When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky

“Mrs. Hampton, who knew Two was on loan from the 101, the last Wild West show in existence, assumed that she was a Wild Indian and Two Feathers was her real name. But she didn’t know if Two should be treated like a white or a Negro. And that was important. Standards had to be maintained.”

This passage highlights the complex Racial and Ethnic Tensions in 1920s America. As an Indigenous woman, Two troubles the social boundaries between white Tennesseans and the descendants of enslaved people. Two knows that people like Helen calibrate their treatment of her based on her proximity to whiteness—if she is treated well by white people, it is at the expense of her Black co-workers.

“Duncan wasn’t as eager to destroy a grave as he’d been as a youngster. Since then, he’d lost a wife to the Spanish influenza and had developed a thyroid disorder.”

White characters like James Shackleford and Duncan Shelton remain unashamed of their grave-robbing history, and actively reminisce about the sacred relics they’ve stolen. However, this passage suggests that the trauma of the late 19th and early 20th centuries had a profound impact on these men, exposing them to death on a personal scale and underscoring The Lasting Effects of Grief and Trauma.

“And when he first used his Indian name in writing to Two, he experienced an emotional release that erupted into a sexual emission.”

Jack Older, a white man who uses the Indigenous name Strong-Red-Wolf, is the novel’s primary antagonist. This passage suggests that his stalking of and sexual obsession with Two Feathers is related to his desire to possess elements of Indigenous culture, believing he is entitled to both.

“He’d ridden his mule past countless stinking bodies, braced himself against the ever-present possibility of robbery, the depravations of desperate people, the brutality of morally righteous victors. He’d hardened to survive.”

As a child, James Shackleford, the owner of Glendale Park, was a refugee of the Civil War: Along with his family, he was forced to flee his home and survive in an active battle zone. The lasting trauma of the Civil War is a constant struggle for Shackleford and other characters in the novel. Although the Great War is more recent, the Civil War remains culturally significant in the South in 1926 and directly contributes to The Racial and Ethnic Tensions of 1920s America.

“Pictured an oak, strong, enduring, and rooted in the earth. Pictured the Salt Fork, flowing with grace and power. She conjured up the 101 buffalo herd, moving over the prairie into the sunset. And, finally, she called up the beaver, the persistent, strong swimmer and survivor.”

Two’s Cherokee heritage leads her to find value and wisdom in her relationships with non-human members of her environment, such as plants, animals, and natural forces. Two’s relationship with non-human beings remains essential to Verble’s characterization of her and emphasizes the novel’s thematic interest in Communication Between Human and Non-Human Beings.

“His grandfather had once owned that land. His older relatives had worked it as slaves.”

The character of Hank Crawford acts as a physical manifestation of the complex racial politics controlling the southern United States in the early 20th century. His grandfather was a white enslaver who had children with one of the women he enslaved. Crawford’s mixed-race relatives were educated and raised in white society, but are resented by many of Nashville’s white elite.

“Crawford said, ‘The best route is down the bears’ hill.’ There was discussion then. Some just to avoid looking like they were taking orders from a Negro.”

The employees and management of Glendale Park govern themselves by a strict racial hierarchy that places white people above people of color. In this passage, members of the white Shackleford family hesitate before taking orders from Crawford, the mixed-race groom leading the rescue of Two Feathers. The fact that the racial hierarchy disrupts the rescue mission highlights its dominance in Southern culture.

“At that very moment, Clive, filled to the brim with wonder, shifted earthquake-like in his entire view of existence. Millwood had survived. He had no doubt. And if Millwood had, then all of the other millions of dead had also survived. They were all still alive. Whole.”

The geological disruption of the sinkhole catalyzes a disruption between the human and spirit worlds, allowing Clive to see the spirits of deceased people at and beyond Glendale. Rather than being disturbed by the ghost of his dead cousin, Clive feels relief that Millwood is once again whole and at peace. His relief points to the trauma of the Great War.

“He was currently debating with himself over the extent of the inferiority of the Mongloid races (which included American Indians), but he had no doubt about Negroids being inferior.”

Jack—who sometimes takes the name Strong-Red-Wolf—maintains strong racial prejudices against Indigenous and Black people, especially the descendants of enslaved people. His sexual desire for Two Feathers further highlights the overt racism of his worldview: His view of her as biologically passive and submissive makes her more appealing to him.

“When night settled in, he checked the bodies’ pockets for tobacco. He found three pouches. These he lifted under the moon.”

Little Elk’s tobacco offerings reflect a traditional Indigenous practice spanning across many diverse native communities. As Little Elk makes these offerings, Verble reveals that tobacco gives Little Elk the power to interact with the world of the living. The novel positions his powers as a gift from the universe in thanks for his offering.

“That suited Jack’s intentions completely, and he could be charming when he wanted. He’d practiced that sort of deception all of his life. And Two wasn’t immune to him.”

Verble depicts Jack, the novel’s primary antagonist, as a narcissist with little empathy for other people. This passage suggests that he employs charm when it serves him, but that he is fundamentally deceptive in his interactions with others. His manipulation of Two Feathers leads her to grow more dependent on alcohol.

“The carousel horses were stored in a big red barn that housed not only the remains of the Flying Jenny, but also the roller coaster skeleton and cars. Additionally in there were six boxes of human skeletons from Indian graves that had been dismantled as the zoo had expanded.”

