34 pages • 1 hour read
Reservation Blues
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Chapter 1 Summary: "Reservation Blues"
Reservation Blues is set in 1992 on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The novel begins with the rare arrival of a stranger to the reservation, a black man who stands at the crossroads, waiting with his guitar. Thomas Builds-the-Fire, who is driving by, stops to talk to the man. Thomas is 32 years old, dark skinned, and “marked by loneliness, like some red L was tattooed on his forehead” (Chapter 1). A bit of an outsider, Thomas is known for telling stories. He learns that the stranger’s name is Robert Johnson and that he is searching for a woman he has seen in dreams who he believes may be able to help him. Years ago, Johnson sold his soul to a figure he calls “the Gentleman,” from whom he has been trying to hide since faking his death in 1938. Thomas takes Johnson to Wellpinit Mountain so he can climb to Big Mom’s home on the mountaintop.
The omniscient narration then switches to Big Mom’s perspective. Big Mom remembers a time over a hundred years ago, when the Indian horses were brutally slaughtered by soldiers. Big Mom had taught the horses to sing, and now she waits for them to return to her in the form of famous musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Marvin Gaye.
Thomas keeps Johnson’s guitar and continues to the Trading Post, the general store on the reservation. There, he meets Victor Joseph, who always dresses in fashions from the 70s, the last time he had the money to buy clothes, and Junior Polatki, who has one the of few jobs available on the reservation, driving water to drought-ravaged areas. The two men are bullies who regularly beat Thomas up, and yet their relationships include moments of tenderness and respect. Victor and Junior begin to harass Thomas, and Thomas offers to play Victor’s favorite song in exchange for being left alone. Victor agrees, on the condition that Thomas must stop telling stories if his version of the song is not to Victor’s liking. He then smashes the guitar against the sidewalk. However, Thomas manages to play even with a broken guitar, and the other men lose interest and leave to deliver water. They make their deliveries and then go the bar.
At home, Thomas leaves the broken guitar outside by the smokehouse, where he plans to burn the wood. The next morning, however, the guitar is whole again. It talks to Thomas in a voice similar to Robert Johnson’s. The guitar says that Thomas, Victor, and Junior are going to start a band. It plays music that travels miles to reach Junior and Victor, who are sleeping in Junior’s truck. The two wake and go to Thomas’ house, where the guitar talks to Victor. They agree to join the band.
Chapter 2 Summary: "Treaties"
The band practices in an abandoned grocery store. As they get better and better, they begin to build up a good reputation. People come to listen to their rehearsals. Father Arnold, the Catholic priest, remembers being in a band when he was younger. He joined the clergy after hearing a calling while in a McDonalds. Later, he was assigned to the church on the reservation.
David WalksAlong, the Spokane Tribal Council Chairman, is bothered by the noise of the band practicing. He yells at Thomas, whom he has never liked. When he returns to his office, his nephew, Michael White Hawk, is waiting for him. Michael has just been released from prison. Although his uncle is happy to see him, the rest of the reservation seems scared of Michael.
White strangers begin to travel to the reservation to watch the band practice. Two white women named Betty and Veronica come to watch and spend the night with Junior and Victor. Eventually, they leave to return to the bookstore they own in Seattle.
The band decides on the name Coyote Springs. Thomas begins writing songs, starting with “Reservation Blues.” They receive an offer to play a show at the Tipi Pole Tavern, a bar on a nearby reservation.
Chapters 1-2 Analysis
From the first few chapters, the reader is struck by the tone and mood of Reservation Blues. The novel employs a mix of wry humor and melancholy, both of which are applicable to the struggles of life on the reservation and the historical injustices suffered by the American Indians. This mix of humor and sadness exists alongside a wide range of references that span from tribal traditions to pop culture to American folklore.
The novel opens with a retelling of a well-known American folktale, the story of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil. This blending of legend into fiction highlights the mythical, magical strain that runs through the whole novel. This is a world where characters like Robert Johnson and Big Mom appear to have lived far longer than a usual life span, perhaps over a hundred years. Inanimate objects, like the guitar, come to life and speak. Dreams bring revelations about the future and the past. Juxtaposed with this magical atmosphere are stark, matter-of-fact descriptions of poverty and violence. There are almost no jobs available on the reservation, and the characters are confronted daily with the harsh realities of hunger and alcoholism.
Music and stories play an important role in the novel even within in these first chapters. Music, especially, is depicted as having a healing power. Big Mom plays a song everyday “to remind everybody that music created and recreated the world daily” (Chapter 1). The guitar tells Thomas that “y’all need to play songs for your people. They need you (Chapter 1). Stories are also important, although Thomas doubts their value. He refers to his need to tell stories as a “disease” and, although he wants them to have a positive effect on his community, he feels that they are useless.
Another theme that appears in these early chapters is the characters’ struggle with the perceived identities that come with the label of being “Indian.” Junior, for example, feels that he is supposed to see the future in his dreams because “all the Indians on television had visions that told them exactly what to do” (Chapter 1).
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