50 pages • 1 hour read
James Alexander ThomFollow the River
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1981A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Love and Faith as a Source of Strength
Content Warning: This section includes discussions of anti-Indigenous racism, suicidal ideation, torture, potential sexual assault, wartime atrocities, and physical and psychological suffering. The source material’s use of outdated, racist language for Indigenous Americans is replicated only in direct quotations.
The protagonists, Mary and Will Ingles, rely on their love for one another to help them get through difficult circumstances after the Shawnee raid. Their faith in one another is enmeshed with their religious faith. Although they are not devoutly religious, they do complete “Sunday morning prayers” (2), and Mary prays during her journey back to Draper’s Meadow. By intertwining the couple’s romantic love for each other with their religious faith, the novel emphasizes Mary and Will’s marital commitment as a powerful source of strength amidst daunting challenges.
Mary frequently thinks of Will to keep herself motivated to survive during her ordeal. For instance, while wrestling with her feelings for Captain Wildcat and considering acquiescing to his offer to live with him, she reminds herself of her commitment to Will. When her circumstances worsen and she finds herself starving in the Appalachian wilderness and considering dying by suicide, she keeps moving by thinking of “Will, darlin’, old sturdy, furry Will, best man in Virginia” (294). This love for her husband is coupled with her appeals to God to keep her safe and motivated during her journey, as when she keeps calm with “a wordless, constant prayer of faith” (122).
Despite her dedication, Mary’s faith and love for Will and God are tested by her challenges. Mary is tempted by Captain Wildcat, who is very strong and handsome. She finds herself thinking of him at times rather than her husband. Similarly, Mary grows angry at God for putting her in this difficult situation. Mary ultimately overcomes both of these tests to reaffirm her love and faith. For instance, when her failure to start a fire on a cold night ends up protecting her from Indigenous Americans in the area, she gives “a prayer of thanks to the same Providence she had been cursing a moment before” (235).
Similarly, Will’s love for Mary deepens his faith in a positive outcome. When introduced, he describes his life with Mary as a “feeling of prayer” (18). Later, after negotiating with Snake Stick to see if the Cherokee man will contact the Shawnee on his behalf, he reflects to himself that, despite the likelihood that the mission will be a failure, “Y’ can’t do a thing without faith. Even if havin’ faith is just a matter of foolin’ y’rself as long as y’can” (217). He further councils his brother-in-law, Johnny, to have faith that Bettie Draper has survived and will return just as Mary has. The text does not refer to Will’s specific religious convictions, implying that his faith is in his wife and his love for her as much as it is in a higher power. Throughout the novel, love and faith emerge as pivotal sources of strength for the protagonists, emphasizing the interplay of romance and religion in shaping their resilience and determination.
Human Fragility in the Wilderness
Follow the River explores the fragility of people attempting to survive in the wilderness. The wilderness is beautiful but enormous and indifferent to human suffering. Mary and Ghetel, defenseless and with few resources, are forced to go to extreme lengths to survive during their trek along the Ohio and New Rivers in late fall. Ultimately, as they near complete starvation, their humanity begins to slip away, and violence more typical of animals erupts between them. They nevertheless overcome these odds to survive.
Mary and Ghetel set off on their nearly 1,000-mile trek from the Lick of the Giant Bones to Draper’s Meadow equipped with only two blankets and a tomahawk, with their limited possessions emphasizing their ineffectuality in the wilderness. They use the tomahawk to craft two hickory spears they use as walking sticks while they hike. Almost as soon as they begin their trek, the weather turns against them, and it begins to storm: “[T]he sting of blown rain peppered them […] and the sky cracked open along a tortuous blue-white seam for an instant” (158-59). Once drenched, they realize that they are hungry and have only some sodden biscuits to eat. That evening, they only have each other for warmth. After this first, terrible night, things only become increasingly worse for the pair. Mary feels “like a weightless little speck of chaff lost in a universe of tumultuous elements, shrieking trees and indifferent mountains” (197). Like the duo’s minimal equipment, Mary’s assessment of her relative smallness underscores human fragility in the immensity of the wilderness.
