Calling for a Blanket Dance

“Turtle had landed a job at a department store called TG&Y, where she stocked the clothing racks, and already loved the job.”

This passage speaks to the theme of Resilience in the Face of Systemic Oppression. Although there are many factors working against Turtle, she is able to find herself a better job than her previous position as an agricultural worker and, because of the job, is able to secure a home loan.

“That’s when I realized I didn’t have memories anymore. The alcohol had taken them from me.”

These lines speak to the theme of Generational Trauma in this text. Alcohol is both the cause of generational trauma and a self-medication technique that various characters use to cope with that trauma. However, Hokeah does focus on hope and resilience in the novel, and although alcohol addiction is an issue that several characters face, Ever does not experience it. Hokeah thus also shows the possibility of redemption and healing.

“I wanted to teach them about their culture.”

Vincent speaks these lines. It is important to him that his grandsons learn about their Kiowa heritage from him. From their mothers they have only learned about the Cherokee side of their family. Teaching his children about their culture will become its own kind of resilience, and both Ever and his children will find a redemptive strength in cultural knowledge and ceremony.

“My daughter gave me more than material items too that day, she gave me the power to heal my grandsons.”

Vincent wants desperately to teach his grandsons about their heritage and decides to make them ceremonial regalia for the Gourd Dances. This regalia will end up being what Vincent passes down to the boys, because he dies shortly after completing the ceremonial outfits.

“Later that evening Ever and Sissy sat in the backseat of a squad car alongside Turtle. It was the medication since he lost his kidneys, his mother said, as if Everardo’s aggression was explainable. The police officer paid little attention, and he drove them to Tahlequah’s battered women’s shelter.”

This passage speaks to the way that violence emerges as a motif. Each generation struggles with it. The trauma of growing up with a violent parent becomes its own kind of generational hurt. Ever and Leander will work tirelessly to help Ever’s children overcome the anger that so often manifests as physical violence.

“Time, like masks, could make us reclaim the best of who we were and purge the worst of what we’ll become. Ever faced the mask, faced his fears, and I hoped the mask healed him the way it once healed all Cherokees.”

This passage speaks to the theme of Resilience in the Face of Systemic Oppression. It is largely through family and through connection to traditional Kiowa practices that these characters are able to heal from generational trauma.

“Turtle told me about the holes in the walls. He had been expelled from school for breaking a kid’s nose. She grew scared of her own son.”

This passage speaks to the motif of violence within the novel. Here, Ever begins to engage in violent behavior because of a trauma that he is too young to understand. He will struggle against this until finding a strong enough sense of self. He will not only overcome his own propensity for violence, but he will also help other struggling young men.

“He was too mad and too young to understand. But we’d grown up with an alcoholic father.”

Traumatized young people often lack the ability to understand the origin of their anger and pain. They often exhibit behaviors such as violence or self-harm that are the result of their having been traumatized at a young age. Ever’s mentorship and guidance will eventually focus on helping such children heal.

“Your Monte had all its windows busted out and the tires were flat. You had some dude pinned against the trunk of the car and were working over his face.”

Here again readers see evidence of Ever’s generational trauma. He does not understand why he is so angry both at himself and at other people. It will only be through years of self-discovery and hard work that Ever will come to know the root causes of his anger.

“Being Kiowa will forever be about how we dance together.”

This passage speaks to the theme of Resilience in the Face of Systemic Oppression. It is largely through traditional Indigenous practices and through strong family connections that these characters heal from their generational trauma, and these lines illustrate the interconnected nature of Indigenous ceremony and community and familial bonds.

“That week I crossed my daughter’s file, DOB 7/15/1979, only 16 years old and she had her first pre-natal appointment.”

This passage speaks to the theme of Generational Trauma. Turtle, who has herself been impacted by a parent with addiction and a spouse with unresolved trauma, now sees her daughter making the same mistakes that she did.

“I myself had finally escaped his abuse, but not before he taught our children to take the same.”

This passage speaks to the theme of Generational Trauma. Turtle’s son Ever has inherited much of his own father’s unresolved trauma, anger, and pain. Through the course of the narrative, he will come to help his own children move away from their pain. This text ultimately ends on a hopeful note, showing that it is possible to heal from generational trauma.

“How could she raise four kids when she wasn’t raised right herself?”

Sissy speaks these lines about Lonnie Nowater’s mother, but they also speak to the theme of Generational Trauma. Many of the characters in this book struggle in their own lives because they were the product of parents who themselves struggled. Each generation passes down its pain to the next.

“He was prone to the rage he inherited from our father.”

This passage speaks to the theme of Generational Trauma. Ever inherits his father’s anger issues, and in turn passes them on to his own children. He does make an attempt to heal and to help his children heal as well. Ultimately, Ever is able to break the cycle of pain and abuse.

“He gets that way about military things, salutes when he sees the US flag, one of those guys.”

This passage speaks to the theme of Identity Development. Through his military service, through committed parenting, and through his work with at-risk youth, Ever is able to heal from generational trauma, to develop a strong sense of self, and to help others heal.

“Little did these young guys understand what a powwow was, how it was a place to be rescued, healed, given a second chance.”

This passage speaks to the theme of Resilience in the Face of Systemic Oppression. Indigenous values, beliefs, practices, and ceremony are a large part of the healing process, and it is through the way in which such customs encourage community and familial bonds that characters like Ever find strength and resilience.

“‘They named her after Ever’s mother,’ I said. ‘Turtle Faith Geimausaddle.’”

Although generational trauma is often what is passed down in this family, strength, belonging, and togetherness also pass from one generation to the next. Ever gives his daughter his mother’s name in order to help the baby find the strength that she needs to live in spite of her congenital issues.

“We were a big group: My parents and grandparents, and Turtle and then Sissy and Ever’s aunt Lila, uncle Hank and cousin Quentin.”

All of Ever’s family gathers in the hospital around his dying baby girl. This passage speaks to the theme of Resilience in the Face of Systemic Oppression in that it depicts the deep familial bonds from which many of these characters draw strength and resilience.

“I dropped my head in defeat and then looked over at Ever. His hand was out.”

This passage speaks to Ever’s characterization. He is able to heal from his generational trauma, and after doing so he is able to give back to his family and his community by helping others, such as the young Leander, heal from their trauma.

“Ever told me how a Cherokee mask had helped him overcome his fear of his father.”

This passage speaks to the importance of traditional Indigenous practices. Reconnecting with both Cherokee and Kiowa traditions becomes part of the healing process for both Ever and his children.

“I’m calling for a blanket dance. This one is for my nephew Ever Geimausaddle, and his kids. The company he worked for lost all of its funding so he was laid off, and his car was repossessed. He’s having a hard time getting his kids to and from school.”

This passage speaks to the importance of community within this text. The community pulls together to help individuals in need, like Ever and his family towards the end of the narrative. In this way, readers understand that Ever’s community has the power to heal itself.

“Shiloh had this rage about him when we first met.”

This passage speaks to the theme of Generational Trauma. So many of these characters inherit their pain from past generations, but there is also room for hope, and the novel ends with a portrait of healing and reconciliation.

“We’re taking the first 50 applications. It was an off chance, but my only chance. So I prayed.”

This passage speaks to the precarity in the lives of so many of these characters. Their wellbeing hinges on a series of circumstances over which they have very little control.