Study Guide Chapter 6

Plot Summary
Robert Johnson stayed at Big Mom’s front porch feeling guilty but free at the same time for leaving the guitar in Thomas Builds-the-Fire’s blue van. He didn’t remember if he left the guitar on purpose, or not, because the guitar always found its way back to Johnson. However, his fingers felt relief and thought that maybe his guitar wanted to stay with the Indians, for a while. The effects of the guitar caused Coyote Springs some trouble as David WalksAlong wrote an open letter to the Spokane Tribe suggesting that Coyote Springs should not represent the people from the reservation. Therefore, the band should be kicked
out because outsiders would think they too are storytellers, drunks and irresponsible.
Thomas later went to church with Chess and Checkers and felt uncomfortable that Father
Arnold spiritually stripped searched him before entering church. During mass, he felt dizzy,
stressed, and nearly fainted but knew all prayers by habit rather than faith. While in
church, Thomas closed his eyes and dreamed that someone in the sweatlodge stole his
songs and heard a voice of an animal beside him that brushed against him drawing blood
from him (maybe the gentleman). As he woke up from his dream, an old woman told
Thomas that his band is sinful and no one in the reservation likes them anymore. Thomas,
disoriented, went to get the communion wafer, but held it and crumbled it into pieces
outside church; he felt the “weight of God, the reservation, and all the stories between”
(180). He was mad that his own reservation now wanted the band out of town and out of
their lives. At the Trading Post, jealous Michael White Hawk provoked a fight with drunken
Victor and Junior because of the white women whom they slept with. Hawk implied that
Junior and Victor were worth nothing by sleeping with white girls in the reservation. Betty
and Veronica tried to help them, but couldn’t do much then, Lester FallsApart joined in and
knocked Hawk on the floor. Soon after, the Tribal police arrived and dispersed the crowd,
as the EMT tried to aid Hawk, he continued to fight, and the EMT hit him with an oxygen
tank, to calm him down. The EMT told doctors, orders handed down by Council Tribe that
Hawk was in car wreck because he wanted to keep the white people’s laws off the
reservation. After the fight Thomas took Betty and Veronica to the Greyhound Station to go
back home because they felt unwelcomed in the reservation and noticed people spitting on
their shadow. Good news came to Coyote Springs, as Calvary Records heard of them and
sent Phil Sheridan and George Wright to Wellpinitto fly them to New York, with all
expenses paid to hear them play. But first Sheridan and Wright had to stop at Seattle to
hear some duo (Betty and Veronica) then fly to New York. Checkers tells Father Arnold she
was going to rejoin the band and Father understood her motives. The band celebrates as
they received some money from Sheridan and Wright as well as a letter from Big Mom, she
wanted to see them before they left town.
Robert Johnson is staying at Big Mom’s house. Big Mom tells him he is safe but he still
worries that the guitar will come back to him. In the past, he has tried to get rid of the
guitar by leaving it behind on trains and in diners. Johnson would also throw it in rivers,
bury it, and drop it off tall buildings. But no matter what the guitar would also end up in
Johnson’s apartment, even if it took weeks. Thomas Builds-the-Fire goes to church with
Chess and Checkers where he feels very uncomfortable and has a dream - like a surreal
vision. When Thomas wakes, he meets an old Indian woman that tells him that no one
likes the band's music and that they don’t like the white women in the band. Victor and
Junior get in a fight in front of the Trading Post with Michael White Hawk, then White
Hawk knocks the beer out of Victor and Junior’s hands which leads to a fight. All three
men end up going to the hospital in Spokane for medical attention. Betty and Veronica
end up going back home to Seattle because they could not handle the life on the
reservation. Chess suggest to Checkers that they move back to Arlee but Checkers says
no because they don't have enough money to get there, but really she was thinking about
Father Arnold. Phil Sheridan and George Wright pull up on the reservation in a Cadillac
looking for Coyote Springs. Sheridan and Wright are from Cavalry Records in New York
City and want to talk to the band about a recording contract. Coyote Springs plays a
couple of songs for the men and they offer to fly them out the next week to New York to
play in front of Mr. Armstrong. Checkers goes to the church to tell Father Arnold she is
back in the band and he is shocked but supports Checkers. At the end of the chapter
Thomas gets a letter from Big Mom that invites the band up to her house on Wellipint
Mountain so she can help the band prepare for New York.
Chapter 6 begins with Robert Johnson staying at Big Mom’s house. Johnson felt
free, but guilt he left the guitar behind. He was unsure whether he left it on purpose or left
it for good. Often times, the guitar had ways of coming back to Johnson. He even tried
breaking it, but the next day would be shiny and new. Which leads to Big Mom telling
him he is safe. This leads back to a letter to the Spokane Tribe from council chairman,
David WalksAlong. He thinks the band is causing trouble for the tribe. He didn’t want
the assumptions of being crazy story ellers or irresponsible drunks to lash back at the
tribe. The letter also gets a reply from Big Mom. She is inviting Thomas and his band to
visit her home. She also mentions Robert Johnson is there which might reunite the guitar
and Johnson.
In chapter 6 we get a quick glance on how Robert Johnson was doing at Big Mom’s house.
Although his scars have healed and he is finally taking a break from the guitar, he is still afraid
that the guitar will find him. He explained that he had tried many times to leave the guitar, but it
always found him. This time though, he feels that the guitar is clingy onto Thomas a lot stronger
than it holding onto Johnson. Johnson begins to sing and Thomas could hear him through the
open windows, far way.
Many Indians on the reservation are beginning to turn against the Coyote Springs. There
was a letter written by the Council Chairman WalksAlong criticizing the band and how the band
have two non-Spokane Indians, but also two white women. WalksAlong then said, “they could
all use God” (Page 176).
Thomas attends church with Chess and Checkers, but doesn’t feel comfortable with it.
During the service, Thomas was able to follow along, as he knew the prayers, rather as a habit
than faith. Thomas then falls asleep and has a surreal dream. When he woke up, an old woman
tells Thomas how everyone on the reservation is turning against him and Coyote Springs and that
since they travel and perform outside of the reservation they no longer belong there. The people
of the reservation have even suggested that they be banned.
Victor and Junior enters the Trading Post have been drunk ever since they returned from
Seattle. They have spent their $200 prize money quickly and were spending Betty and
Veronica’s cash, too. At the Trading Post they bumped into White Hawk who can’t stand to see
Victor and Junior. White Hawk then proceeded to beat Victor and Junior badly and the-man-
who-was-probably-Lakota defends the two and bashes White Hawk’s head. Betty and Veronica
then decided it was time for them to go back to Seattle after having a realistic impression of what
reservation life is.
Over the next few weeks, chaos between the supporters and enemies of the Coyote Springs
broke out. Having run out of the their prize money, Thomas have been calling small record
companies in Spokane hoping they would sell their records. Instead they were discriminated,
“’Indians?’ those record companies said. ‘You mean like drums and stuff? That howling kind of
singing? We can’t afford to make a record that ain’t going to sell. Sorry’” (Page 187).
Then one day two white men, Phil Sheridan and George Wright from Cavalry Records
showed up a Thomas’s door. The two white men from New York City offered a record deal with
the Coyote Springs. But before Coyote Springs was about to leave, Thomas receives a letter from
Big Mom. In the letter Big Mom says she heard the band was able to audition for a record
company, but she doesn’t think they will be able to land the deal without her help. Big Mom then
invites the band to meet her at her house up in the mountain.

