Weasel

The book doesn’t have chapter titles, but before the text begins, DeFelice establishes the novel’s time and place by stating, “THE STATE OF OHIO, 1839…” (1). The location and year immediately contextualize the story as historical fiction. The ellipsis builds suspense, and the year and state add to the sense of precarity.

DeFelice establishes the motif of danger through Ezra, Pa, and Weasel. Ezra is mysterious and possibly harmful. When Nathan first sees Ezra, he creates an image of him: “A man stood in the shadows, back a ways from the cabin. I knew it was a man, but he made me think of a wild creature” (2). The shadowy, animalistic portrait makes Ezra seem like a monster or some type of otherworldly menace. The threat continues when Nathan notices a “man slipping quick and sly through a stand of birch trees” (13). The man is Weasel, and Weasel, as his name indicates, is a predator. His identity centers on killing, with Pa explaining, “When a man’s been killing his whole life, something happens inside him, and he can’t see any other way” (17). An unrepentant murderer, Weasel is the story’s antagonist and villain. Pa is not a danger, but he’s endangered. He’s been missing for six days, so his unexplained absence compounds the insecure atmosphere.

The motif of danger supports the theme of Needing Others and Self-Reliance to Survive. Ezra saves Pa from further harm, and Ezra works with Molly to utilize Mama’s medicine bag and heal his wound. Nathan and Molly need Ezra to find them to bring them to Pa. Before they go to Ezra’s wigwam, Nathan and Molly survive by relying on each other. Nathan says, “Being as I was eleven years old, and Molly nine, we knew how to do most everything around the farm” (5). Ezra’s actions exemplify self-reliance; he manages to get by on his own. Although he wants to cry like his sister in Pa’s absence, he steps up as “the man of the house” and conceals his emotions (6). By chopping wood, making food, and feeding the animals, the siblings work collaboratively to survive without their father. Weasel, too, represents a toxic form of self-reliance, with Nathan and the other characters presenting him as a one-person death squad.

The motif of danger also supports the themes of Accepting Pain and Embracing Positivity and Fraught Morals in a Lethal Status Quo. The settlers support Weasel when he perpetuates the systematic violence against the Shawnees. However, when Weasel starts assaulting and killing them, they turn against him. Pa says, “[F]olks fear him more than they ever feared the Shawnees” (17). The “fear” alters the moral configuration of the settlers. When he uses lethalness against them, the violent conditions become an issue. DeFelice develops the theme of fraught morals in a lethal status quo in the coming chapters when she reveals the backstories of Ezra, Mama, Pa, and Weasel. In later chapters, she also expands the theme of accepting pain and embracing positivity when Pa tries to pull Nathan away from his preoccupation with Weasel. In Chapters 1-5, Ezra balances hurt and hope. He doesn’t have a tongue, and he lives alone in a wigwam, but he doesn’t yield to apathy. He remains bonded to humanity, and he shows his compassion by bringing Nathan and Molly to Pa.

DeFelice uses foreshadowing to hint at what will happen in the story. Nathan dreams that Weasel has Pa’s gun. In Chapter 10, DeFelice reveals that Weasel took Pa’s gun, and Pa’s gun plays a critical role in Nathan’s escape. The dream at the end of Chapter 5 represents a clue, which provides anticipation about the centrality of Pa’s gun.

To counter the severe atmosphere and harsh plot, DeFelice adds lighthearted moments. One blithe scene occurs in Chapter 5 when Ezra empties the basket of fur and feathers. Nathan says, “It was a strange sight, the tall thin, oddly clad man twirling about in the clearing […] We began to laugh out loud. Ezra looked over at us and smiled” (27). The smile from Ezra indicates that Nathan and Molly aren’t making fun of Ezra. The dynamic is friendly and fun. More so, Ezra’s embrace of the Shawnee culture isn’t presented as appropriation or degrading. Ezra feels genuinely attached to their values, and he demonstrates his sincerity by helping the Fowlers.

DeFelice also introduces two key symbols in the novel—Andrew Jackson’s hat and the lockets—in the opening chapters. The locket that Pa has symbolizes the union of Nathan’s parents, connects Pa to his late wife, and symbolizes the family’s togetherness. When Ezra arrives with the locket in tow, Nathan believes that Ezra knows where his father is. Arriving in the wigwam, Molly puts the locket around her father’s neck, believing that as long as he wears the locket, he will remain connected to them and stay alive. Ezra also wears a tall, black hat that reminds Nathan of President Andrew Jackson, who signed the Removal Act, which facilitated the lethal displacement of Indigenous people. However, Ezra’s other clothing is disconnected from Jackson’s image—notably his buckskin leggings, shirt, moccasins, and the pouch around his neck. This establishes how Ezra, who identifies as a Shawnee, confronts Jackson and the norms he symbolizes by reclaiming the hat so closely linked to a historical figure who enacted violence toward Indigenous people.