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Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Motorcycles & Sweetgrass, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Cultural Maintenance vs. Loss
Grief and Trauma
Colonialism and Land Use
Stories and Religion
Humor
Summary
Analysis
Maggie Second returns to her mother Lillian’s house after a long morning of work trying to officially designate a newly-purchased parcel of land as part of the First Nations Reserve. She must contend with both white politicians, who are generally averse to allowing First Nations peoples to acquire land at all, and her Anishnawbe constituency, who constantly hound her with various and often unreconcilable opinions on what the land should be used for. She goes inside to see Lillian, greeting Virgil along the way. Lillian speaks to Maggie in Anishnawbe, and Maggie responds in the same language even though she is less confident in it.
Land and land ownership are primary issues in much Indigenous activism, and Maggie recognizes that importance. European colonizers committed atrocities upon Indigenous peoples in order to attain their land, and generations of colonialist policies and attitudes have fostered the assumption that Native-owned land will eventually be taken for white Canadians to use. Otter Lake’s purchase of new land has challenged that assumption.
Themes
Maggie and Lillian exchange jokes, and Maggie notes that Lillian keeps a dreamcatcher and a picture of Christ next to each other on her wall. Lillian has been rereading the Bible, which she says she believes in enough to tell right from wrong. When Maggie points out that the Bible wronged Sammy Aandeg, Lillian insists that men did that, not Christianity. Lillian asks about Wayne, Maggie’s youngest brother (and Lillian’s favorite child), who lives on an island on the lake. Maggie doubts Wayne will visit, and she is frustrated by Lillian’s continued faith in him.
Though Lillian is dying, she and Maggie find comfort in their shared sense of humor. Their views diverge when it comes to Christianity, though. Unlike Maggie, Lillian believes in both Christianity and traditional Anishnawbe religion, and she distinguishes between the teachings of Christianity and the abuse she suffered from Christian colonizers.
Themes
The women’s conversation turns to Virgil, who has been skipping school, and Lillian muses that he might be happier if Maggie stayed home instead of working as chief. Lillian adds that she “called someone” to bring some magic into her family’s lives, but she refuses to explain herself because “it’s an Anishnawbe thing” that Maggie wouldn’t understand.
The fact that Lillian was able to call to the man from her youth makes clear that the residential school failed to rob her of her connection to her Anishnawbe identity and the magic that comes with it. However, colonialism did create a generational divide between those who grew up before forced assimilation and people like Maggie who grew up during or after it. As a result, Lillian doesn’t believe Maggie to be truly Anishnawbe.
Themes
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Outside, Virgil sees a man drive a motorcycle up Lillian’s driveway. The Indian-brand motorcycle is decorated with feathers, and the man’s helmet is emblazoned with a raven. The stranger enters Lillian’s home and removes his helmet, revealing him to be a white man she doesn’t recognize. When he speaks, however, she realizes that he is the man from her youth who she called back home.
The stranger takes the guise of a white man appropriating First Nations culture: he drives a brand of motorcycle named after an outdated term for Indigenous people. What’s more, the motorcycle is decorated with feathers, which are often broadly associated with Indigenous people without acknowledgement that some First Nations communities might deem specific feathers significant, while others might not. The specificity of the raven on his helmet, though, hints that he knows more about Anishnawbe culture than he lets on.
Themes
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The man explains that he has changed his appearance to assimilate, and when Lillian asks if he hates her for going away to school, he assures her he doesn’t. She tells him that he shouldn’t have left, and he complains that he didn’t feel wanted. She argues that she and the rest of the community have always wanted him. As Lillian starts to die, she asks the man to grant her two favors. Meanwhile, outside Lillian’s house, Virgil’s cousin Dakota suggests he peek through the window. Virgil does, and he sees the man kissing his grandmother. The man sees him, and Virgil retreats and refuses to tell Dakota what he saw.
Once again, the man’s mythical power does not make him beyond reproach, as Lillian chastises him without fear. The man and Lillian share an intimate bond, even though they have been parted for so many years, which speaks to her unwavering connection to her Anishnawbe heritage.
Themes
