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Cradle to Grave
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
When Patrice comes back from work, she sees the bear hanging from a tree, ready to be dressed. Of course Zhaanat went after it, Patrice thinks. Inside, Juggie is holding the baby and Rose is making Bannock bread. And there’s one person Patrice doesn’t know, who introduces herself as Millie Cloud. Patrice would have much rather buried her father with no one else around. Wood Mountain works at the grave with his pickax in the frozen ground.
Again, the community comes together to mourn Paranteau, not necessarily as a testament to him, but because they value Zhaanat and her family. Zhaanat killing the bear also shows one possibility of where Patrice’s characteristic independence came from.
Themes
On the first night watch, Patrice eats a bowl of soup that Juggie cooked. The sacred fire has been burning since her father was found. On the second night watch, Thomas works on the grave house, and Patrice sees something or someone at the edge of the woods. On the third night watch, Patrice finds herself alone at the fire again. Her mind unclasps, and she sees her father at the edge of the woods and screams that he can’t get them now.
When Patrice screams at the vision of her father that he can’t get them now, she shows how deep her desire for independence goes. After feeling threatened by her father for most of her life, for Patrice, independence is vital to her well-being, essential if she is going to feel safe in the world.
Themes
The next day, Thomas brings the grave house. Zhaanat and Pokey tie Paranteau into a blanket and cover him with bark. Families begin to arrive. LaBatte weeps. Bucky shows up as well. He asks Zhaanat to take the curse off of him. She says what happened is a result of his own actions, and she had nothing to do with it. He’s helpless, Patrice thinks. But if he gets his strength back, he’ll hurt us. Finally, the men use ropes to lower Paranteau into the ground.
This scene draws a comparison between Bucky and Paranteau. While Paranteau’s death means he can’t torment Patrice or her family anymore, Patrice knows that if Bucky were to regain strength, then he would strike out against them, showing the ubiquity of the threat that men like Bucky or Paranteau pose and the way that their violence continues to reverberate and echo in perpetuity.
Themes
