Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Moon of the Crusted Snow, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Technology, Society, and Survival
Colonialism, Oppression, and Trauma
Selfishness vs. Selflessness
Gender, Power, and Wisdom
Summary
Analysis
Terry Meegis and other council members are waiting for the reservation’s residents to arrive at the gymnasium. There are 300 chairs set out, but only 50 of them are filled so far. Terry is worried because he thinks that the community will have to start rationing food. Isaiah’s mother, Candance North, soothes Terry, and sending him out for a smoke while they wait for more people to gather. Evan is already there, having refilled the gymnasium’s generator with diesel fuel for the meeting.
Rice shows that although Terry, the community’s official figurehead, is a man, the women like Candance North are the community’s backbone because they remain calm and supportive in times of crisis (like the current blackout). This subverts male-oriented value systems in other cultures that consider men stronger than women.
Themes
Terry begins the meeting by inviting a community elder named Aileen to lead them in a prayer. She’s nearly 90 years old, and she smiles sweetly as Evan pulls out a shell and some sage from her medicine bag. Aileen breaks some sage into the shell and lights it with a match. Evan uses an eagle-feather fan to spread the smoke around Aileen, and she moves rhythmically as smoke washes over her body. This Anishinaabe ritual is intended to cleanse the spirit and eliminate negativity; it’s a central component of Anishinaabe spirituality. Some community members believe in it, but others are more skeptical.
Rice reinforces the idea that women and elders are valuable to the Anishinaabe by showing that Terry (the chief) defers to Aileen and her traditional wisdom at the start of the meeting, which establishes her as the community’s spiritual leader. Aileen’s sage ritual symbolizes traditional knowledge. Many modern Anishinaabe people are skeptical about the value of Aileen’s knowledge (reflected in the mixed reaction to her ritual), though her wisdom will prove crucial as the story progresses.
Themes
The sage ceremony was once banned by the Canadian government because of pressure by Christians settling in the Americas. But some people (like Aileen’s parents) kept the Anishinaabe traditions alive in secret. They spread them by word of mouth among the community, who spread far and wide when the “white authorities” displaced the community from their traditional homeland near the Great Lakes to make way for towns and cities.
Colonialist oppression (which centered on displacing First Nations communities and banning their indigenous rituals) caused First Nations people tremendous cultural losses. The Anishinaabe’s modern culture is thus a spotty patchwork of information that various individuals managed to preserve in secret. This also suggests that the Anishinaabe are resilient—they’re dedicated to keeping their culture alive despite its prior suppression.
Themes
Aileen takes the fan and disperses sage smoke around Evan’s body. Then, Evan walks clockwise around the room, fanning the shell to direct the smoke toward the seated people. He then sits in a corner of the room, waiting to fan anyone who wants to be “smudged.” Aileen addresses the crowd in Anishinaabemowin and then in English. The crowd is silent and attentive, respecting her status as an elder. She tells the community that winter is here, and they must help each other prepare for the “dark season” by gathering wood and medicine for each other. Aileen then offers a prayer of gratitude to “the Great Spirit” in Anishinaabemowin.
The Anishinaabe deeply respect the wisdom of their elders: even though some people in the room are skeptical of Aileen’s ritual, they defer to her authority and treat her with respect. This is a stark contrast to societies that automatically defer to young, strong men. Aileen also stresses the importance of thinking communally, something she knows is important for weathering tough winters based on her decades of experience living without modern amenities.
Themes
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After the prayer, Terry addresses the crowd about the infrastructure issues on the reservation. Terry calmly tells the community that they’ve been unable to communicate with the south, so they don’t know what the problem is yet—but he’s sure people are working on it. In the meantime, he advises everyone to take stock of their food and wood supplies. The council is keeping generators on for now, but they need the community to conserve energy, because they don’t have much diesel left. They’re expecting a new diesel shipment in a couple weeks, so they need to be careful until then.
Rice reinforces Aileen’s power on the reservation by showing that Terry mirrors her guidance—he wants people to work together, conserve energy, and live modestly until they know more. Even though Terry is the reservation’s official leader, he defers to Aileen’s wisdom because she’s wise from life experience. She also embodies traditional knowledge that women possess in Anishinaabe culture, as its healers and spiritual guides.
Themes
Somebody shouts in frustration from the back, but Terry advises people to be patient and reassures them that a plan is in place. A council member named Walter then explains that ploughing, the grocery story, and the health station will remain open, while everything else on the reservation will close for the time being. Meanwhile, Aileen sits calmly with a stoic smile on her face. Evan feels appeased, knowing Aileen has lived through many winters without power or communications. He reassures himself with the thought that if she’s not worried, the rest of the community shouldn’t be either.
Although Terry is the community’s forma figurehead, leadership is communal on the reservation. Other council members, like the pragmatic Walter, often step in and take charge when needed. Evan, meanwhile, takes his cues from Aileen, who has survived many winters without power.
Themes
