34 pages • 1 hour read
Ella Cara DeloriaWaterlily
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1988A 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 9-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary
One night, Rainbow hears what he believes to be a whippoorwill during dinner. He throws a bone in the direction of the sound, and it stops. He goes out to investigate and sees a Crow scout with the bone in his temple. He makes the announcement: “I have killed my enemy in a direct hit” (84), rousing the community. He wants Little Chief to “strike first coup,” which involves Little Chief touching the dead warrior with his bow, in a “vicarious honor for a vicarious deed” (85).In this way, Little Chief claims symbolic responsibility for the warrior’s death. The camp circle must leave because the war party will soon come after them when they realize their warrior is dead.
Later, Little Chief joins a war party “determined on reprisal” (87)after an enemy party infiltrates their camp, scalps three children, and steals supplies. The war party has “a complete triumph” (89)and recovers stolen items. During their expedition, the older men put Little Chief through a series of tests to prove himself. His uncle Bear Heart awards him with flutterers—“four long feathers trimmed to their naked quills and tightly bound together at the base with a cord of sinew” (91). This symbolizes his success in scouting. Little Chief also kills his first buffalo, which is an important rite of passage. He narrates his experience to the community.
Chapter 10 Summary
Rainbow is “bidden to the Kit Fox society” (95). It is a military order, one of the six ancient societies in the tribe, and its members mostly function as “messengers, scouts, camp police, in short, as guardians of the camp” (97). A herald comes to invite Rainbow into the society.
Rainbow goes to see Palani, one of his best friends, or “fellows,” who is at “death’s door” (98). The whole family sets out to go visit him. The family discusses white people and American soldiers, or “Long Knife soldiers” (100). They reach Palani’s camp where they are welcomed. They decide to stay a few days for the annual Sun Dance celebration. Another tribe, the Omahas, arrive. The two tribes face each other on the plains for the first ritual. The Dakotas are “hosts” and the Omahas are “guests” (110). The Omahas sing for the Dakotas, and the Dakotas give Omahas gifts. Then the ritual is reversed, with the Omahas acting as hosts and the Dakotas as guests. Waterlily notices Lowanla, “the youngest and the handsomest of the singers” (111).
Chapter 11 Summary
The Sun Dance rites continue over the next several days. There is a ritual to get the “sacred pole” (114). During this ritual, eight young men and women cut down a tree in the forest, and Waterlily and her cousin Prairie Flower participate. A holy man performs the “Peace Pipe rite” (115)and apologizes to the birds for removing their home. The Sun Dance lodge is built around the pole, and this becomes the central site for the remaining days of the rituals.
Dancing begins that night. The dancers have all asked the Great Spirit for something in the previous year, and they have all made vows in exchange for their request. Some make bodily sacrifices, like Lowanla, who has vowed to give 100 pieces of flesh, which is “the most extravagant” (128)pledge. After the priest removes 10 pieces of flesh from Lowanla, his aunts and sisters offer to give the rest. The men continue dancing and fasting for days in order to repay their debt to the Great Spirit. During the night, some women sneak into the lodge to give them water. Waterlily sneaks out to give Lowanla water, but she runs away before he sees her. On the final day, the priest hangs onto the pole and wails. Waterlily and her family return to White Ghost.
Chapters 9-11 Analysis
These chapters further explore the theme of familial closeness as a part of kinship. Much sharing happens among members of a family. When Rainbow kills the Crow warrior, he transfers the honor to his son. Blue Bird tells Little Chief:“Do not forget that you have a father who is so unselfish as to transfer the honor he has earned to his son” (85). Rainbow is selfless in order to transfer a gift to his son, thus elevating the boy within the community. So, too, does the closeness continue between brothers and sisters. Waterlily shares in her brother’s honor, and “as the sister of a warrior she was the proper person to carry the scalp in the victory procession” (86). The honor does not belong to just one person, but to other members of the family. Though Waterlily ultimately chooses not to participate, the honor remains. Furthermore, closeness does not only belong in the family, but it also extends to other members of the tribe. The author describes fellowship, which is “a solemn friendship pact that must endure forever” (99). Rainbow and Palani share such a pact, in which their closeness is much like that shared between family members.
Misogynistic tendencies and enforced gender roles also emerge in these chapters. As children grow, men must learn to be warriors while women must learn domestic skills. This extends to attitude as well. Waterlily is praised because she is “reticent and demure from watching the conventional behavior of her cousin” (87). Girls who are bolder and louder are criticized. In this way, children are indoctrinated into the value system and internalize it as they grow, so the system is perpetuated.
These chapters also continue the motif of rituals and ritual objects. When Little Chief succeeds in his scouting tests, Bear Heart gives him flutterers, “the symbol of scouting” (91). An object stands in for Little Chief’s ability as a scout. The Sun Dance is also a significant yearly ritual. Throughout the year, the Dakotas beg the Great Spirit for various favors, and in return they make pledges to repay it. Of the Sun Dance, the author notes, “in importance it was rated higher than any other ceremonial” (113). The Dakotas place high value on reciprocity—by asking for something, they must give something back in return. This ritual is also a marker of gratitude and closeness to nature and the spiritual realm.
