The Painted Drum

What is the basis for Faye and Kurt’s unusual relationship (love? power? need?), and what does it reveal about each of their characters? Why do they only meet at night and remain aloof towards one another during the day? Why does Faye think of herself as circling Kurt, “dragging my chain” (21)? How does their relationship change at the end of the novel, and why?

Contemplating the relationship between mothers and daughters, Faye proposes that mothers are “held to a standard so exacting that it has no principles” and are thereby always “to blame” (20). Discuss how the mothers in this novel—Elsie, Anaquot, and Ira—are both blameworthy and defensible. If blame is an important element of mother-daughter relationships, how is forgiveness, as well?

After arriving at John Jewett Tatro’s house to tag and catalog the contents of his estate, Faye notes that she is not a traditional Ojibwe. Why is she not? Moreover, why does she emphatically distance herself from traditional Ojibwe beliefs? How does she define her identity, and how does her self-definition begin to change the moment she steals the drum?

Faye narrates Part 1 of the novel, but the narrative perspective switches to Bernard Shaawano in Part 2. Part 3 is presented from the perspective of a third-person narrator, and Faye returns as the narrative focalizer in “The Last Chapter.” Explain how the inclusion of multiple narrators contributes to the novels theme(s) of storytelling and/or interconnectedness.

Bernard says, “There was a time when the government moved everybody off the farther reaches of the reservation, onto roads, into towns, into houses” (116), and afterwards none “of the old sorts were left, […] the old kind of people” (116). Taking into account various details in Bernard’s stories, describe the relationship the “old kind” of Ojibwe had with the land and its animal inhabitants. How does this relationship differ from that white settlers had/have?

What qualities do Old Shaawano’s daughter and Netta share? How are these qualities important and even essential with respect to the function of the painted drum?

Old Shaawano is uncertain how to “dress the drum” (173) he is making until, paddling across the lake, “[h]e saw pictures. There they were. Little girl. Hand. Wolf. The bowl of reflecting water cut in half by the yellow strip of light […]” (173). What do each of these symbols signify about the drum’s origins and purpose?

Kit Tatro is desperate to uncover blood ties between himself and some undetermined Indigenous American tribe. He wears amulets and consults with a shaman but only achieves certainty about who his people are when a caravan of Winnebago RVs allows him to avoid a collision with a Jeep Cherokee. Analyze Kit Tatro’s story as it relates to the novel’s themes. Why does Kit want to connect himself with Indigenous Americans? Does he really belong with the Winnebago?