Dual Names

For many of the characters in the novel, dual names represent a duality within their identities. For some, this is the result of having a colonial English name as well as a traditional name, for example Thomas’s mother, who was named both Julia and Awan. For others, the choice of name is a deliberate selection of identity, as when Everett Blue becomes Wood Mountain in honor of his father, or when Patrice rejects her childhood nickname, Pixie, as part of her self-creation as an adult. Vera’s baby has two names because he has been claimed by two people and their lineages: Vera names him Thomas, and Wood Mountain names him Archille.

Even Thomas, whose split names are his first and last name, knows this to be a matter of split identity: “Watching the night sky, he was Thomas who had learned about the...