the moment of their arrival, revealing a sense of wisdom and forethought that will define her actions throughout the novel. When the Spaniards promise her, “[y]ou will like the place you are going,” their comments foreshadow those of Rosita, another servant (22). The assurance has little effect on the savvy Bright Morning, who is loyal to her home. Bright Morning’s refusal to accept the placating words of other characters, including her own husband, define her tenacity throughout the novel.
Related Titles
By Scott O'Dell
