Weasel

Chapter 14 is dense, with Pa’s story mixing history and the narratives of Ezra and Weasel. Pa introduces his intricate account when he tells Nathan, “It’s a long story […] I reckon—it’s time you heard the whole thing” (77). DeFelice has Pa use the real-life example of Daniel Boone to illustrate that Weasel isn’t an exception. Numerous white people were cruel and acted violently toward the Shawnee tribe, including Boone and his group of hunters. Pa notes the extent of the deadly persecution of the Indigenous people when he says, “[T]he Indian wars went on for many years” (79). However, the term “went” is misleading, implying that the oppression is over when, as Pa speaks, the lethal violence is ongoing. Pa acknowledges his complicity in the brutality when he says, “We didn’t think much about the Shawnees and how they got pushed out to make room for us. It was just the way of things” (79). In other words, Pa and Mama went along with the dominant belief systems, demonstrating DeFelice’s thematic exploration of Fraught Morals in a Lethal Status Quo. However, when Mama and Pa helped Gives-light-as-she-walks and Ezra when the town turned on them, Mama and Pa also revealed a separate moral system. They didn’t always follow the norms of the town or country.

The relationship between Mama, Pa, Gives-light-as-she-walks, and Ezra supports the theme of Needing Others and Self-Reliance to Survive. Mama helped Gives-light-as-she-walks by making Pa give them a ride in their wagon. In return, Ezra and his wife lavished the Fowlers with gifts. Ezra and the Fowlers remain reliant on each other. Showcasing their principles, Ezra helps Nathan bury Weasel, and Molly pushes Ezra to go to Kansas and live among the Shawnees. Ezra cements his bond with the Fowlers by giving Molly a locket featuring her likeness and a lock of his hair. Containing a lock of his hair on the inside, Ezra’s locket mirrors the one that Mama wore and that Pa wears now, containing a lock of his, Nathan’s, and Molly’s hair. The gift symbolizes the connection that Ezra has forged with the Fowler family. Although he is not a member of their biological family, this gift represents the bonded nature of their relationship. By constructing a new locket, as opposed to offering a lock of his hair to add to Pa’s existing locket, Ezra acknowledges that his link to them is different, as he is not a legal Fowler.

Nathan demonstrates self-reliance when he sneaks away to kill Weasel by himself. DeFelice subverts Nathan’s confidence, as the expedition doesn’t expertly unfold. Approaching Weasel’s cabin, Nathan says, “[S]omething dark and furry ran out the cabin door right past my feet. Screaming now, I fell backward into the snow, my gun flying out of my hands” (99). Nathan is overwhelmed and scared. He can’t kill Weasel by himself, and the furry creature exposes his intense jitters. The scene indicates that Nathan doesn’t have to take it upon himself to kill Weasel and that he’s not prepared to kill another person.

Weasel’s character reveals the deadly consequences of stubborn self-reliance. About Weasel’s death, Nathan speculates, “If his leg got real bad, he would have been too sick to hunt, too sick to get food and water” (101). Weasel doesn’t have any friends or allies, so when, as Nathan presumes, the leg he shot makes him sick, there’s no one to take care of him. Isolated and alienated, Weasel dies alone.

As the story concludes, Nathan’s attitude toward Accepting Pain and Embracing Positivity develops. About Weasel’s death, Nathan admits, “It didn’t make the things Weasel had done go away, or the hurt of them” (104). The emotional scars persist. The death of Weasel doesn’t represent the banishment of “hurt” because Weasel, though keenly villainous, is one of the countless hostile people. Nathan must accept that suffering doesn’t dissipate or reside in a single person and that the presence of hardship doesn’t erase the positive aspects of life—demonstrating his character growth.

The final three chapters document life’s joys. Nathan doesn’t want to go to the dance and fiddle contest, but he goes because Pa would’ve forced him to come. On their way into town, Nathan starts “singing and fooling” with Molly and Pa, and he notices that “the creatures of the forest [a]re forgetting to be cautious, too, now that spring ha[s] come at last” (108). At the festivities, Molly and Pa continue to have a good time, and Nathan also stays happy. He confesses, “I hadn’t thought about Weasel once, all day long” (114). The dance and contest show Nathan that good can coincide with bad. Embracing the holistic aspects of life doesn’t mean ignoring or downplaying the horrors. Nathan can still think about Weasel and acknowledge the pain and violence that surrounds him, but he doesn’t let it stunt his growth. Nathan’s interest in whistling and the fiddle indicates that he’s finding new ways to express himself and share his experiences with the world.

As the novel concludes, Ezra gifts Nathan his hat, bringing its symbolic role to a close. Wearing a tall, black hat associated with Andrew Jackson is an act of reclamation for Ezra. By wearing it, he turns a symbol associated with the former president, who enacted deadly violence against Indigenous people, into something that represents equality and the dignity of the Shawnee people, as he identifies as Shawnee and believes that Indigenous people are equal to white settlers. Gifting the hat to Nathan, who expresses disgust at people like Weasel, who inflict deadly violence and pain toward Indigenous people, ensures that the hat will continue to represent something positive. While Nathan doesn’t need the hat to remember Nathan, having it in his possession will allow him to never forget Ezra’s story and belief system.