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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
Virgil leaves the funeral and walks along the railroad tracks at the Reserve’s border. He stops at a flat-topped rock surrounded by sweetgrass, where Lillian had told him about braiding sweetgrass in her childhood. Sweetgrass is one of the sacred herbs, along with cedar, sage, and tobacco. Sitting on the rock is the strange man, who is braiding sweetgrass. Virgil asks the man’s name, and the man introduces himself as John Turner, though he seems to make up the name on the spot.
Virgil’s generation is distanced from the Anishnawbe traditions that came naturally to Lillian’s generation, but his relationship with his grandmother has given him access to knowledge of that history and culture. This emphasizes the importance of small-scale, interpersonal exchanges of stories and teachings.
Themes
John demonstrates his ability to speak in the languages of wolves and loons, and he perfectly imitates a train. He also mentions that he finds Maggie attractive, which bewilders Virgil. John continues that he made two promises to Lillian, and both of them involve Virgil. John starts to explain, but the train passes by and drowns him out. John departs, leaving behind several perfect braids of sweetgrass.
John displays some of his power to Virgil, and the deliberately confusing way he does so emphasizes John’s trickster nature. His ability to mimic the sounds around him indicates his deep connection to non-human aspects of the world, while his ability to perfectly braid sweetgrass proves to Virgil that this apparently white stranger is well versed in Anishnawbe culture.
Themes
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