The River We Remember

Noah Bluestone is the novel’s only Indigenous character. A Dakota man, the narrative refers to him as Sioux until he corrects the terminology himself. His ancestors were among those dispossessed of their land after the Dakota War. Cultural identity is important to Noah, and he spends many evenings at Inkpaduta Point, which is sacred ground to him. Although his forbears were robbed of their land and he lives now within a community that is often hostile to him because of his Indigeneity, Noah has his own farm, a happy marriage, and a relationship with his ancestral land. This speaks to the text’s broader interest in the persistence of Indigenous culture in the face of attempted erasure. Noah is an honorable man, and although he is subject to anti-Indigenous prejudice, men like Tom Dern, who knew him in high school, understand him to be ethical and upstanding. This temperament is evident in his willingness to go to prison for a crime he did not commit so that the mother of his son can spend her remaining years with her children. Noah is also willing to defend his family with his life; he dies avenging Kyoko.

Jimmy’s death is the novel’s inciting incident, and his characterization happens entirely through the characters’ memories and the investigation into his murder. He is the story’s antagonist and is shown to have been sexually abusive towards multiple women. The area’s largest landowner, he embodies the decades-old conflict between white and Indigenous communities: His family got their land when they stole it from Dakota people who had been forced out of the area after the Dakota War of 1862. Far wealthier than his neighbors, Jimmy claimed to have been descended from Irish kings and made a show of fancy dress, even though all the other farmers in and around Jewel wear clothing better suited to agricultural work. A heavy drinker and difficult to get along with, he was not popular during his lifetime. He was a serial abuser of women and had engaged in offenses ranging from unwanted physical contact to rape with members of his own family and his staff. He sexually assaulted his daughter Fiona for many years and was ultimately killed by his wife because he had begun to prey upon his younger daughter Colleen. However, because he had been white, when it seems evident that an Indigenous man had killed him, the townspeople rally around his memory. Jimmy is an illustration of the fallacy of associating ethics with wealth and status: He was the town’s most prestigious member, but also its most violent, predatory, and immoral.

Connie Graff is the retired sheriff in Black Earth County. He works with Brody part-time and is an important part of the investigation into Jimmy Quinn’s death until he quits to protect Kyoko. He is in many ways a stereotypical rural law enforcement officer, with his Stetson hat, hand-rolled cigarettes, and fondness for beer. Like many of the men in Jewel, he is solitary, contemplative, and haunted. He blames himself for the death of his wife: Although he had been a smoker, it was Myrna who died of lung cancer, and he cannot forgive himself. Connie cares for Brody. He helps his struggling friend by gifting him the dog Hector, and Hector becomes Brody’s most important companion. Jewel is, although troubled, in many ways also a closely-knit community, and Connie illustrates that. He is devoted to his friends and fellow townspeople and although troubled and lonely, frequently acts with others in mind. After Noah is jailed, Connie quits working at the sheriff’s office because he fears for Kyoko’s safety. Connie himself had initially been convinced of Noah’s guilt, so he understands first-hand the role that prejudice plays within the community. He strikes up a friendship with Kyoko, and there is a sense that the two are united by a shared sense of both morality and loneliness.

Angie (Evangeline) Madison runs the Wagon Wheel Café in Jewel. A war widow, she moved to her husband’s hometown in Minnesota and remained after he was killed in the war. Angie is a secondary character within the narrative, but a complex one. She is Brody’s love interest, and although she is characterized in part by the large role she plays in her community—she is kind, popular, and the proprietor of everyone’s favorite restaurant and meeting place—her most important role is to showcase the complexity of individuals. The revelation of Angie’s past as a sex worker when her journals are accidentally put in the church donation threatens to ruin her reputation in Jewel despite all her contributions to the community. Krueger is interested in representing identity as a composite: Very few people are truly good or truly bad in this story, and Angie’s past as a sex worker does not mark her as undesirable. Rather, she is shown to have made the best of a difficult situation and to have retained a strong ethical core throughout her life. She is additionally accepting of Brody when he reveals what he feels to have been his unforgivable sin during the war—killing his comrade—and thus further models empathy and understanding.

