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Evan Whitesky
Justin Scott is the story’s antagonist. He mysteriously arrives on the reserve, heavily armed and seeking refuge, after the power goes out and civilization collapses into chaos. Scott is physically intimidating: he’s bigger and stronger than any of the Anishinaabe people. The community is wary of Scott at first, though many are drawn to his intimidating stature and aggression. Scott quickly oversteps his bounds and kills Mark, another person seeking refuge on the reserve, against the advice of the community’s elders. Some people believe that Scott’s aggression will protect them, however, so they disband from the community and join forces with Scott in an abandoned bungalow complex on the reserve. As time progresses however, Evan and his partner, Nicole, realize that Scott’s followers are growing weaker and thinner, while Scott grows stronger and fatter. They learn that Scott is intimidating his followers, subjugating women (notably Meghan, who also sought refuge on the reserve) and forcing them to do his bidding. He even forces several people to steal dead bodies so that he can cannibalize them for food. At the story’s climax, the community confronts Scott about his actions, and he retaliates by shooting Evan—but Meghan ends the confrontation by shooting Scott in the back, killing him. Scott’s character is a metaphor for historical European settlers who encountered and colonized First Nations people. In the end, however, Scott’s domineering personality causes his own demise, as his faction of the community becomes demoralized and erodes beyond repair.
Justin Scott Quotes in Moon of the Crusted Snow
The Moon of the Crusted Snow quotes below are all either spoken by Justin Scott or refer to Justin Scott. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 16 Quotes
His rough, meaty palm dwarfed Evan’s. The handshake was half goodwill, half intimidation.
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A few weeks into the blackout, a stranger named Justin Scott arrives, seeking refuge on the reserve. Justin Scott is the story’s antagonist, and he embodies toxic masculine values: he thinks he’s better than other people because he’s a physically imposing man. He also uses his physical stature to intimidate others who are physically smaller than him, like Evan (as noted here). Scott’s also rash and aggressive, establishing his authority using violence and fear-mongering. He knows that he can get away with such behavior because of his large size in comparison to the other characters, who are often scared that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusanti
Chapter 21 Quotes
“We gotta make a stand […] I was protecting us.”
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Early in the winter, a man named Mark Phillips arrives on the reserve, along with Meghan Connor, her husband Brad, and another man named Alex Richer. These people desperately begging for refuge on the reserve. Terry doesn’t want to leave them in the cold to die, but he also knows that more people will put a strain on the community’s dwindling resources. But before Terry and Walter decide what to do, Scott interjects and shoots Phillips dead. Scott explains, in this quote, that he meant well—he thinks that the community needs to scare off others seeking refuge (even though he Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenet
Chapter 23 Quotes
“Scott’s a fucking asshole. […] he orders us around. He threatens us. And the worst part is, Brad has totally fallen in line […] And sometimes I catch Scott staring at me. It really creeps me out.”
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One day, sometime in February or March, Nicole bumps into Meghan Connor while talking a walk in the snow. Meghan is fumbling with rabbit snares, and she looks malnourished and traumatized. Meghan arrived on the reserve seeking refuge earlier in the winter, and she’s living in a bungalow complex where antagonist Justin Scott is in charge. Here, Meghan blurts out that Scott is subjugating her using intimidation tactics and threats of violence. Through Meghan’s reflections, it’s clear that Scott has a toxic attitude when it comes to leadership. He thinks that he deserves to be in charge because he’s physically Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit b
“And it’s weird—he seems to be getting bigger, though I know that’s not possible. Probably it's just the rest of us are getting skinnier.”
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Meghan Connor, a settler in the community that’s living under antagonist Justin Scott’s authority, has just explained to Nicole that Scott is terrorizing his followers. Essentially, he’s forcing those who are physically weaker and smaller than him to do his bidding. Now, Meghan explains that Scott also hoards all the food and wood that he makes his followers collect; they are growing “skinnier,” while Scott seems to be getting “bigger.”Scott—who’s a domineering and aggressive authority figure—is exploiting his followers in order to preserve his own well-being. Under his authority, his faction of the community has grown sick, weak, and dangerously Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae ea
Chapter 29 Quotes
She had been his surrogate grandmother, his go-to elder whenever he had questions about the old ways, and he had loved her. […] The smell of sage smudge lingered in his nose, and the travelling song her family had sung for her rang in his ears.
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Toward the end of the story, Aileen (the community’s spiritual elder) dies. In this passage, Evan is collecting her body while grappling with his overwhelming grief. Evan had a deep, loving relationship with Aileen—she was like a close family member to him, so his grief over losing her is intense. The loss is even harder for Evan to bear because it’s intermingled with his sense of cultural loss. Evan looked to Aileen for guidance, and she taught him many things about his culture that he didn’t know before, including sage and tobacco rituals and much their indigenous Anishinaabemowin language. Though Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus. Dolores aut voluptatibus
“No, they won’t listen to us. They’ll just call another damn meeting and do nothing. This is up to us.”
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As the book approaches its climax, Evan discovers that Scott stole a dead body, presumably to cannibalize it. Evan makes the discovery while he’s overwhelmed with grief from all the deaths he’s seen this winter. Aileen, the story’s spiritual guide, has just died. Her death symbolizes the profound cultural losses that First Nations people faced from the erasure of their culture under colonialism. Evan’s feelings is complex, multifaceted, and overwhelming: he’s grappling with personal grief as well as grief for his culture. In addition to losing Aileen, he’s lost the indigenous knowledge that elders like Aileen hadn’t yet passed on Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aper
Chapter 30 Quotes
As Scott turned to fire on Tyler and Isaiah, his head burst open above his left eye in a spray of blood, bone, and brain. He fell forward. Meghan Connor stood on the back porch with the rifle sight up to her eye. […] Scott lay face down, motionless, as blood leaked from his head into the snow, spreading crimson across the white. […] Isiah […] looked to Meghan on the porch, still holding her rifle. She nodded, and trained her gun on her husband and his
friend, who froze in place.
