Wind from an Enemy Sky

In the novel, the dam built on the Little Elk reservation represents the theme of The Consequences of Environmental Desecration and serves as a physical manifestation of Western dominance over Indigenous lands and resources. It is described as “an unnatural disruption of a functioning universe, a kind of crime against life” (210). It drowned a previously sacred field while also drying up the old riverbed.

The reactions of the characters to the dam also show the divide between Indigenous and Western ideologies. Bull, representing the Indigenous perspective, views the dam as an egregious violation of nature’s order. He expresses disbelief and outrage at the audacity of stopping the water, a fundamental force of nature. By contrast, even when Pell realizes the damage he caused by helping implement the dam, he still believes on some level that it is a net good. Even if they don’t like it, he thinks that the Little Elk people need to be convinced, saying, “They might even be brought to see it as a benefit” (214). This shows the deep divide between the reverence for the natural world as it exists and the drive for industrial progress and resource exploitation. The dam, in the end, stands as a physical manifestation of Western dominance over Indigenous lands.

The Virgin of the Andes is a small gold statue from Peru in Adam Pell’s collection. It represents the disconnect between Pell’s sympathetic beliefs toward Indigenous peoples and the realities of their needs and lived experiences. The statue is made of gold, cast in the shape of a nude adolescent girl, and embodies a legacy of lost treasures from the era of conquest and colonial plunder. Due to the rarity of items such as this, it was sought by museums and private collectors. Pell himself spent 15 years trying to find it. Like the Feather Boy bundle, it is an item that likely had great significance to the people who made it. However, as noted in the text, “[i]t had been torn from its sociocultural setting, as a jewel might be pried loose from its mounting, and its only present value [i]s as a piece of merchandise” (213). Because the statue is considered valuable from a colonial lens, it is treated with more respect than the medicine bundle despite a similar lack of understanding of its true significance. This is shown in the fact that Pell stores it wrapped in velvet and locked in a walnut box.

When Pell realizes that the Feather Boy bundle is destroyed through the museum’s carelessness, he decides to use the statue as a replacement gift. This is because he conflates its pre-Incan creators with the Little Elk tribe, ignoring warnings from Rafferty and Doc Edwards that they not only wouldn’t like it but also would likely be offended by its appearance due to their cultural views on nudity. Pell, however, can only see general similarities: The item has value and was created by “Indians.” Therefore, in his narrow view of the world, the Little Elk people would view it with the same significance as he does.