Warrior Girl Unearthed

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Parts 1-2

Parts 3-4

Parts 5-6

Parts 7-8

Parts 9-10

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Semaa

Content Warning: This section discusses anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism, murder, and the rape of Indigenous women.

Semaa, or tobacco, is a symbol of Indigenous Knowledge and Tradition. Semaa is not the same thing as commercial tobacco, which has modifications and additives. Semaa is given as an offering “to respect all living things and give thanks to Creation” (Milne, Courtney. “Planting Traditional Medicine: Semaa; Oien’kwa’ón:we.” Pinnguaq). Perry and her community use semaa “when [they] cross the St. Mary’s River” (13). As they cross, Perry gives “thanks to Creator for the river before releasing [her] semaa out of the window to the water” (15). Perry keeps semaa with her in case she needs to offer a prayer.

Semaa is also offered to people in thanks. When the interns prepare to interview Elders, they’re told to ask if the Elder wants to tell a story, ask if they can record it, and offer semaa only after “they say yes to both” (119). This is because, as a traditional offering, if the interns offer the Elders semaa before asking the questions and they accept it, they “might feel like they don’t have a choice” (119). Perry realizes that this is an example of “using semaa in a good way” that is culturally responsible (119). Gifting semaa in this way is a sign of respect.

Black Ash Baskets

A motif associated with the themes of Indigenous Knowledge and Tradition and The Cultural Importance of Repatriation are black ash baskets. The museum that Cooper helps operate has a dozen black ash baskets, one of which was woven by Perry’s great-grandmother, Nokomis Maria. Perry recognizes her great-grandmother’s work because her “weaving technique was as unique as her fingerprint” (17). The simile of the fingerprints deeply humanizes the baskets which, by contrast, are treated as depersonalized objects of study or collection outside of Perry’s community. Her great-grandmother “signed baskets with her name, the year, and a symbol for the month” (18). Perry knows she’s lucky to have this knowledge passed down from her parents. Black ash baskets are an avenue of connection to her history. Because of the history of boarding schools and forced assimilation, some Elders don’t have this connection.

Knowing how her ancestors wrote their signatures allows Perry to recognize their baskets in Lockhart’s office and among Fenton’s things. Besides the pumpkin seeds, black ash baskets belonging to Sugar Island families are the only thing Perry successfully repatriates by stealing. She identifies which families the baskets belong to and anonymously mails them back, with the note, “This basket found its way back to you. May it bring only good memories” (223). In this way, she hopes to use the baskets to mend some of the injustices done to her community.

Wiindigoo

While the wiindigoo is specific to Ojibwe, Odawa, Algonquin, and Potawatami tribes, other Indigenous nations have correlatives: the Abinaki have the “kee-wakw,” the Mi’kmaq have the “chenoo,” the Cree have the “Witiko,” and Iroquois have the “Stonecoat” (“Native American Legends: Windigo (Wendigo, Windego).” Native Languages of the Americas, 2020). While stories about wiindigoo abound, Perry says a wiindigoo is “a greedy cannibal that grows larger and more powerful with each person it consumes” (57). Within the novel, wiindigoo symbolize people who want to “consume” Ojibwe culture or people. Perry says that hearing Fenton talk about using her ancestors to “become to premiere institution for cultural anthropology” is “the first time I’ve heard [a wiindigoo] be born” (57). Fenton essentially wants to consume Perry’s ancestors to grow her institution.

After Daunis tells Perry about being raped by Edwards, Perry starts calling Edwards a wiindigoo rather than a man. She tells Pauline about Edwards by saying, “The bald guy is a wiindigoo” (189). Pauline immediately knows this means that Edwards rapes Indigenous women. When Edwards is murdered, Daunis tells the twins that Edwards is “not the only wiindigoo out there” (241). Rather than being an isolated incident, Edwards and the violence the wiindigoo represents are a systemic problem.

When the heist goes awry and Perry is kidnapped, she knows she has been taken by a wiindigoo. As she looks up at the wiindigoo from inside the hole, Perry notes how the “wiindigoo’s ego grows bigger with each Nish kwe he collects and observes. We fascinate him. Whether we’re alive or dead, he thinks of us as his treasures” (367). Observing this cannibalistic voyeurism is what makes Perry realize that this wiindigoo is Leer-wah. Perry ultimately proves that she’s a worthy descendent of the Thirteen Grandmothers, who hold the secret of “how to defeat” the wiindigoo (306), as she outsmarts Leer-wah and saves herself and Shense.