What You Pawn I Will Redeem

The ceremonial regalia that Jackson spots in the window of the pawnshop is central to the story’s plot and meaning. The clothing strongly resembles what Jackson remembers of his grandmother’s regalia, which was stolen decades earlier: “[I]t had all same color feathers and beads that my family sewed into our powwow regalia” (Part 1, Paragraph 9). Upon examining the garment more closely, Jackson finds a single yellow bead—his family’s signature—stitched into the armpit, lending further credence to Jackson’s claims.

The regalia is therefore closely associated with both Jackson’s family history and his cultural identity as a member of the Spokane tribe. The fact that it was stolen is particularly significant, and points to the theft not only of Native American lands, but also (via measures like the Dawes Act and the boarding school system) of Native American culture. Jackson’s desire to win back the regalia is therefore intertwined with his figurative homelessness as someone forcibly alienated from his own heritage; recovering the garment would mean salvaging some sense of commonality and continuity with his ancestors.

While Jackson is ultimately able to reclaim the regalia, he doesn’t obtain it on the terms the pawnbroker originally offers, which reflect the economic and cultural norms of colonialist America; although the pawnbroker concedes that giving the clothing to Jackson would be “the right thing to do” (Part 1, Paragraph 28), he also says that he “can’t afford” to do so, having paid a thousand dollars for the garment originally.