Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in What You Pawn I Will Redeem, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Native American Culture and Identity
Money, Capitalism, and Morality
Racism and Colonialism
Death and Grief
Summary
Analysis
The Aleut cousins run out of songs, and the four sit in silence again. Jackson observes that “Indians are good at silence.” He wants to hear more songs, but the cousins explain that the other ones they know are only for their people, which Jackson understands because Indians have to keep their secrets. He notes that the Aleuts are so secretive that they don’t even call themselves Indians. Jackson asks the cousins if they are hungry, and they accept his offer to go eat.
Jackson returns to the subject of secrets, which are critical to the preservation of American Indian culture. The Aleuts don’t call themselves American Indians, perhaps in order to protect themselves against an American society that wants to destroy and oppress American Indian culture and communities.
Themes
