Rez Dogs

“Why are all those dogs tied to people like that? Don’t they have any lives of their own? How come they’re not allowed to run free?”

Malian said this to her parents when she was five. It was her first trip to Boston and she saw city dogs on leashes, something she had never seen on the reservation where dogs are free. This quote ties into the motif of freedom: Rez dogs are free, but Indigenous people living on reservations must fight for their freedom of expression. In the city white people are free, but their dogs are not. This quote also highlights city people and white people’s need for control.

“[N]o one else walking by […] maybe not even knowing the three of them were Indians—Dad in his suit, Mom in her best jeans, and Malian in her new Catholic school uniform, three rez dogs in the city. That was how she saw them back then and saw herself still.”

Malian remembers that on her first trip to Boston with her parents, the three of them ran down the street laughing and barking like rez dogs. They were joyfully celebrating their Indigenous heritage but looked just like everyone else in the city. This quote underscores the deep connection Malian feels to her Wabanaki roots despite living in Boston and attending a Catholic school.

“That’s the way our Creator meant it to be, that one day young people might know the blessing of being able to take care of those who cared for them when they were young.”

Malian’s father writes these words on a note to Malian, along with cookies they send during the COVID-19 lockdown. This quote highlights the principles of caring, respect, and gratitude that Wabanaki people abide by, and how they believe that taking care of others is a privilege and a joy, not a chore.

“Then she shook her head. The way things were, she had to be responsible—she couldn’t think first about fun like a little kid.”

This moment highlights Malian’s maturity and protectiveness toward her grandparents. Malian’s Penacook friends have asked her to sneak out and join them. Malian is tempted, acknowledging that she is sometimes bored. However, as this quote shows, Malian’s responsible nature overrides her desire to have fun with her friends. She no longer sees herself as a kid, even though she is only in eighth grade, and takes her role in protecting her grandparents seriously.

“Now, first of all, maybe us kids don’t get COVID 19 as bad as adults do, but we can give it to our elders. You three guys all have grandparents at home. So you should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Bruchac uses Malian’s reaction to her friends breaking the rules of lockdown to educate the reader about the reasoning behind the COVID-19 restrictions. Malian scolds her Penacook friends for breaking the restrictions, reminding them that the rules are in place for the safety of their elders. This quote underscores how difficult the pandemic was for children—being told they were not severely affected by the virus, but that they could still not go out. Malian understands their frustration but holds herself to a higher standard.

“[I]f you see someone coming to your house with the express purpose of doing good for you, leave quickly by the back door.”

Grandma Frances is quoting her favorite American philosopher, Henry David Thoreau. Grandma always used this quote when talking about Indigenous children being fostered out to white families or being taken away by Indian School Attendance Officers. Thoreau was one of the few white authors who wrote about Indigenous people that Grandma has respect for, appreciating that he lived with and “loved the New England Indians” (53). This quote shows the mistrust that Grandma has for government officials claiming to have the Indigenous population’s best interests at heart.

“[I]n the nineteenth century when there was that potato famine over in Ireland, some of our Indian people pooled money together and sent it to help them.”

Grampa Roy is telling Malian how the Indigenous community helped Irish people during the potato famine, an example of The Importance of Unity During a Crisis and how the spirit of giving is a defining characteristic of Indigenous culture. This quote highlights that the spirit of giving extends to all people, regardless of nationality, culture, or location.

“Gluskonba nodded. ‘That is how it will be. You will always be a friend to them, a better friend than some of them deserve.’”

This quote is taken from the end of the story of “how it came to be that dogs always walk beside us?” (68), told by Grandma to Malian. The Creator gave Gluskonba the power to change animals to make them able to live with humans, who he was about to create. Dogs were the only animals that needed no adjustment and were excited to live with humans, so they were “blessed” to always be human’s friend. This story and quote, provide some insight into the mutual respect held between Wabanaki people and the rez dogs, exemplified by Grampa and Grandma Frances’s acceptance of Malsum. This quote also implies that dogs have held up their end of the relationship better than humans.

