Two Roads

Cal is the protagonist of the novel, and the narrative is conveyed from his first-person perspective. The novel revolves around Cal’s quest to integrate his newfound Creek identity with the identity that he already holds as a “hobo” and as his father’s son. These latter two attributes constitute his core identity at the beginning of the novel, but Cal’s identity is soon thrown into turmoil when he learns about his own Creek ancestry. Before this moment, he never thought much about his ancestors, and race was never a central issue for him because everyone perceived him to be white and accorded him the same casual privilege that any other white boy would receive. Learning that he is Creek provides Cal with a whole new set of social challenges because he must first overcome his own internalized prejudices: the various negative stereotypes of Indigenous people that his previous school has drilled into him for years. Through his experiences in the novel as well as through his encounters with Indigenous people at Challagi, Cal learns what it truly means to be Creek, and he takes pride in his newfound cultural identity and ultimately finds a way to incorporate it into his solid sense of pride at being a “hobo” at heart and his father’s son.