Five Little Indians

All the children who lived through the Mission school experience find it difficult to control their tempers. Under the wrong circumstances, each one exhibits an outburst of rage. This behavior pattern amounts to a recurring motif that speaks to the theme of failed assimilation. In every case, the Mission survivor is faced with a situation in the outside world that triggers a sense of helplessness that originated at the school.

Though ordinarily a kindly soul, Kenny is driven past the point of reason when his foreman docks his pay and withholds the bonus he earned by picking two extra bins of apples. He rebels against this unfair treatment because his job performance was exemplary for three years prior to that point. Unable to control himself, Kenny attacks his boss and flees to escape the police.

Lucy is also relatively mild-tempered until the owner of the Manitou ridicules her aspirations to be a nurse and makes degrading comments about her culture and gender. While Lucy doesn’t physically assault her boss, she feels enough righteous indignation to quit on the spot. However, Clara has enough repressed rage for both of them and attacks their boss. Injustice ignites Clara’s temper. She will later be kicked out of a bar for assaulting a white male customer who makes degrading comments to her as he propositions her for sex. Maisie assaults the man who tried to force Lucy into sex work. She is so volatile that she picks arguments with everyone, including her boyfriend and Lucy.

Finally, Howie is the most extreme example of uncontrolled rage. He beats Brother nearly to death when he encounters the man decades after his childhood abuse at the pedophile’s hands. After serving seven years in jail, Howie tells the parole board that he does not regret his actions. In each case, the pent-up rage from childhood finds its way to the surface later on in life.