In setting her story in Glendale Park—a zoo built on top of an Indigenous burial site that was largely destroyed during construction—Verble highlights the history of violence and oppression against Indigenous communities in the United States. The bodies removed were stored haphazardly alongside broken attractions, further emphasizing the disregard and disrespect the white owners and proprietors show for Indigenous lives and culture—a pain Two Feathers lives with each day she works at the park.

“And sex with an inferior race didn’t put him off at all. That was a well-known Southern custom. In years past, it would’ve been a right; there were people like Crawford all over the South.”

This passage epitomizes Jack’s racist worldview and posture toward Two Feathers. His certainty that Two is racially inferior to him allows him to believe that his status as a white man gives him sexual access to her. He sees Crawford, a mixed-race descendant of enslaved people, as validating the sexual entitlement of white men to women of color.

“Hank whittled for the same reason he raised corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, and okra. To create something new out of nothing.”

In the first half of the novel, Verble defines Crawford primarily by his role in Two’s life and his devotion to Bonita. In this passage, the novel presents Crawford through the eyes of his brother Josh, who sees him as a nurturing, creative man. This shift in perspective highlights how Crawford remains cautious in his relationships with the other workers at Glendale.

“Like Mr. Clive and Mrs. Hampton, Two thought the verdict had been idiotic. Humans and animals are kin. Only a stooge could miss that.”

Verble highlights Two’s close relationship with animals—such as her horse Ocher and the buffalo Adam—as one of her defining characteristics, pointing to the novel’s thematic interest in Communication Between Human and Non-Human Beings. Two’s connection with and respect for the animals at Glendale sets her apart from the majority of white Tennesseans, especially those who reject the concept of evolution. The use of the word kin in this passage reflects Two’s belief that humans and animals are literally family.

“She needed cedar, sourwood, sage, pine, sweetgrass, and tobacco. She was surrounded by maple, oak, and hickory.”

This passage reflects Two’s sense that—like the hippopotamus Dinah—she has been removed from her natural habitat and brought to an unfamiliar place, further evidencing the kinship she feels with the animals at Glendale. To perform her family’s rituals, Two needs plants and herbs that are not Indigenous to Tennessee. Surrounded by “foreign” plants, she is forced to make do with kitchen herbs and cigarette tobacco.

“‘Come with me.’

‘Can’t do that. White folks’ll have a go-to-pieces.’

‘It’s none of their damn business.’

‘They’ll make it their business.’”

Two Feathers and Crawford have a close working relationship that exists primarily in the privacy of the stables—their shared connection to the horses affords them the opportunity for friendship. Crawford’s reluctance to spend time with Two in the open park after Ocher’s death reflects the constant threat of danger for people of color in Verble’s novel, underscoring The Racial and Ethnic Tensions of 1920s America.

“He shook his shaggy head. He liked this human. Her smell recalled others from the past. His muscles were slack, his heart lonely, and his power gone, but he was still a buffalo. He dreamed of his family grazing on a hillside under a wide sky.”

Verble uses a unique structure for her novel, shifting the narrative voice between multiple characters, often in the same chapter. This passage reflects the perspective of Adam, a buffalo on loan from the 101 Ranch where Two Feathers was born. The novel’s engagement with animal perspectives reflects Two’s belief that animals possess an interiority as unique and individual as that of humans.

“Two’d never been inactive in her life. Forced into it, she recognized that the world inside her and the world unseen were every bit as engaging as the world she’d always inhabited. She practiced the stillness of her grandmothers, her grandfathers, her parents, uncles, and aunts.”

Two’s injury forces her to sit with her thoughts and anxieties, and to relinquish the tight control she has held over her life. As a result, Two experiences spiritual encounters that deepen her relationships with the animals at Glendale. Two understands stillness as a gift from her ancestors and believes it distinguishes her from a white, capitalist society.

“And since Two ate with utensils, used her napkin like other women, and didn’t gulp her liquids, Helen had begun to forget she was an Indian.”

This passage demonstrates the pervasiveness of racism in Tennessee in the 1920s. Despite Helen’s friendship with Two Feathers, she maintains racist ideas about how Indigenous people behave.

“Little Elk didn’t know his stealing those was causing a commotion among the club’s members. Even one fist fight, as it didn’t occur to anyone that the thief was a spirit. But if Little Elk had known the hubbub he was creating, it would’ve filled him with pleasure.”

The character of Little Elk merges traditional aspects of the trickster trope with a traditional guardian figure. This passage highlights his trickster nature: Although he steals tobacco to gain power, the novel suggests that he enjoys chaos and would have delighted in causing fights among white people.

“There hadn’t been a murder in the park since…when was it? James Jr., William, and Shirley were still alive. Before 1908. Probably 1907.”

James and May Shackleford, the owners of the park, lost six out of the ten children May successfully carried to term. This passage suggests that May’s grief over the loss of her children dominates her worldview, emphasizing The Lasting Effects of Grief and Trauma. She defines her sense of time by whether or not her children were alive when something happened.

“‘It won’t be the first body somebody’s hidden.’ She was thinking about the disappeared cowboys of the 101. About the corpse of an Osage woman found in a ravine.”

Verble centers the constant threat of racist violence in the American South in the early 20th century as an important theme in the novel. For Two, who grew up near the Osage Nation and currently lives in a segregated city, this violence is never far from home. She manipulates the law’s reluctance to investigate murders to conceal Jack’s death.