The next morning, Rayona again tries to ride Babe but is thrown. Christine sits with her daughter on the ground and begins telling her life story to Rayona. Analysis Rayona’s goodbye to Sky and Evelyn, who’s wearing a yellow blouse, is as much about Rayona’s recognizing that a part of […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 8Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 7
Although the Fourth of July is the busiest day for Sky and he makes the most money of the year on this day, Evelyn and Sky drive Rayona to Havre, where a large Indian rodeo is taking place; Rayona thinks that her mom will be there. However, once they are […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 7Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 6
Another day, Rayona finds a ripped Grateful Dead T-shirt and gives it to Sky, who instantly falls in love with it. And she finds a cotton blanket on which is printed a huge brown male deer; this she saves to give to Evelyn later. Rayona seems infatuated with Ellen DeMarco. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 6Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 5
Rayona locates the park kitchen and meets Evelyn, a large woman who has short white hair and eyes that are “bright and suspicious.” After feeding Rayona, Evelyn gets Rayona a job in the maintenance department, responsible for picking up trash that campers leave behind. Rayona adjusts well to her new […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 5Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 4
The drive to the jamboree is a nightmare for Rayona. Father Tom talks incessantly. She makes up outrageous stories about her past, including a dead mother and a father who’s an international airline pilot. When Father Tom mentions Rayona’s dual heritage, she responds to him with icy coldness. He also […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 4Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 3
Father Hurlburt, a reservation priest, visits Ida and Rayona. He cajoles Rayona into attending meetings of the “God Squad,” an informal group of reservation kids who meet at the Catholic mission. Two days later, Rayona attends her first meeting, accompanied by Father Tom Novak, who runs the group. To Rayona, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 3Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 2
On the way out of town, Christine stops at Village Video. A week before she went into the hospital, Christine signed up Rayona for a lifetime membership at the video store, and Christine now wants Rayona to rent some videos to take along to Montana. Without stopping for the night, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 2Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 1
When Rayona’s father, Elgin, enters the hospital room, Rayona acts coldly toward him. She hasn’t seen him since her fifteenth birthday, five months earlier. Elgin and Christine, who are married but estranged, do not get along either. He claims that she isn’t sick (and Rayona agrees), but Christine says that […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rayona: Chapter 1Character List
Elgin Rayona’s black father and Christine’s husband. He and Christine jointly agree that theirs is a better life apart from each other, although Rayona suffers from their choice. Aunt Ida Christine’s legal mother and Rayona’s grandmother. Ida lives on a Montana reservation and watches television most of the day. Lee […]
Read more Character ListAbout A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
In an interview, Dorris has said, “In a matrilocal kinship system, a woman remains a resident in the household of her birth, and passes on the privilege to her own daughters and granddaughters.” In the novel, Aunt Ida, the grandmother, faces the challenge referred to in Dorris’ quote in a […]
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