Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Code Talker, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory, Language, and Identity
The Navajo Way and the Life of the Warrior
Culture and Patriotism
War, Healing, and Peace
Summary
Analysis
Ned approaches his parents again, explaining that he has done as they asked by waiting a year, but that he is ready to be a warrior now. His parents, though sad, agree to give their permission on one condition. Ned has to go to a singer who will do a ceremony, a “Blessingway,” that will keep him safe when in danger. The singer’s Navajo name is Big Schoolboy, but he is also known as Frank Mitchell. Ned addresses him as Hosteen, a term of respect.
Ned’s identity as an American warrior will be directly linked to his Navajo identity. His parents’ insistence on a ceremony of blessing illustrates this connection. The Blessingway will equip Ned to become a marine by sending him off with his people’s blessing and granting him special protection, showing that being Navajo and being a patriotic American can go hand in hand.
Themes
Hosteen Mitchell is a Catholic, like most of Ned’s family by now. (Ned’s four younger siblings have also attended mission school, and his parents have been baptized as Catholics and join the children at church.) But Ned says that “being Catholic did not mean we would forget the Holy People and our Navajo Way.” Hosteen Mitchell is a respected man, and Ned likes his modesty and humor. Hosteen Mitchell calls Ned “ant” because of his small size and great strength, and he tells Ned stories about his own school days.
Many Navajos, especially those with connections to mission schools, became practicing Catholics while retaining many aspects of their Navajo spiritual beliefs as well.
Themes
Hosteen Mitchell conducts the Blessingway the following weekend. Family and friends gather at Ned’s home. He is ceremonially bathed and sung over in the morning and blessed with corn pollen. The ceremony resumes in the evening, and 60 years later, Ned can still feel the beauty of the many songs Hosteen Mitchell sang throughout the night. The following dawn, Ned scatters pollen and inhales the morning, feeling that he is now “in good balance” and ready to become a warrior for America.
Corn pollen is an important component of Navajo rituals, and its usage will continue to symbolize protection and blessing throughout Ned’s service in the war. The service as a whole makes feel Ned feel “balanced”—which is a key aspect of Navajo spiritual belief—and connected to his land, his loved ones, and the Holy People.
Themes
