The Barren Grounds

Eli is Morgan’s foster 12-year-old brother whom she has only known for a few weeks. He is a member of the Cree tribe, and (according to Morgan) looks and dresses like he is. This does not mean he is confident, however; in fact, he is initially so quiet and withdrawn that Morgan is shocked when he first asks her a question. Katie and James’s home is Eli’s first foster care placement, and he doesn’t want to talk about how he ended up in the foster system.

Eli loves to draw, and he brings his oversized drawing pad everywhere. When he loses his drawing pad he is despondent, and this leads to his and Morgan’s first real connection, as she obtains a new pad for him. Eli drawing Misewa and then choosing to go there is also the catalyst for Morgan’s journey to Askí. To Eli, the wintery fields of the Barren Grounds are more like home than Katie and James’s house.

Eli is very withdrawn, but his journey in Misewa makes him bolder. His inner strength and peace is what redeems the wolf: Eli asks Ochek not to kill the wolf, expressing faith that the wolf can change and demonstrating how he himself has grown by changing the wolf’s bandages alone. Even as he becomes braver, however, Eli remains a kind and gentle soul, and his goodness reminds Morgan, Ochek, and Arik to be good as well.

“Ochek” (“fisher” in Cree) is a carnivorous talking animal that looks like a mix between a red panda and a beaver. Morgan describes him as having “black eyes, brown fur, rounded ears, a snout with a black nose and white whiskers” (85). He is the hunter for Misewa because he is the youngest and strongest, and he takes care of all the villagers. He is also wise. He serves as a mentor for Morgan, Eli, and Arik. His mantra is: “We have to do what we can to survive. We honor each animal, two-legged or four, that gives of themselves for us” (124). Ochek provides key background information, telling Morgan and Eli (and the novel’s readers) about the history of Misewa and its dealings with humans. Ochek is knowledgeable about the land and helps the group by providing food and shelter and protecting them from the wolf. He is also skilled with medicine and nurses the wolf back to health after he injures him.

Ochek is a dynamic character who changes throughout the story. At first, he is tired and so focused on fighting for survival that he is willing to kill Arik, another talking animal, if it will help Misewa. Later, Ochek gets a chance to kill the wolf but shows mercy; he is now doing what he knows is right, even if it costs him. His ultimate purpose to the story is sacrificial. He is killed after releasing the summer birds, but his sacrifice leads him to be turned into a constellation—a role in which he serves as a reminder of the past. His sacrifice frees Misewa from the White Time and allows Morgan, Eli, and Arik to live and be free.

Arikwachas, whose friends call her Arik, is a squirrel who first appears stealing from Ochek’s traps. Arik is clever and fast, and she fights for survival against the odds: Arik knows the location of the Green Time, so she negotiates with Ochek (who initially wants to kill her) to guide the group there.

Arik is proof that the Misewa villagers can be prejudiced. Because she is smaller, she knew that when the villagers got desperate, they would turn on her and kill her. This is why she left: “[W]hen you’re a smaller two-legged pisiskiw [animal], and everybody’s hungry because of the White Time, it becomes a bit like survival of the biggest…and fittest. I’m fit, not big” (133). Nevertheless, Arik wants to belong to a community, which is why she negotiates with Ochek. She thinks that if she leads the group to the Green Time the villagers will let her come back and live in Misewa.

At the end of the novel, the villagers do in fact welcome Arik back into the fold. Arik served Misewa by guiding the group to the Green Time and risking her life to free the summer birds, and she is rewarded with the community she desired.

Mason is the antagonist of the story. He is the man who stole the summer birds from Misewa and brought the White Time on the land. His name, Mason, is not revealed until the final confrontation; before then characters simply refer to him as “the man.”

Mason entered Askí through the portal in the Great Tree and initially lived in peace with the villagers. However, he eventually began to want more than he needed: “You might think he would get full and content, consuming everything the way he was, but it was the opposite. He became gaunt and tired, and the more he took, the more he needed” (99). The man consumed until the village decided to kick him out for endangering all of them, but before they could send him back to Earth, he stole the summer birds.

When Morgan finally comes face to face with Mason, she notices that he is not a larger-than-life villain but simply “an ordinary, middle-aged white man” (213). Mason symbolizes the European colonizers who came to the Americas promising to live in peace but then turning on the Indigenous peoples, taking their land and destroying both it and the people they displaced. The idea that these colonizers were not uniquely evil implies that even “ordinary” people are capable of great harm when they do not respect the environment or their fellow humans. Ultimately, Mason’s greed and ambition—his desire to own everything rather than to simply use what he needs—destroys him.