I can’t say that I enjoyed reading “The Only Good Indians” by Stephen Graham Jones. When I picked it up, I thought that I was in for a tale of horror. What I did not expect is that the horror would be tethered to despair. Throughout the book, it is unclear whether the real haunt is the spirit of a hunted elk, out for revenge or the bleak prospects for Indians on reservations.
Graham Jones presents the reservations as both a blessing and a curse. It is on the reservations that young Indians learn about their culture, attending camps where they are taught hunting and meat curing and pow-wows where ancient rituals are put on display. Reservations are home, offering a sense of belonging.
But the reservations are also a handicap. They are places where vices, such as addiction, lack of education, and unemployment, are normalized and youngsters are sheltered from the off-reservation world. At one point a character Dinorah, a young Blackfoot girl, recounts “the joke about how Indians are crabs in a bucket, always pulling down the one that’s about to crawl out, but she thinks it’s more like they’re old-time plow horses, all just walking straight down their row, trying not to see what’s going on right next to them.”
The book’s depictions of reservations reminded me of another story, “Featherweight” by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, published in the April 5, 2021 edition of the New Yorker. In it, the narrator recounts an ex-girlfriend excelling in college, only to drop-out and return to her reservation to flip hamburgers. It’s as if the reservations have a gravitational pull, drawing Indians back with the promise of safety, but offering little opportunity for professional advancement.
Similarly, in Graham Jones’ book, the character Louis leaves the Blackfoot reservation for a job with the U.S. Postal Service. But, off tribal land, his mental health declines. After a series of tragedies befall him, he flees to the reservation for refuge.
Another theme common to Graham Jones’ and HolyWhiteMountain’s works is that of procreation. Several characters in the Only Good Indians are only-children, elevating their importance within their families. Several characters are devastated by the loss of a child and seek vengeance.
In Featherweight, the narrator feels pressure from being the only living male in his family. He imagines having a child with his girlfriend. But because the two come from closely-located reservations, he fears it could result in inbreeding.
In The Only Good Indians, Louis has what seems like the opposite problem. He ponders the implications of his wife’s whiteness on any children they would bear. Louis dismisses his concerns in light of his wife’s wish not to have children. Yet, he remarks that not procreating seems like a waste of the efforts of his ancestors, who fought to continue their bloodline, only for him to truncate his, out of convenience.
Featherweight echoes Louis’ fears of muddying the lineage:
“Don’t go giving us a half-breed baby, now! they would say. We got enough white blood already.
What if she’s light-skinned? I would say, just to prod them a bit.
Well, if you have to, they would say.
A lot of indians belong to the Church of Latter-Day Eugenicists. Right there out in the open, not even trying to hide the travesty. Brown-skin supremacists. That’s just how they are.”
Together, the works pose an interesting question. What is worse for a dwindling population - the risk of inbreeding or diluting the race?
Neither Graham Jones nor HolyWhiteMountain write to make us comfortable. Sometimes fictional terrors are easier to grapple with than real ones. Ghosts and monsters might be the stuff of nightmares. But poverty, substance abuse, and disenfranchisement persist long after daybreak.
Other Notes on The Only Good Indians: Basketball is a major theme of the book. And only women characters are good at it! I never thought I’d care about a fictional 1-on-1 match. But the telling of Dinorah’s heated scrimmage was gripping. In the book, nature (e.g., the elk) is not concerned with fairness and has no hesitation about using violence. This contrasts with the popular idea of nature as a benevolent force.
with his girlfriend. But because the two come from closely-located reservations, he fears it could result in inbreeding.
In The Only Good Indians, Louis has what seems like the opposite problem. He ponders the implications of his wife’s whiteness on any children they would bear. Louis dismisses his concerns in light of his wife’s wish not to have children. Yet, he remarks that not procreating seems like a waste of the efforts of his ancestors, who fought to continue their bloodline, only for him to truncate his, out of convenience.
Featherweight echoes Louis’ fears of muddying the lineage:
“Don’t go giving us a half-breed baby, now! they would say. We got enough white blood already.
What if she’s light-skinned? I would say, just to prod them a bit.
Well, if you have to, they would say.
A lot of indians belong to the Church of Latter-Day Eugenicists. Right there out in the open, not even trying to hide the travesty. Brown-skin supremacists. That’s just how they are.”
Together, the works pose an interesting question. What is worse for a dwindling population - the risk of inbreeding or diluting the race?
Neither Graham Jones nor HolyWhiteMountain write to make us comfortable. Sometimes fictional terrors are easier to grapple with than real ones. Ghosts and monsters might be the stuff of nightmares. But poverty, substance abuse, and disenfranchisement persist long after daybreak.
Other Notes on The Only Good Indians:
- Basketball is a major theme of the book. And only women characters are good at it! I never thought I’d care about a fictional 1-on-1 match. But the telling of Dinorah’s heated scrimmage was gripping.
- In the book, nature (e.g., the elk) is not concerned with fairness and has no hesitation about using violence. This contrasts with the popular idea of nature as a benevolent force.
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