63 pages • 2 hours read
Velma WallisTwo Old Women
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Character Analysis
Ch’idzigyaak
Initially named for the sound a chickadee makes, Ch’idzigyaak is an Alaskan woman who is raised in an environment of cold weather and cold hearts. At a young age, she hears her deaf and blind grandmother crying as her family and tribe abandons her to the elements because of her disabilities. Ch’idzigyaak has always remembered this display of apathy toward human life. She experiences this same indifference when her family refuses to acknowledge her wants and desires and forces her to marry a man many years her senior. In a less extreme way, she is once again part of a sacrifice meant to save society but not her soul.
At the opening of the novella, Ch’idzigyaak is an 80-year-old mother (of Ozhii Nelii) and grandmother (of Shruh Zhuu). She is considered an outcast within her tribe because of her penchant for whining. When both she and a fellow old woman are selected for abandonment, the emotional distance forced on her as a child becomes apparent as she ignores, rather than acknowledges, her departing family. Once Ch’idzigyaak is abandoned by her family and her tribe, she becomes much more self-sufficient and is able to take on the active, independent life she had once coveted as a young woman.
She is the older of the two abandoned women, and her age often causes her to fall behind. She requires more sleep and more time to stretch her joints than her companion. In comparison to Sa’, she also has a much darker take on reality and always “seem[s] to find the negative side of a situation” (46). For example, when Sa’ initially finds their old fishing spot, Ch’idzigyaak is hindered by old memories. When it comes to reengaging The People, she is much more suspicious of their ulterior motives than Sa’. It is not until the women have long been reunited with The People that Ch’idzigyaak refuses to allow her past experiences to control her present.
Sa’
Initially named after the stars her mother saw while giving birth, Sa’ is an Alaskan woman who grows up as a tomboy and only plays with her brothers. Her father allows her to continue participating in male-dominated activities despite her mother’s objections, until she becomes the object of constant ridicule. She does not have a romantic partner, and she willingly disrespects the chief. Eventually, she is deserted for defending an old woman set to be abandoned by the group. At a young age, Sa’ is faced not only with her own survival but that of an elderly dependent. Unable to keep her elder alive, Sa’ goes insane in a world where the only voice she ever hears is her own. Eventually, the young Sa’ runs into a tempestuous man whom she ends up falling in love with. Long after they join another tribe, he is killed as a result of his ever-burgeoning pride.
Compared to Ch’idzigyaak, Sa’ is the “more sensitive” (49), more uplifting, more active, and the more passionate of the pair. For example, in the initial hours after their abandonment, Ch’idzigyaak feels defeated, whereas Sa’ is motivated by revenge and righteousness. She quickly develops the motivational slogan “Let us die trying” (14) to pluck the otherwise dejected spirits of her companion. Sa’ “was stubborn and would not give up” (81). Her stubbornness is also a negative quality, such as when, in her youth, she is abandoned for defending an old woman, or when she tries to chase the bull moose and gets nothing out of it but a long day and an angry friend. However, when Sa’ focuses her stubborn energy on survival and negotiation skills, she gains respect from others and for herself. While these traits are momentarily buried by an easygoing lifestyle at the beginning of the book, her childhood vigor and determination bubble to the surface in the present-day Sa’.
The Chief of The People
The leader of The People, referred to as The Chief, is for the most part a softhearted, principled commander. He has reservations about condemning the old women to death, considering that he runs from their presence in shame and “feel[s] worse than he had ever felt in his life” (6). Unfortunately, he is so mired in tradition and concerned with his social standing and pride that he is temporarily blinded to the inhumanity of his actions. However, he is haunted by his choice. Another elder within the tribe, named Daagoo, notices The Chief’s ensuing mental deterioration as they travel. When The People return to their former camp, The Chief does not see the two women’s remnants, and he immediately fills with hope that they might still be alive. Going against the grain of policy, he designates a search party for the women—a clear attempt at reconciliation, both between himself and the women, and also a way for him to clear his conscience. When the women are found, he can barely “contain himself from embracing them” (113). In the end it is evident that his love for the women is as zealous as his regret that he ever mistreated them.
