The Night Watchman

The Night Watchman

by

Louise Erdrich

The Night Watchman: Indian Joke Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
The next day, when Mr. Vold sees what Thomas wrote on his time card about the owl, he interprets it as a cryptic joke. LaBatte plays along and offers an interpretation about Thomas smoking Snowy Owl brand cigars, but once he leaves Vold’s office, he stops laughing. If Thomas had seen an owl, LaBatte thinks, that would mean a death soon. He then shuffles through mental lists of who might die.
LaBatte interprets Thomas’s sighting of an owl, a bird that can hold significance in Chippewa culture, as an omen of death. Thomas’s inscription on his time card, though, makes any straightforward reading of the owl as a symbol in the novel difficult. While Mr. Vold attempts his own interpretation—and seems to widely miss the mark—later in the story the reader will find out that Thomas also recognizes the owl as a symbol, but doesn’t interpret it as superstitiously as he believes LaBatte does.
Themes
Oppression and Supposed Good Intentions Theme Icon
Sex, Violence, and Gender Theme Icon