Solar Storms Character Analysis

Angel Wing

Angel Wing (whose Western name is Angela Jensen) is the 17-year-old protagonist of Solar Storms. She was born in Adam’s Rib to Hannah Wing, a deeply traumatized and mentally ill woman. Her face… read analysis of Angel Wing

Bush

Bush is Harold’s first wife, Agnes’s daughter-in-law, and Angel’s grandmother by marriage. Harold met her while he was working on an oil rig in Oklahoma, her home state, and brought her back… read analysis of Bush

Hannah Wing

Hannah Wing is Angel’s mother and Agnes’s granddaughter. She is a complex, tragic figure in the novel, often depicted in terms closer to a wild animal or vengeful spirit than a human being… read analysis of Hannah Wing

Agnes Iron

Agnes Iron is Angel’s estranged great-grandmother and Dora-Rouge’s daughter. After Angel finds her name in court records and writes to her, Agnes responds immediately, sending money for the ferry and urging her to… read analysis of Agnes Iron

Dora-Rouge

Dora-Rouge is Agnes’s mother and Angel’s great-great-grandmother. She is incredibly small and light in her old age, and she cannot walk, so Angel and Agnes carry her from place to place. Determined, stubborn… read analysis of Dora-Rouge

Tulik

Tulik is an elder and former tribal judge in the Fat-Eaters territory of Two-Town. When he first sees Dora-Rouge, he immediately recognizes her as Ek’s daughter—the girl who once guarded the town’s sacred… read analysis of Tulik

John Husk

John Husk is a quiet, steady presence in Agnes’s life and her longtime romantic partner. A lifelong resident of Adam’s Rib, he lives with Agnes and Dora-Rouge. Though Husk doesn't play a central… read analysis of John Husk

LaRue Marks Time

LaRue Marks Time is the local taxidermist in Adam’s Rib, who dreams of one day opening his own museum. He hires Bush to assemble animal skeletons on Fur Island, which he sells to schools and… read analysis of LaRue Marks Time

Tommy Grove

Tommy Grove is the youngest resident of the Hundred-Year-Old Road in Adam’s Rib, around the same age as Angel. He lives there to help care for the town elders. He develops a romance with… read analysis of Tommy Grove

Mr. Orensen

Mr. Orensen is the White proprietor of the Two-Town Post. Initially skeptical of Angel and her grandmothers, he eventually comes around and joins the Indigenous resistance against the hydroelectric dam project, offering the Post as… read analysis of Mr. Orensen

Aurora

Aurora is Hannah’s daughter and Angel’s infant sister. Angel finds her in Hannah’s home just as Hannah dies and takes her in at once. Aurora is immediately embraced by Angel’s entire community—Bush… read analysis of Aurora

Ek

Ek is Dora-Rouge’s mother and Angel’s great-great-great-grandmother; she’s deceased in the novel’s present. A gifted plant-dreamer, Ek recorded her knowledge in a notebook filled with sketches, various uses, and healing properties of countless… read analysis of Ek

Frenchie

Frenchie is one of Agnes’s neighbors on the Rib. She’s middle-aged and more flamboyant than most women in the area, favoring bold colors and heavy makeup. Known for her bluntness, she can come off… read analysis of Frenchie

Bob and Jean

Bob and Jean are a White couple whom Angel, Bush, Agnes, and Dora-Rouge encounter by chance on their journey north to Two-Town, heading south in their canoe with a white dog in… read analysis of Bob and Jean

Auntie

Auntie is Tulik’s bold, outspoken daughter. Where Tulik is precise, clean, and careful, Auntie is unfiltered and a bit of a renegade. She and Bush connect quickly over their shared commitment to resisting the… read analysis of Auntie

Miss Nett

Miss Nett is an activist from a Native town north of Holy String Town who arrives in Two-Town after hearing Angel speak out on the “Indian Time” radio program. Her own home was destroyed by… read analysis of Miss Nett

Arlie Caso House

Arlie Caso House is a seasoned Ojibwa leader who arrives in Two-Town with a group of men after hearing of the protests against the hydroelectric dam project. Known as “Houdini” for his ability to escape… read analysis of Arlie Caso House

Beauregard

Beauregard was a French fur trader who traveled to California to source beaver pelts. When he found a glacier bear—the last of its kind—that had wandered down from its northern homeland, he captured it, forcing… read analysis of Beauregard

Mrs. Lampier

Mrs. Lampier rents a room to Angel, Bush, and Dora-Rouge when they first arrive in Two-Town, in the Fat-Eaters territory. One of the few White characters in the story, she stands in contrast… read analysis of Mrs. Lampier

Gita

Gita runs North House, a lodging place where Angel, Agnes, Bush, and Dora-Rouge rest on their journey to Two-Town. A practical, older woman, Gita is unimpressed by the influx of silver-seeking men… read analysis of Gita

Old Man

Old Man is an elder who lives along the Hundred-Year-Old Road in Adam’s Rib. Equipped with ancestral Indigenous wisdom, he’s the only person willing to help when Bush brings a young, volatile Hannah to him… read analysis of Old Man

Ruby Shawl

Ruby Shawl is the midwife who delivers Angel. Because Angel is born during a severe snowstorm, Ruby remains with her and Hannah for as long as she can, fearful that Hannah may hurt Angel… read analysis of Ruby Shawl

Justin LeBlanc

Justin LeBlanc is a local man from Adam’s Rib and Frenchie’s partner. A former army veteran, he openly disapproves of the American Indian Movement’s resistance to the U.S. government. At Dora-Rouge’s farewell party—the… read analysis of Justin LeBlanc

Loretta Wing

Loretta Wing is Hannah’s mother and Angel’s maternal grandmother. Strikingly beautiful and instantly captivating to all of the local men, she catches Harold Iron’s attention the moment she arrives in Adam’s Rib… read analysis of Loretta Wing

Henriet

Henriet is Angel’s estranged younger sister, from her father’s bloodline. While Angel was searching for her family in court records, before she discovered Agnes’s name, she found Henriet and visited her in South… read analysis of Henriet

Geneva

Geneva is a spiritual healer from the east who, along with Jo, is called to different Native villages when all other options have been exhausted. Rather than using physical medicine, Geneva sings to the… read analysis of Geneva

Helene

Helene is Frenchie’s daughter. One night, after heavy drinking, Helene drunkenly wanders across the frozen waters of Adam’s Rib and Fur Island to get home, tragically falling into the Hungry Mouth of Water and… read analysis of Helene

Jo

Jo is a young healer who travels with Geneva, singing songs into the sick to replace what ails them with music. Angel and Jo become friends, though Jo is a few years younger. Angel… read analysis of Jo

Minor Characters

Harold Iron

Harold Iron is Agnes’s son, Hannah’s father, and Bush’s former husband. He meets Bush while working on an oil rig in Oklahoma and brings her home to Adam’s Rib. Later, he leaves her for Loretta Wing, setting in motion a long line of familial fractures, trauma, and grief.

Grandson

Grandson, whose Christian name is Calvin, is Tulik’s young grandson and Auntie’s child. He is living in Tulik’s cramped home when Angel, Bush, and Dora-Rouge temporarily move in.

Solar Storms Characters