Solar Storms (book summary) đź“– Flashcards
Where is the “North Country” where Angel returns at the beginning of the story, and where she was born?
on the border between Canada and Minnesota
As Angel and her grandmothers make the arduous journey to the land of the Fat-Eaters, Angel finds that her connection to __________ is growing.
water
What is the name of the construction corporation that is working with the government to construct the dam?
BEEVCO
How is Tulik related to Angel and her grandmothers?
He is Dora-Rouge’s cousin
What is the name of the island where Bush lives?
Fur Island
What is the name of Angel’s mother?
Hannah Wing
What decade is “Solar Storms” set in?
1970s
Who was the quiet woman who raised Angel as a child and protected her from Angel’s mother’s rage until social services removed Angel from the home?
Bush
How do the townspeople, Angel, and her grandmothers learn about the reservoir expansion project happening in the North country?
two young Indian men visit the townspeople and bring warnings
What are the three main reasons Angel and her grandmothers decide to embark on their journey to the land of the Fat-Eaters?
- to protest the project
- to find Angel’s mother
- to allow Dora-Rouge to die with her people in her ancestral home
When Angel finally meets her mother, Hannah only stays long enough to do/say what to Angel?
to deny ever hitting Angel
After Angel finds Aurora in her mother’s house, Aurora becomes a symbol of _____ for Angel and for the community who all help to raiser her while Angel lives with The Beautiful People.
hope
Why does disagreement develop amongst the Native people in opposition to the dam building?
they disagree about whether to use violence as a tactic for saving their lands and homes
What happens right before Aurora falls ill and Angel, Bush and Aurora escape with the help of Mr. Orenson?
Tulik’s house is burned down and the military/police teargas the outpost.
The prologue is narrated from the perspective of who?
Agnes
In the prologue, Agnes and Bush are preparing a mourning feast in honor of who on Fur Island?
Angel
The Fat-Eaters refer to themselves as the The Beautiful People, but why are they renamed?
renamed by European settlers
When Agnes and Dora-Rouge tell Angel the story of Loretta Wing and Harold, what does Angel learn about Loretta?
that she was cursed by the trauma of watching her kin die from the poisoned deer carcasses and the subsequent abuse she suffered
In Chapter 2, Dora-Rouge tells Angel a story about what Angel was like when she was younger, and it is the first time Angel hears about herself as a young child. What is the story about?
how Angel loved plants as a child
In what chapter did Angel get angry at Frenchie for asking about her scars and break the bathroom mirror?
Chapter 2
Why does Angel see herself as “water going back to itself” and worry that she is being rejected in Chapter 2?
she learns she will be sent to live with Bush on Fur Island
What chapter do the two men arrive by canoe at Adam’s Rib to tell the townspeople about the system of dams being installed by the government without the knowledge and permission of the people living on the lands?
Chapter 3
The land of Angel’s childhood, and where she ultimately returns to at the beginning of the book historically belonged to what two tribes?
Cree and Anishinaabe peoples
Who takes Agnel by boat to Fur Island in chapter 4?
John Husk
How does Angel describe her perception of time as she approaches Fur Island in Chapter 4?
she felt that she was going both backward and forward in time, remembering herself and becoming something new as she experiences the lake
In describing how indigenous cosmologies think of every part of their world in an integrated system energized and managed by the power and spirits of gods, the resource guide mentions that “in Anishinaabe cosmology, each species has a __________, or spirit, which controls the presence and movements of representatives of that species on earth”
manitou
What does Angel discover Bush does for a living on Fur Island?
she collects bones and puts animal skeletons back together for museums
What is the name of the store that Angel said she got fake baby pictures of herself?
Woolworth’s
How does Angel feel towards Bush in Chapter 4 when it came to letting go of the story she created for herself and connecting more with Bush?
originally, she was angry, but she comes to connect with Bush and with the natural world in overcoming that resentment
What is the significance of Chapter 5 being so short?
it introduces a short series of central questions in which Angel interrogates the nature of the world, questions her mother, and ruminates on the elders’ belief that humans are watched by the natural world
- these questions are central themes and internal turmoil that will be addressed throughout Angel’s coming-of-age
Who does Angel go fishing with in Chapter 6, to which she is appalled by his approach to the fish?
LaRue
Who does Angel begin fishing with when she realizes she has a gift of seeing the fish through the water?
Bush
Who does Angel form a friendship with in Chapter 6?
Tommy
In what chapter is Angel taught by Bush about Wolverine and her mother, Hannah?
Chapter 6
In what chapter did Angel hear the story about her mother killing a dog?
Chapter 7
As winter is approaching in Chapter 7, which character does Hogan connect to cold and iciness?
Hannah
Which two characters in Chapter 7 talk about the power of song in shaping things and its potential to create bridges and to heal?
Bush and the Old Man
What is the name of the midwife who delivers Angel in Chapter 8?
Ruby Shawl
What object does Linda Hogan compare Hannah’s body and her inability to provide for her baby in Chapter 8 (as a literary device)?
the house (where Hannah was giving birth) becoming dilapidated under the pressure of the fierce winter
Where does Bush find baby Angel after she and the midwife searched the house for where Hannah hid her in Chapter 8?
hidden in the branches of a tree
Aside from sitting in delusion claiming that Angel was not her baby, what else did Hannah do when Bush and the midwife return to the house in Chapter 8?
she cut off all of her hair
In Chapter 9, Angel reflects on the voices of winter on Fur Island and contemplates the violence of the natural world. When Angel reminisces on finding her half-sister, how is Henriet characterized?
scarred, dangerous, tried to cut and scar herself to show she could not be hurt by anything outside of herself
In Chapter 9, Angel begins noticing how the ice crystals shimmer when charged by the solar storms, and afterwards, what does she begin dreaming about (two things)?
wolves and plants; Dora-Rouge calls her a “plant dreamer”
In Chapter 9, with what does Angel connect her history with?
the animals native to the North, notes that their histories are intertwined and thinks about how history has affected her mother and grandmother