Racism

Racism pervades the novel. Harris creates a picture of a society imbued with extreme prejudice against Indians. This is apparent from the very first page, in which Summer notes that "someone who should know better" referred to Hatter as "the worst of all possible bitches, an intelligent Navajo." Then when Summer first sees Hatter in the jail cell, he overhears someone cursing, "Goddamn Indian kook."

At the reformatory, Levering and Winton do not exhibit racist attitudes, but the otherwise admirable Rhinehart does, offering the comment that Indians "aren't long on gratitude" and telling Hatter, supposedly as a joke, that she looks "almost human." Mango, another girl at the reformatory, believes that Hatter is "crazy in the head, like all Indians," and a matron offers the opinion: "Nothing but trouble, that one. What can you expect?" She suggests there is nothing wrong with Hatter that a beating cannot cure...