“‘Wish we’d had a dog like that when I was little. Might’ve kept them from taking me away to that dang Indian school.’ Or my mom to foster care, Malian thought.”

Grampa Roy comments on Malsum scaring off the government official who tried to enter Grampa’s house and check whether it was “fit” for Malian. This short quote captures several important points. It highlights Malsum’s protective instinct against government officials while reminding the reader why Indigenous Americans need that protection: Malian’s grandparents were sent to a “dang Indian school,” and Malian’s mother was needlessly taken into foster care.

“Now, through the stories her grandparents were sharing, she was getting to travel in another way, feeling her spirit travel through time, being part of something so much older, so much deeper.”

When Malian’s grandparents mention Ireland, Malian muses that she would love to visit other countries but worries that she may not be able to, given the global disruption caused by COVID-19. Malian’s thoughts of travel turn to appreciation of places she has been able to visit, and (as shown in this quote)—appreciation of how her grandparents’ stories transport her to magical, meaningful places without having to physically travel. This quote exemplifies how belonging to the Penacook community is not limited by geographical or temporal borders.

“It was tough here on the rez, getting much of anything, and the Internet was no exception.”

Malian misses her online lesson because the Internet connection on the reservation is so bad. Without belaboring the point, this quote suggests the many challenges for children living on the reservation; bad Internet connectivity is just one of the many substandard services that the Indigenous people living on reservations have to put up with.

“Sometimes I think men grew them just so they wouldn't look like all the white people thought us Indians oughta look. Clean shaven and wearing a headdress like Sitting Bull.”

Malian and her grandparents are looking through old photo albums at pictures of their ancestors from the late 1800s and Malian has commented on the handlebar mustaches that all the men seem to have. This quote is Grampa Roy’s reply. It highlights the historical (and current) divide between Indigenous tribes and white people, and the determination of Indigenous people not to be seen as stereotypical caricatures. This quote also suggests that white people did not bother to get to know or understand Indigenous people, preferring to assume that all Indigenous people are the same as Sitting Bull.

“Which is why you want to read their books […] Not because they got it right, but because you always want to know what they are thinking about us.”

Grandma Frances explains why she has almost “every book written about any of the Native American nations of New England” (124), most of them written by white people. She wants to know what white people think of Indigenous Americans. This highlights the great divide and mistrust that exists between Indigenous people and white people. It underscores the arrogance that white scholars had toward Indigenous populations, where ethnologists drew sweeping conclusions about entire tribes from a distance. Grandma sees Henry David Thoreau as an exception, since he took the time to genuinely get to know the New England Indigenous American nations.

“Malian, do you know who you remind us of right now? The one in our old stories who is called the Woman Who Walks Alone […] The one who needs no man to tell her what to do, although when others need help, she is always there.”

Malian’s father is telling Malian a traditional story during one of their FaceTime calls, in which he can sense she is feeling homesick. The story is about a woman who is involved in all aspects of nature, always available to help others without having to be told what to do. When Malian’s father compares her to the woman in the story, Malian swells with pride and she feels lucky to be able to help her grandparents. This quote underscores the power of traditional storytelling to motivate and uplift people. It means a lot to Malian that her father is proud of her, showing the depth of Malian and her father’s relationship.

“Them nuns left me some souvenirs. Every knuckle on both my hands got broken at one time or another from being hit with that heavy ruler sister Anna Louise always kept in her pocket.”

Grampa Roy shows Malian one of his bent fingers and explains what happened. The quote details the abuse that Grampa Roy experienced at the Indian School at the hands of the Catholic nuns. Importantly, the casual way in which Roy describes the abuse, right after saying that it wasn’t all bad, shows how routine the abuse was for him and other Indigenous children.

“The only ones upset were the Indian Health Service. They thought for sure they had made certain your grandmother wouldn't have any more children.”

