The Night Watchman

The Night Watchman

by

Louise Erdrich

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The Night Watchman: Woodland Beauty Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Wood Mountain gets off the train and walks to his sister Bernadette’s house. Bernadette tells him that Patrice had been there and that she was with Jack, who looked sickly and skinny. She says he’s been a functioning “junkie” for years. Bernadette says that her husband Cal wouldn’t believe Wood Mountain is Bernadette’s brother and wouldn’t want him to stay with them, so he goes to look for other accommodations.
To Wood Mountain, Bernadette reveals information about Jack that’s been withheld from the reader up to this point. It’s implied, too, that Jack’s desire to fuel his addiction might be his motivation for exploiting people like Patrice.
Themes
Oppression and Supposed Good Intentions Theme Icon
Sex, Violence, and Gender Theme Icon
Agency and Exploitation Theme Icon
Wood Mountain finds a room in the hotel next to Log Jam 26. Later, after dinner, he goes to the bar and sees the glowing water tank in the middle. A cardboard sign on the table reads, “Exotic Attraction! Woodland Beauty! Our Own World-Famous Waterjack.” The waitress tells Wood Mountain that the current waterjack is the third one, that the first one died and the second is fading fast. When the waterjack begins the show, Wood Mountain doesn’t pay much attention at first. But when he looks closer, he sees that it’s Patrice. He walks toward the tank, and when he raises a fist to pound on the glass, he’s seized and dragged out the door.
This is the first time it’s revealed that there is something to do with the waterjack costume that is poisoning the people who wear it, which shows the ways that Jack has exploited Patrice, and the previous waterjacks, by luring them into a potentially deadly situation without them having any idea what they’re signing up for. In that way, Jack has erased Patrice’s agency, disregarding her humanity to try and use her to get what he wants.
Themes
Oppression and Supposed Good Intentions Theme Icon
Sex, Violence, and Gender Theme Icon
Agency and Exploitation Theme Icon
After the show, when the waitress brings Patrice her meal, she also passes Patrice a note from Wood Mountain. The note says that he tried to get her attention but got thrown out and that he’s at the hotel next door in room 328. As she drifts off to sleep, she has a sudden shock of clarity. Back at the first house where she checked for Vera, she realizes the collar at the end of the chain wasn’t a regular dog collar. It didn’t buckle. And it had been cut in two. You would need pliers to remove the chain attached to the collar. “And the dried shit in the corner,” she realizes, “was human.”
Though it didn’t register at first, now Patrice realizes the horror of what she saw earlier as she begins to understand that humans had been chained to the walls in that house, again providing a glimpse of the kind of violence that Vera is experiencing.
Themes
Sex, Violence, and Gender Theme Icon
Agency and Exploitation Theme Icon