Warrior Girl Unearthed

A reference “to an object or subject that exists outside the text” is an allusion (“Allusion.” SuperSummary). Perry feels distress at how certain forces of systemic racism affect both her Anishinaabe and Black ancestry, as is reflected in the allusions to the FBI raid of an illegal collection of Indigenous remains and the police’s murder of Eric Garner and Michael Brown; all three happened in 2014, when the novel is set.

After Perry sees her ancestors in Lockhart’s silo, Pauline asks why she doesn’t call the media or police. Perry says, “‘The FBI is in Indiana right now […] There’s a private collector who sounds a lot like Frank Lockhart” (227). Perry is referencing the FBI raid on Donald Miller. A TIME article that Perry tells Pauline about describes Miller’s collection of thousands of cultural items and remains of “immeasurable” cultural value (Rayman, Noah. “FBI Raids Home of Real Life Indiana Jones.” TIME, 2014).

The second two allusions are to the murders of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. In Chapter 22, “Saturday, July 19th,” Perry hears “about a Black man who died ‘at the hands of a police officer’” (231). Garner’s death, which was ruled a homicide, occurred on July 17, 2014, and it “served as a renewed catalyst for the national movement against police brutality” (Carrega, Christina. “5 years after Eric Garner‘s death, a look back at the case and the movement it sparked.” ABC News, 2019). Although Boulley doesn’t name Garner, the fact that Perry watches the news two days after his death, and sees “so many different people marching and shouting and crying, people who are angry and sick and tired of this happening again and again and again” (231), makes the reference clear.

In Chapter 32, “Sunday, August 10th,” Perry sees the news of another Black person “shot and killed by a police officer. This time it was a much younger man, barely an adult” (312). This allusion is to Michael Brown, “an unarmed Black teenager” who died after a police officer shot him six times on August 9, 2014 (“This Day in History: Michael Brown is killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.” History). Brown was only 18, just entering adulthood, as Perry notes.

Together, these three allusions show that the issues Perry is dealing with are devastating but not isolated. Perry notes how “both my Native and Black ancestors were treated unjustly. Denied Justice” (312). They’re happening in Perry’s Sugar Island community but are also happening around the world to other Indigenous communities and to Black people who face discrimination and racial profiling.

Code-meshing involves “combining two or more dialects and/or language systems when speaking or writing” (Young, Vershawn Ashanti. Other People‘s English: Code-meshing, Code-switching, and African American Literacy. Teachers College Press, 2014, pp. 87). Code-meshing is a style of communication but, like the related phenomenon code-switching, functions as a literary device when purposefully employed in a literary context.

In Warrior Girl Unearthed, characters use a mix of English, Ojibwemowin, and a “rez accent.” They flow freely between these three as they speak to one another. When Perry is talking to Granny June and Minnie, she says, “Granny June, repeat after me. No alcohol,” and Granny June replies, “No giishkwebii” (332). She confirms Perry’s request in Ojibwemowin, showing how they flow between languages in a single conversation.

Many people in her community can’t speak Ojibwemowin with the fluency Perry does. Often, they will code-mesh with single, simple words. Even characters who can’t speak fluently say “miigwech,” meaning “thank you.” Perry and Shense call each other “niijiikwe,” a term that means “girlfriend” between female friends. Perry and other community members slip into their “rez accent” while talking to one another; the novel’s use of spelling to convey dialect is subtle and authentic, usually evident in the use of “dem” for “them” or “yous” for “you all.”