43 pages • 1 hour read
Thomas KingMedicine River
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Photography
Photography is a central motif in Medicine River, which both literally embodies and figuratively represents the Intersections of Past and Present with which the novel is preoccupied. Photographs are reminders of the past. They freeze a moment in time and hold it in place so that it can always be revisited. That is very much the case for David Plume, for whom the photograph of himself at Wounded Knee shows his presence at a defining moment in contemporary Indigenous history. But he also defines himself and his values in terms of his participation in the protest. He is captured by the moment, as much as the photo captures the moment.
Photographs are not necessarily revealing of the past they represent, though. As Will says of an old granny in the town portrait he takes, she was “looking right at the camera with the same flat expression that my mother had, as though she could see something farther on and out of sight” (73). Her expression itself expresses something unknowable. Likewise, the few photos that Will has of his absent father do not bring him any closer or make him known to Will in any way. Photographs in this way can represent a frustratingly unknowable past that may haunt an individual, as Will is haunted by his unknowable father through these photographs.
Will’s occupation as a photographer suggests that he is perceptive of his surroundings but not himself; he is adept at capturing a moment, but can also be entrapped by it. Yet the act of repairing a photograph, whether David Plume’s picture from Wounded Knee or Will’s own family portrait, indicates a respect for the past, much as the photographic portraits Will takes indicate a respect for his subjects. That he includes himself in the town portrait he takes is clearly suggestive of his sense of belonging, and his hanging of his repaired family portrait next to this new town family portrait indicates that past and present are no longer in such conflict for him now that he has a place in the community.
Names
Many people in Medicine River have a name that signifies something about them, as names traditionally do in Blackfoot culture. Thus, Martha Bruised Head is named after something that occurred in the past, and Louise Heavyman is, as Harlen says, formidable as her name suggests. Some names associate the person with an animal, as is the case of Harlen Bigbear: “Harlen,” an old English name that means “meadow of rabbits,” connects him with those swift and energetic animals, while “Bigbear” signifies a comforting presence. All the names mentioned thus far are hybrids of Anglo-American and Indigenous names. Thus, the name itself does not indicate whether one is fully or partly Indigenous. Nor does an Anglo-American first and last name signify that one is not at all Indigenous: Will Sampson has a white father; Lionel James has two Blackfoot parents. In fact, the only character in the novel who has a completely non-Anglo-American name is South Wing Heavyman—and “South Wing” itself is a joke meant to mimic a traditional Blackfoot name. Nevertheless, this turns out to be the perfect name for her. She is happy, flighty, and free-spirited.
In all, the names in this novel both signify and don’t; they can say something about an Indigenous heritage or not; they can signify something about the individual or nothing at all. Thomas King’s use of names cannot be reduced to any one strategy or significance, any more than names themselves can, and in this way the novel resists the oversimplifications that characterize some representations of Indigenous peoples and their naming conventions.
The Friendship Centre
The Friendship Centre is the community center in Medicine River. It is run by Big John Yellow Rabbit, and many other people from the town work there or are involved in some way. The Friendship Centre has a basketball team named the Warriors, which Will joins and Harlen coaches. Several chapters center on their games, their players, and their trip to Utah for a tournament. The team slowly improves under Harlen’s guidance and optimism and with the help of people like Clyde who play almost as well as professionals. The basketball team is also a source of support for the young men of Medicine River, and Harlen takes them under his guidance, reminding them not to drink and lecturing Clyde when he runs into trouble. He takes the team and his position seriously, and it seems to benefit everyone on the team. The Friendship Centre also falls victim to theft when Ray uses the profits from the calendar sales for his own ends, and two of the people who work at the center, Eddie and Big John, have a years-long rivalry over their differing views of what it means to be Blackfoot. The Friendship Centre is a gathering place and a representation of Life in an Alberta Blackfoot Community.
Ninastiko, or Chief Mountain
Chief Mountain overlooks Medicine River and the Blackfoot reservation. When Harlen first brings Will into Medicine River after Will moves back home, it is there at the forefront of their vision. As Harlen says of it, “That’s how we know where we are. When we can see the mountain, we know we’re home” (75). The remark points not only to its significance to the community, but also prefigures Will’s finding a home in Medicine River.
Although equated with home, Chief Mountain and the surrounding geography are radically different from the Great Plains landscape where the Blackfoot people lived until forced to move away by European settlers. It bears no connection to their ancestral ways, and yet the fact that this rugged area, seasonally harsh, is home speaks to the adaptability and resilience of the Blackfoot people.
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