Linda Lark Character Analysis

Linda Lark is a white woman and expert banana bread baker who works in the reservation post office. Linda was raised by Betty Wishkob in her Chippewa family after Grace and George Lark, Linda's biological parents, abandoned her because a birth defect. Betty fought hard to keep Linda after social workers tried to remove her from their family, and she helped to reshape Linda's malformed limbs and head. When Linda is an adult, Grace approaches her to manipulate her into donating her kidney to Linden, Linda’s twin brother, which shows the cruelty of all the members of her biological family. Linda, who is friends with the Coutts family, helps provide the family with information about Linden’s intentions and whereabouts. After Joe kills Linden and hides the gun under Linda’s porch, Linda takes a sick day to disassemble and hide the gun, ensuring Joe’s safety. Linda, a highly spiritual person, feels that she is constantly in the presence of another spirit as well as her own, which she believes is related to the fact that she was separated from her twin at birth. Linda’s experience with Grace and Betty implies that families are also chosen, not born into, which is one of the book’s major thematic conclusions.