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Chapter 18
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Wandering Stars, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonization, Racism, and Institutional Violence
Intergenerational Trauma
Addiction
Survival vs. Resilience
Identity and Cultural Erasure
Summary
Analysis
Sean and Orvil meet in person at school and talk about what it means to be Native now. Sean says he recently found out from a DNA test that he has Native ancestry, and Orvil says that Native people of the past all came from different regions with their own languages. The two also begin talking about music. While they’re talking, Sean sees that Orvil has a pill bottle. They sit together at lunch and talk, and Sean tells Orvil that his dad makes drugs in their basement and that his dad helps people who have chronic pain get pills so it’s not “evil or whatever.” Orvil says he’s been on hydromorphone, and Sean says that he can get him something better. Orvil says he can’t pay yet, and Sean tells him not to worry about it.
Orvil clarifies that the idea of a united or collective Native culture—instead of cultures based on individual tribes—is relatively new. Sean and Orvil quickly bond over their shared interests in drugs and music. That shared interest is notable because both Orvil and Sean are struggling with emotional pain and loss and are also looking for a sense of belonging, and drugs become a way for them to find belonging. The novel will also show, though, how the apparent upsides of drugs quickly turn into pitfalls.
Themes