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At the book’s climax, Evan, Isaiah, and Tyler confront Justin Scott, knowing that he’s stolen a dead body to cannibalize it. Though they want to avoid a violent confrontation, the situation escalates, and Scott shoots Evan. Before Scott can shoot anybody else, however, his “head burst[s] open.” Meghan Connor—one of his own followers—has killed him. The quotation also shows that she’s turned against her husband, Brad, and his friend Alex.Meghan kills Scott because he abused and oppressed her. Scott’s sexist attitude encouraged his male followers—including Brad—to force Megan to gather food for them. They also hoarded the food for themselves Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earu
Epilogue: Ziigwaan (Spring) Quotes
No one wanted to deal with any more of them. Not now.
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In the Epilogue, two years after the disastrous winter that kills off most of the Anishinaabe community, the survivors (led by Nicole and her surviving family members) abandon the reserve and relocate somewhere more remote. The survivors leave partly because they’ve struggled to rebuild their community in a place that endured so much violence and loss (much like previous generations of First Nations people did when they fled their ancestral homelands amidst colonialist oppression).But—like their ancestors—the survivors also have a pragmatic motivation. In the story, the power never came back on; survivors assume that modern civilization has collapsed into anarchy, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias
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Justin Scott Character Timeline in Moon of the Crusted Snow
The timeline below shows where the character Justin Scott appears in Moon of the Crusted Snow. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 16
The man introduces himself as Justin Scott. He’s a white man who looks to be in his mid-thirties; he’s big, bald, and...
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Scott explains that 10 days ago, his town lost power and communication, and the situation deteriorated....
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Scott wants to see the flyers, but Evan and Isaiah refuse to show him. They stand...
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The men huddle together. Evan and Walter don’t trust Scott, but Terry doesn’t want to turn someone away to die. They agree to let Scott...
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Chapter 17
...200 people there, and the mood is somber. The council members look worried—they’re uneasy about Scott’s arrival. Terry begins the meeting, explaining that Nick and Kevin have returned, and the room...
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...apologizes for yelling. Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice yells out that it’s okay. Everybody turns around: Scott is standing there. The crowd grows uneasy. Scott pumps his fist, saying that they’ll get...
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...and Isaiah intervene while Walter attempts to calm the room, explaining that they’ve already met Scott and welcomed him into the reserve. Scott smiles breezily, making Evan’s skin crawl. Evan asks...
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Chapter 19
Scott aims his gun and shoots a moose, whooping in delight as it falls to the...
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...leads the other men to the moose, and they quietly marvel at its size while Scott continues to gloat loudly. Dan frowns and pulls out some tobacco, giving it to Scott,...
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Chapter 20
Evan walks into the next room, where hip-hop music blares from a speaker. Scott is sitting in a corner with a girl named Jenna on his lap, and he...
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Chapter 21
...drops as he explains that he saw them at a party last night, and that Scott was there. When Evan and Isaiah arrive at the scene of the accident, Jenna’s mother,...
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Terry approaches, and Evan is about to tell him about the party when Scott walks in, wearing his snowmobiling gear. Calmly, Scott explains that they have some visitors who...
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Suddenly, a shot rings out, and Phillips falls to the floor. Scott, whose pistol is raised, tells the group to stand back and listen to the chief....
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Chapter 22
...Walter, in turn, looks to Evan, Isaiah, and Tyler. Others have taken up alliances under Scott, which makes Evan uneasy. The snow is crusted over, and it breaks to reveal soft...
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Chapter 23
...opportunity to smile. Nicole warmly says that laughter is good medicine. Meghan blurts out that Scott is horrible—he orders them around and threatens them. Megan’s husband, Brad, has fallen under his...
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Chapter 24
...Isaiah says that Cam looked pale and thin he last time he saw him. Apparently, Scott tried to take Cam to his secret food stash, but Cam got creeped out.
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Chapter 26
A woman walks in, and she updates the group about Scott, who’s apparently hoarding firewood. The woman explains that she still has some moose meat left,...
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Suddenly, four shots of gunfire ring out. It’s Scott—he shot his rifle into the air to calm the crowd. He’s surprised to see Evan...
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Chapter 27
...tall silhouette approaches, blotting out the sun. The creature is a savage, disfigured beast with Scott’s face. It snarls and lunges forward.
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Chapter 29
...move Aileen. Suddenly, Evan notices that a body is missing, and he immediately guesses that Scott took the body. His mind swirls as they move Aileen into place; he knows they’ll...
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Chapter 30
...the bungalow complex, warning one another to keep their guns on their shoulders so that Scott doesn’t shoot at them straight away. Smelling smoke, Evan notices that there’s a fire burning...
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Evan asks why Scott said he knew what to eat when the food runs out and asks what’s in...
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Feeling sick, Evan asks if they stole a body. Scott replies that it’s a matter of survival. Tyler angrily calls Scott a cannibal and lunges...
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Chapter 31
...store. The road to the south lies dormant, buried deep in the snow. They lug Scott’s body behind them, feeling a mixture of hatred, pity, and relief. They shove the body...
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