Garnet Dern is both Brody’s sister-in-law and his longtime lover. Garnet is shown only in relation to Brody, her husband Tom, and various other individuals, and she is not as well developed as the primary characters. Garnet claims to be unwilling to divorce her husband because of her devout Catholicism, but Brody realizes that she is relatively happy in her marriage despite her love for Brody and deeply fulfilled by her role as a mother. Her religious objection to divorce can thus be read as only part of her reason for remaining in her loveless marriage: Part of her is perfectly happy to compartmentalize romantic love and family life, and she enjoys her secret moments with Brody. She is shown to be jealous of Brody’s burgeoning relationship with Angie, although she does have a moment of complexity when, rather than reveal Angie’s secret past to Brody, she asks Angie to do so herself. Although she does not want the two to become a couple, she does not actively prevent it from happening. Together, Angie and Garnet encapsulate the moral complexity of life and the ways that people compartmentalize their behavior to protect themselves and their lives.

Kyoko is Noah’s Japanese wife. Shunned by many for her heritage, Kyoko married Noah in Japan after the war and then moved with him back to his hometown. Kyoko grew up in Nagasaki and lost most of her family during the war. Like her husband, she is strong, quiet, and deeply ethical. She is aware that her husband helped to cover up the murder of Jimmy Quinn to help his one-time lover and the mother of his child. She is one of the few people who knows that Noah is the father of Jimmy’s younger son, and she is not threatened by this knowledge. Strength in the face of adversity is one of her primary points of characterization, and she remains resilient and dignified through the war, her poor treatment during her years in Jewel, Tyler’s sexual assault, and the loss of her husband. Like many other characters, Kyoko is solitary, and although she was not a soldier, she is haunted in her own way by the family, home, and security she lost during the war.

Charlie Bauer is a semi-retired lawyer who, although she spent many years in California, returns to her hometown of Jewel. She, like many of the other characters, is solitary, ethical, and complex. Charlie dedicates her life to fighting Bigotry and Prejudice, and her efforts contribute to Jewel's beginning to achieve the Community Cohesion Versus Community Conflict that has characterized it for many years. She met the author John Steinbeck while in California and defended migrant workers. Charlie has a keen eye for social justice, and she wants to help Noah Bluestone for the same reason that she defended seasonal workers in California: She objects to the mistreatment of minority groups at the hands of those in power. She works tirelessly to uncover the truth about Jimmy’s murder. She is shown to be kind, compassionate, and empathetic during a series of difficult interviews with Jimmy’s female family members who, each in their own way, turn out to have been victims of his serial predation.

Sam Wicklow runs the town newspaper. He is a veteran who was wounded at Iwo Jima and has a prosthetic leg. Like many of the other men in town, he is haunted by The Scars of War, and his injury is a lasting reminder of all that he lost during his service. He is additionally characterized by his commitment to historical truth and social justice. Sam believes in Noah’s innocence, and he believes him to be victimized by a climate of Bigotry and Prejudice, particularly anti-Indigenous racism. His willingness to stand up for Noah and his appreciation for Charlie’s work defending him marks him as one of the novel’s moral centers. He is also writing a book about the Dakota War. Krueger shows the evolution of the way history is written when Noah corrects Sam’s facts and terminology. In this scene, Krueger shows how what was once thought of as the “Sioux Uprising” comes to be understood as the Dakota War of 1862. After that conversation, the confederation of peoples once referred to as Sioux are referred to both by Sam and the narration by their preferred names of Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota.

Scott Madison is Angie’s son, and although his character furthers the narrative during the moments when he and his friend are hunting Tyler Creasy, his most important position within the narrative is to embody the theme of Masculinity and Coming of Age. During the town’s book club, the characters observe that in mid-century America there are no formal rites of passage for young men. Scott undergoes a series of informal rites of passage and emerges stronger from the experience. Saving Holly from drowning and shooting the true villain of the story are formative events for him, and although he had been a child characterized by the weakness of a heart condition, he shows his true strength and is ultimately characterized by that and by his resilience. His coming-of-age experiences depart from those of the men in the generations before him. Whereas Brody was taught that masculinity is combative and came of age through his traumatic experiences in World War II, Scott’s coming-of-age—while still violent—centers empathy and protection of the vulnerable.