The Barren Grounds

Morgan is the protagonist of the story. She is a 13-year-old Cree girl who has been in foster care since she was three; she has been with seven foster families and has never felt at home or that she knows who she is. At the beginning of the story, she is jaded, cynical, and angry all the time, in part because she is scared of losing yet another home. When Morgan’s anger gets the best of her, she gets upset; she knows that it pushes people away, and what she really wants is love and acceptance. Morgan’s low self-esteem is another obstacle to finding friends and family because she doesn’t understand why anyone else would like her: “What’s there about me for anybody to like? What do I even like about myself? Morgan thought” (34). Morgan is a loner at school and socially awkward, which becomes a vicious cycle: When somebody like Emily is nice to her, Morgan assumes it’s because they are nice and not because they genuinely desire her company.

Morgan transforms through her adventures in Misewa. In Misewa, she starts to have dreams about her mother telling her to remember who she is. This strikes a nerve, as the root of Morgan’s anger is her sense that her mother didn’t want her and, in giving her up, prevented her from knowing who she is: “[H]ow can anybody remember who they are when they’re never in the same place for more than a couple of years?” (93).