One of the novel’s central conflicts concerns how characters want to repatriate their cultural items. Cooper wants to go slow and steady, while Perry adopts a more vigilante-like approach. Why does the book present a variety of repatriation methods? Without making judgments about which method is “right” or “wrong,” explore why characters gravitate toward a particular method and find others difficult.

Among the novel’s strengths is how it highlights various “ways” of being Anishinaabe, none less valid than any other. Which characters highlight this diversity? What personal, cultural, and historic factors influence how these characters experience their identities and knowledge of their cultural practices and language?

While Perry’s Anishinaabe ancestry deeply influences her, she acknowledges how her Black ancestry (and lack of knowledge about it) influences her too. How does Perry’s Afro-Indigenous identity influence her character, especially regarding how people outside the community perceive her? How does it color her perception of the relationship between her Anishinaabe community’s struggles and those of the Black community across the US?