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Chapter 1
Themes
and Colors
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
Jude and Bear Shield spend three years in a “prison-castle” in Florida as prisoners of war. Their jailer is Richard Henry Pratt. He makes them wear military uniforms, which are the same uniforms worn by the men who killed many prisoners’ relatives. Pratt also makes them do military drills and perform for white people. Jude thinks that they perform their authenticity for those white people. Jude dances in one of the performances, even though he doesn’t know how, and thinks that white people won’t know the difference between what is real and what isn’t. Eventually, Jude thinks, he won’t know the difference either.
This passage illustrates how Richard Pratt, as the principal authority at Fort Marion, systematically attempts to erase Native culture by inculcating Native people into U.S. military culture. That method of erasure is especially insidious because the U.S. Army is responsible for killing many of the prisoners’ relatives. This section shows how Jude feels another part of his identity slipping away when he performs his identity for white people, highlighting how false representations of Native people in popular media also contribute to the erasure of Native culture.
Active
Themes
Jude learns English in the prison by reading the Bible. He finds comfort in some of the stories and also sees similarities between biblical stories and the Cheyenne stories he grew up hearing. After a year in prison, Bear Shield and others hatch a plan to escape. Jude isn’t part of the planning process because everyone but Bear Shield thinks that because he’s mute, he’s a “fool.” Pratt discovers the plan before they can make the attempt and then makes Bear Shield and Jude march in the courtyard in chains in front of the others. Pratt injects Jude and Bear Shield with something that makes them weak and pass out. Jude dreams of Sand Creek and wakes up three days later in the prison dungeon.
While Christianity was often used as a tool of colonialism in the U.S., the novel makes a distinction between religious texts and practices and how religion is used as a tool. Jude in particular points out the similarities between stories from the Bible and stories he heard growing up, suggesting that, from his perspective, it would be possible to put Christianity and Cheyenne stories in conversation with one another instead of the colonialist practice of using Christianity as a tool to erase Native culture and religion.
Active
Themes
After that, there are no more escape attempts. Jude imagines what he would do to Pratt, or any white man, if he had the chance. Later, someone comes to make plaster casts and measure Native people’s skulls, testing their theory that Native people have smaller skulls than white people. The person makes a mold of Pratt’s skull as well. When Jude sees all of the plaster casts, he notices that, if anything, Pratt’s skull is smaller than the rest. When Jude is released from prison, authorities make him choose a new name to track him. He chooses Jude, from the Bible. On the train to Oklahoma, he sees piles of buffalo bones, a result of The Buffalo Wars. Seeing those bones eats “away at some last part” of Jude.