The Epigraph
The poetic epigraph describes a lonely Indian woman who does not need an Indian man, an alcoholic, who would just disappoint her and break her heart. The poetic epigraph and the title relates through the sense that all Indian men falls into alcoholism and eventually falls apart and disappears. It illustrates the alcoholism and loneliness theme of the novel. This epigraph seems to be a love poem that Thomas has written about Chess. It refers to an Indian woman who is “lonely” and desires a true Indian man. She “don’t want a warrior and she don’t want no brave And she don’t want a renegade heading for an early grave.” Specifically, she does not want someone who falls into the self-destructive path that many Indian men fall victim to. She refers to a man who is “falling down and falling apart,” referring to the despair that so many Indian men experience when they lose all hope in life. Many of these men, like Junior and Victor, abandon their goals and admit defeat, leading to a life of aimlessness and drunkenness. The end of the epigraph shows Thomas and Chess’s mutual desire in one another and how Chess wishes for Thomas to retain his Indian spirit (171-172).

The Guitar
Robert Johnson explains to Big Mom that whenever he tried to get rid of the guitar, it would always return to him. However, it does not return to him when he leaves it on the Spokane Reservation because it found a new suitor in Victor (and the Indian culture in general). The guitar seems to prey on its owner, feeding on the weak. Victor is a weak man, a man with no hope for the future. It may have sensed that the Indian culture was filled with these types of people and decided to change owners. But when Thomas picked up the guitar, his personality didn’t fit this description. Instead, it called out to Victor, the perfect candidate for the guitar. The narrator notes that the guitar hold onto Victor "even harder than it ever held Johnson" (174). It is possible that this guitar held onto Victor even more than it had with Johnson because of the levels of crushed hope and despair that Victor had experienced throughout his life. The guitar isn’t returning to Robert Johnson because the guitar has found someone who needs it more desperately than him. The guitar holds onto Victor harder than it held Johnson because Victor needs it more desperately than Johnson. Victor needs it more desperately than Johnson because it is a key out of the reservation for Victor. Being able to be in a band, Victor is able to travel outside of the reservation and experience what the outside world is like.

