The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Although each chapter focuses on one (or two) of Hattie’s children, the novel as a whole can be read as a study of Hattie. Narrative access into Hattie’s consciousness is largely limited to two chapters about infant children (Chapters 1 and 5), so the reader’s understanding of her identity depends largely on her children’s perceptions of her. Again and again, Hattie’s children note that she was never tender, often angry, and always inscrutable, “like a lake of smooth, silvered ice, under which nothing could be seen or known” (237). They know anger consumes Hattie, but they don’t really know why, except that August infuriates her.

With the benefit of information gleaned from Chapter 1 (information Hattie’s children don’t seem to have), the reader can surmise that Hattie’s anger stems partly from the deaths of her father and her twins. There may be other causes for her rage, but they are not apparent, and the reasons for her lack of tenderness are also not clearly defined. This narrative refusal to reveal Hattie’s “true” identity, or what makes her tick, corresponds with the theme that an individual’s identity can never be fully explained by categories, labels, or even words.