Seven Fallen Feathers
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Prologue Chapter 1: Notes from a Blind Man Chapter 2: Why Chanie Ran Chapter 3: When the Wolf Comes Chapter 4: Hurting from the Before Chapter 5: The Hollowness of Not Knowing Chapter 6: We Speak for the Dead to Protect the Living Chapter 7: Brothers Chapter 8: River, Give Me My Son Back Chapter 9: Less Than Worthy Victims Chapter 10: Seven Fallen Feathers Epilogue
Themes
All Themes Colonialism, Cultural Genocide, and Racism Generational Trauma and Circular Suffering Indigenous Youth, Education Reform, and Support Networks Tradition, Prophecy, Spirituality, and Hope
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Tanya Talaga Jethro Anderson Curran Strang Paul Panacheese Robyn Harper Reggie Bushie Kyle Morrisseau Jordan Wabasse Norma Kejick Alvin Fiddler Chanie Wenjack Nanabijou Stan Beardy Maryanne Panacheese Cheyenne Linklater Cindy Blackstock Ricki Strang Tammy Keeash Skye Kakegamic Rhoda King Darryl Kakekayash Shannen Koostachin Norval Morrisseau Christian Morrisseau Ivan Masakeyash Julian Falconer Frank Iacobucci Sam Achneepineskum Nathan
Terms
All Terms First Nations Ojibwe Indian Act Residential Schools Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC) Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) Robinson-Superior Treaty Runner First Nations Child and Family Caring Society Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Native Syndicate Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT)
Symbols
All Symbols Rivers and Bodies of Water
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Seven Fallen Feathers

by

Tanya Talaga
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Robyn Harper Character Analysis

Robyn Harper was one of the titular “seven fallen feathers.” A Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School student, she died in January 2006 after a night of heavy drinking with some new and unfamiliar school friends in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Her boarding parent, Cheyenne Linklater—who also worked with the NNEC—was captured on a security camera helping another NNEC member bring a heavily-inebriated Robyn home from a public bus terminal. The two of them allegedly placed Robyn on the floor of a hall in Cheyenne’s home before heading back out on their nighttime patrol, during which they searched for other wayward kids to bring home. But by the next morning, Robyn was dead of acute alcohol poisoning. Cheyenne would later claim that she wasn’t at the bus terminal, and that she didn’t get home from work until the middle of the night—she claimed that when she checked on Robyn around 4 a.m., Robyn was fine. But by six the next morning, Robyn’s other housemates discovered that she was dead. Tanya Talaga suggests that Robyn could still be alive if the NNEC and other support systems at DFC weren’t underfunded and overburdened.

Robyn Harper Quotes in Seven Fallen Feathers

The Seven Fallen Feathers quotes below are all either spoken by Robyn Harper or refer to Robyn Harper. 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:
Colonialism, Cultural Genocide, and Racism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6: We Speak for the Dead to Protect the Living Quotes

At the inquest, […] the lawyer for six of the seven families bluntly stated Robyn's death was no accident—he called it a homicide. […] Homicide, in a coroner's inquest, does not require proof of intention—it is simply the killing of a human being due to the act or omission of another. […] [The lawyer] stated categorically: "We hold NNEC responsible for what happened to Robyn. There is no question the NNEC is trying its best, and there's not a lot of money, but they did have services they held out to be capable and competent and they were neither.""

Related Characters: Tanya Talaga (speaker), Robyn Harper, Cheyenne Linklater, Skye Kakegamic, David Fox
Indigenous Youth, Education Reform, and Support Networks Theme Icon
Page Number: 198-199
Explanation and Analysis:
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Seven Fallen Feathers PDF

Robyn Harper Quotes in Seven Fallen Feathers

The Seven Fallen Feathers quotes below are all either spoken by Robyn Harper or refer to Robyn Harper. 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:
Colonialism, Cultural Genocide, and Racism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6: We Speak for the Dead to Protect the Living Quotes

At the inquest, […] the lawyer for six of the seven families bluntly stated Robyn's death was no accident—he called it a homicide. […] Homicide, in a coroner's inquest, does not require proof of intention—it is simply the killing of a human being due to the act or omission of another. […] [The lawyer] stated categorically: "We hold NNEC responsible for what happened to Robyn. There is no question the NNEC is trying its best, and there's not a lot of money, but they did have services they held out to be capable and competent and they were neither.""

Related Characters: Tanya Talaga (speaker), Robyn Harper, Cheyenne Linklater, Skye Kakegamic, David Fox
Indigenous Youth, Education Reform, and Support Networks Theme Icon
Page Number: 198-199
Explanation and Analysis:
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