Lionel Red Dog

Lionel is a Blackfoot man who works at Bill Bursum’s Home Entertainment Barn and turns 40 over the course of the novel. The narrator notes that Lionel has only made three mistakes over the course of his life: wanting to have his tonsils out, going to Salt Lake City for a conference, and taking the job at Bursum’s store.

Each of these mistakes made my Lionel are hardly mistakes, as each is really a result of his passive disposition and his inability to define himself outside other’s perspectives. Lionel is constantly told by others who he is and what he should be doing with his life, including Norma and Eli. His discomfort in his identity and inability to find acceptance in school, the Department of Indian Affairs, or with the American Indian Movement led him to the stagnant position he is in at Bill...