Sera Songmaker Character Analysis

Cedar’s adoptive mother, a wealthy white liberal. Sera and her husband, Alan, hail from wealthy Minnesota robber barons. In what may be an attempt to compensate for the harm their ancestors have done to the land, Sera and Alan donated much of their inheritances to well-meaning but impotent liberal causes, which are now totally “defunct.” In addition, Sera has a superficial interest in indigenous culture. At one point in the story, Cedar recalls one of Sera’s many “self-invented” rituals that involved smudging sage and drinking wine. Depicted as a well-intentioned but somewhat silly white liberal, through Cedar’s narrations readers view Sera as nonetheless a competent mother whom Cedar admires, and, consequently, regrets disappointing.