Despite the difficult circumstances, Mary and Ghetel attempt to maintain their humanity as long as possible. For Ghetel, this involves wearing the mare’s bell, one of the few manmade objects they have in the harsh wilderness. Ghetel insists that it’s good luck, and ultimately, Mary admits to herself that “she would have hated to throw the civilized little bell away in the wilderness anyway” (187). Mary’s singing operates similarly to keep their spirits up and remind them of home.
However, as the travelers grow ever wearier and hungrier, their fragility is increasingly exposed. Their bodies begin to give way: Mary and Ghetel lose teeth, Ghetel’s feet are so damaged that her toe bone is exposed through a wound, and Mary’s hair turns white. Once found, their bodies look cadaverous. Starvation also makes their relationship volatile. Mary slaps Ghetel when they come upon another river that they are forced to detour even though it wasn’t Ghetel’s fault. After many weeks of starving in the cold wilderness, Ghetel attacks Mary in an attempt to kill and eat her. Even in this most dire of situations, Ghetel ultimately recovers her humanity and apologizes to Mary, who forgives her. As the narrative shows, although humans are incredibly fragile in the wilderness, they can overcome many challenges through love, luck, determination, and innovation.
Relationships Between Settlers and Indigenous Americans
Follow the River explores the complex relationship between white settlers and Indigenous Americans at the outbreak of the French and Indian War. Author James Alexander Thom presents a nuanced portrait of the British settlers and the Indigenous Americans while portraying the French settlers as devious and self-serving.
At the outset, the relationships between the British settlers west of the Alleghenies and the Indigenous Americans are shown to be largely peaceable. Mary reflects that “the Indians who had passed up and down through Draper’s Meadows […] had never annoyed [the white settlers] nor given them cause for alarm” (3). Despite this, the white settlers are afraid of the Indigenous Americans and hide inside their cabins armed and ready when they come through the town. However, the conflict between the British and French empires and their associated Indigenous American allies over trade routes and territory leads to the brutal attack by the Shawnee on Draper’s Meadows.
Through Mary’s experiences as a Shawnee captive, the Shawnee are characterized as vicious, a depiction that is reinforced by British rumors and, ironically, the tribe’s similarities with white settlers. The Shawnee attack in which Mary and her family are captured is portrayed as ruthless. Early on during her time with the Shawnee, Mary expresses fear of them borne of rumors spread by white settlers, such as the notion that the Shawnee commit “rape, burning at the stake, death by slicing, dismemberment, disembowelment” (122). Indeed, Mary witnesses some terrible things while with the Shawnee, such as two men burned at the stake and the running of the gauntlet. She is horrified that, like the white settlers, including Colonel Washington, the Shawnee sell off people like “slaves.”
Despite these negative experiences, Mary also sees the Shawnee people’s humanity and civilization, adding complexity to the narrative’s depiction of Indigenous-settler relationships as Mary’s preconceived beliefs about Indigenous people are challenged. She builds a rapport with Captain Wildcat, even laughing with him when he describes how Shawnee women give birth. She notes that the Shawnee people “[seem] generally happy” and that “their life [seems] easier and more diverse than the hard, spare life in the white settlements” (108). Even after her ordeal, when Tommy returns, after being raised by Captain Wildcat, Mary notes with approval that he carries himself erect and proud, like the chieftain. Her husband Will’s experience with the Cherokee is similarly mixed. He finds their village “clean” and “orderly” and has a respectful dialogue with their chief. However, his meeting with Snake Stick is tense and tempered with threats of violence.
While the relationships between British settlers and Indigenous Americans are shown as nuanced, the French traders are exclusively portrayed as exploitative of the Indigenous Americans in their mutual alliance against the British. They are also cruel to Mary, a “British” captive. The French take advantage of the Shawnee in their trades and use the Catholic practice of confession to absolve the Shawnee of their violent acts in battle, which Will describes as an “odd use” of priests. This negative portrayal of the French is due in part to the fact that the narrative is aligned with Will and Mary’s point of view, highlighting the depth of the tensions between British and French settlers.