Grampa Roy chuckles as he says the above lines while looking at old photographs and reminiscing about their “miracle baby,” Malian’s father Thomas. Grampa tells Malian how surprised they were to conceive Thomas because Grandma Frances had been put though enforced sterilization. The lighthearted way in which Grampa Roy talks about their “surprise” conceals the horror of what Indigenous women went through—involuntary sterilization when they thought they were going to the clinic for a free health “checkup.”

“If we could still go out like we did in the old days, gathering medicine from the woods and fish from the streams, there'd be no need to go to any grocery store.”

Grandma Frances comments on how things used to be different for Indigenous populations. This quote is a reminder of how much freedom the Wabanaki people have lost as a community. At various points in the narrative, reference is made to the sparce supplies and substandard services available for people living on Indigenous reservations, emphasizing the pathos of this quote. It was not only their habitable land that the Wabanaki people lost; they also lost everything they gathered from it, including traditional medicines.

“You're supposed to write something that has to do with everything that's going on right now. But I'm not even sure where to start. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”

Malian is telling her grandparents about her school assignment and how she is stuck because she has no frame of reference. The COVID-19 pandemic is the first global disease outbreak that most people will have experienced, especially young people like Malian—everything about this period feels new, scary, and uncertain. The only experience Malian has is that of being isolated with her grandparents and hearing about the devastating effects the virus is having on her people— things which are difficult for an eighth grader to process. This quote opens the door for Malian’s grandparents to educate her about when her ancestors experienced something like this before.

“By the time those Pilgrims landed on the coast to the east of here, all that they found was empty land because our people there had died or run to get away from all that sickness […] Maybe what you ought to write is just Been There, Done That.”

This quote follows from the previous. Grampa Roy tells Malian that their ancestors have in fact been through crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. He puts the COVID-19 pandemic in context, pointing out that millions of Indigenous people died after Columbus, bringing with him diseases and war, landed in America.

“I never told him how afraid I'd been. I never told him what it taught me that day. Even though I thought I wasn't racist, something in me was still afraid of people with skin color different from mine.”

Ms. Mendelson is telling her eighth grade class about an incident she had with an old student of hers, a Black 10th grade boy. He noticed Ms. Mendelson drop her phone and caught up with her to give it back. Ms. Mendelson saw a Black man in a hoodie following her and assumed he was going to mug her—a racist assumption she has not been able to forgive herself for. This quote shows the importance of critical self-reflection. Everyone likely possesses subconscious bias, the novel implies. Ms. Mendelson reflected on her own biases, allowing her to confront them and learn from the experience.

“[L]et's use this chance to get to know each other better. That way, maybe something good can come out of this hard year. That's what I hope.”

Ms. Mendelson uses her own experience of misjudging someone based on their skin color to educate her students about the importance of understanding and getting to know each other better. She realizes that the isolation felt by many during the pandemic must be countered by being part of a collective, even if only during Zoom meetings. She is highlighting the importance of Community, Resilience, and Knowing That You Belong—of being part of something bigger with other people, not just your familiar group.

“Those were the old days, not the good old days […] no one should feel guilty about the past, unless they're not doing anything about the present.”

Malian has just described to her class over Zoom how her mother was taken as a child from her family, and that her grandparents were sent to boarding schools. Malian is honest about her family’s history and the gravity of what they experienced, while at the same time stressing that those were the “old days.” In this way, the novel suggests that we should acknowledge the atrocities of history without getting lost in guilt; instead, we should work toward creating a better future.

“We need to be kind to each other and to all living things, make the circle strong for those who come after us. Instead of just standing up alone like those first stone people, we need to bend our knees and touch the earth.”

In this quote, Malian stresses the importance of community, kindness, and respect for the natural world—characteristics true to the Wabanaki ethos. She uses a metaphor, where something is compared to something else without using “like” or “as.” She implies that we, as humans, should be like the humans that the Creator remade and remodeled on the ash tree—“we need to bend our knees and touch the earth.”