Mean Spirit

The relationship between greed, corruption, and anti-Indigenous racism is one of Mean Spirit’s most important and overt themes. All the members of the Osage community who are subject to violence at the hands of white people are targeted because of their wealth: The only way for white people to gain access to the lucrative oil on Osage land is through marriage or inheritance, and yet, the Osage murders are the result of much more than greed. That white people are able to rationalize murder for financial gain shows an insidiously deep anti-Indigenous racism. That so many Osage people are killed and their murders successfully covered up is a sign of the widespread corruption among community members, business owners, and even law enforcement and government officials.

This interrelation of greed, corruption, and racism is evident early in the narrative, as the murder of Grace Blanket serves as the narrative’s inciting incident. Because Grace had been one of the wealthiest members of the Osage community, and because disrespectful, dehumanizing rumors about her swirled around the town of Watona, various friends and family members begin to suspect that she was murdered.