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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in News of the World, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fatherhood and Masculinity
American Multiculturalism and Racial Violence
News and Storytelling
Childhood and Innocence
War and Reconstruction
Summary
Analysis
The local women give Johanna a dress and some underclothes, but Johanna refuses to change her attire. Eventually, Captain Kidd takes her to the town brothel, where the women bathe her and remove her lice by force, throwing her old clothes out the window and wrangling her into the dress. By the end of the ordeal, the tub has toppled over and everyone is soaking wet. Johanna does not know how to pick up her skirts in the street, and they are soon covered in red mud. Captain Kidd can see she’s trying not to cry.
Even though the women are trying to help Johanna by cleaning her up, they’re actually effecting a forced cultural transition. By destroying her old clothes, they also destroy one of her remaining links to the Kiowa. Although Captain Kidd has organized this, for the rest of the novel he’ll be more careful about allowing Johanna to preserve her cultural heritage.
Themes
In the meantime, Captain Kidd has bought a run-down wagon with the words “Curative Waters Mineral Springs East Texas” emblazoned on the side. The canopy and curtains will provide protection for Johanna on the long journey and keep her in his sight. But he can’t even describe his plans to her, because he doesn’t even know her name in Kiowa.
Once belonging to a health spa, the wagon promises healing and well-being. Yet Captain Kidd will become aware that by taking Johanna away from the only home she knows, he’s actually inflicting a trauma upon her.
Themes
Captain Kidd changes into a neat traveling outfit; he’s always careful about his clothes in order to project “authority and wisdom” at his readings. Then he packs up his few possessions and some essential supplies for the journey. Motioning for Johanna to stay put, the Captain seeks out Britt to ask which roads are open and which have been flooded. Britt advises him to travel along the river to Spanish Fort. Then he examines the Captain’s old, rusty hand gun and replaces it with his own new pistol. Captain Kidd smiles at the gesture and watches Britt and his men ride away.
Even though Captain Kidd’s readings aim to simply relay facts about current events, the necessity of dressing in a particular way shows that they’re actually a kind of careful performance. Meanwhile, the dismal state of Captain Kidd’s guns indicates his own peaceful nature, despite the fact—upon which he’ll later elaborate—that’s he’s actually fought in multiple wars.
Themes
Returning to the wagon, Captain Kidd hitches up his horse, Fancy. People stand in the doorway, shaking their heads at the old man and dirty, frightened girl; farther away, the Captain can see the pale-haired man and the two Caddos looking on with interest. Drifting in and out of the tribal lands, they have “gathered trouble and a great deal of peculiar knowledge about human beings” which they are eager to put to use.
To the people in the town, Captain Kidd and Johanna make an odd, almost abnormal picture. However, they’ll soon form a relationship that is more satisfying than many conventionally familial bonds. The presence of the pale-haired man is an ominous warning of the dangerous future ahead.
Themes
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