Another explanation is that the guitar did not return to Robert Johnson when he left it on the Spokane Reservation because the Gentle man knew that Robert was going to see Big Mom.He probably knew that Big Mom was a powerful woman and she would be able to help Robert get his soul back and possibly get rid of the guitar for good. I also think that now since the guitar has found Victor it has more control over him since Victor doesn't know the history behind the guitar. Victor seems to be very naive . Even in the book it explains that Victor and Junior seen Big Mom walk across water but Victor vanished that memory from his imagination and acts as if he doesn't even know Big Mom.

I also noticed that when Big Mom was talking to Victor about a childhood incident that happened and nobody else knew about because he never shared it with anybody, he still failed to realized Big Moms special ability and acknowledge the fact that she has a God given talent. The Gentleman see that Victor is vulnerable and is not self aware of the harm that can come to the band. In fact, I believe this was a plan that the Gentleman came up with once he seen that Victor was a jerk to Thomas and wanted to beat him up for Thomas not revealing the guitars name. He realized that Victor was stubborn and knew that he could manipulate him somehow.

Slavery and the Native American Community
Alexie seems to draw comparisons between black injustice to Indian injustice in America. Through this line, it is possible that, through Victor, he demonstrates how Indians have possibly suffered even more than black Americans throughout history. Victor is easily drawn to the fame and fortune that might come with a successful band, but living on modern-day reservations has caused him to adopt a defeated attitude.

An allusion in literature is when an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference. In other words saying something without really saying it. Allusion provided the sense of slavery in this novel, when the Spokane inhabitants began to “praise” Coyote Spring’s band members. Perhaps the priest would say this as a sense of slavery. The population of the tribe began to encourage and take part in Coyote Spring’s events. Metaphorically, the Spokane tribe was viewed as slaves. Although they weren’t directly introduced as slaves the allusions throughout the chapter indicated that in fact they were.

Open Letter to the Spokane Tribe
As we have read in an earlier chapter, David WalksAlong and the Coyote Springs are not the best of friends. In his “Open Letter to the Spokane Tribe,” he questions the band’s ability to represent the tribe. He supports his central claim by listing some supporting claims of why the band lacks the ability to represent the tribe. His first supporting claim is “they are drunks,” in reference to Victor and Junior’s massive drinking habits. His second supporting claim is the Chess and Checkers are from a different tribe. Even through he has two strong supporting claims, his main concern is not the band’s lack of leadership and ability to represent the tribe but the band’s power to have people focus on them more than the church and the Tribe’s council.

Thomas and Prometheus
Well Prometheus is characterized as the Titan, Prometheus had a reputation as being something of a clever trickster and he famously gave the human race the gift of fire and the skill of metalwork, an action for which he was punished by Zeus. The connection between Thomas and Prometheus is that they are both have the human rare gift of fire. The fire represents not actual fire but it is as he brings joy or happiness with the stories Thomas likes to tell. Like in the movie, many people seemed passionate after listening to his stories and wanted to hear more. Thomas Bring-the-fire by telling stories that maybe either true or false.

Thomas' Faltering Faith in Catholicism
The narrator notes how "nervous and frightened" Thomas felt when he entered church with Checkers and Chess. Thomas feels as if he would set off the alarms if a "faith detector" had been installed at the door (176). Thomas’s faith in Catholicism is shaken because he “remembered how all those Indians bowed down to a little white man in Rome” and he also resents the religion for killing many
Indians in the name of God. The soldiers “shouted ‘Jesus Christ’ as they ran swords through
[the Indian’s] bellies”(167).

Betty and Veronica' Departure 
Betty and Veronica soon tire of reservation life and opt to leave. They lose interest in the reservation because they thought the town was crazy. They wanted to help Victor and Junior in the fight but ended with a bloody nose and a cold pack. Chess told them that “a concussion is just as traditional as a sweatlodge” in the reservation. Betty and Veronica did not expect the Indians to be disrespectful as spitting on their shadows; they had enough and wanted to go back home.

Big Mom Sends Thomas a Letter
In the end, Big Mom sends Thomas a letter, offering her help before they go to New York.
I think she reaches out to help Coyote Springs because Johnson’s guitar might posses more
harmful powers once they arrive to the big city that might cause the band to separate or
create problems between them