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The Bear Skull in the Tree Was Painted Red and Faced East
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Night Watchman, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power, Solidarity, and Community Action
Oppression and Supposed Good Intentions
Humor and Pain
Sex, Violence, and Gender
Agency and Exploitation
Summary
Analysis
Millie prepares a report for Thomas about the trip to Washington, adding her own details as well, which will be distributed to the tribe. When she goes outside with Juggie, they see the northern lights. Juggie says the dancing spirits are looking after them. Millie decides that one explanation did not rule out the other, that science and spirituality aren’t opposed, that charged electrons could be spirits. She decides that she’ll go out on a date with Barnes as well, especially because he had asked her with an equation, and how could she resist that?
This chapter calls back to Thomas seeing the star powwow, and Millie states one of the novel’s themes explicitly: that science and spirituality aren’t opposed, that one explanation doesn’t rule out the other, and that one need not be privileged over the other.
Themes
