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
Which character in Chapter 9 ruminates on how he read in a science magazine that people are made of stars, and discusses Einstein’s theory about time?
John Husk
- another man reflecting on rational, logical knowledge to make sense of indigenous beliefs
In what chapter does Bush decide to go north and fight against moving the river?
Chapter 9
In what chapter does Angel try to make an impression on LaRue because she is worried about Bush?
Chapter 9
What is the season in Chapter 10?
spring
- begins to soften the landscape
On the walk back to Agnes’s house from Frenchie’s mourning gathering, what object do Angel and Tommy remark on, reflecting on its decades of history?
an iron teapot/kettle
What is the name of the trail that Dora-Rouge is excited to collect healing plants and seeds along?
Million Dollar Trail
What is purpose of Frenchie’s gathering in Chapter 10?
to mourn the loss of her daughter Helene
In Chapter 11, what do the men in their community think of the women’s journey to the north?
they think their journey is foolish
- even the women don’t believe they will complete the treacherous trip
In Chapter 11, Frenchie hosts a going away party. What two things do the guests do/discuss there?
- celebrate and mourn the expected loss of Dora-Rouge
- provide advice for the travelers
At Frenchie’s going away party in Chapter 11, the townspeople watch the news. What are the two world events they learn about?
- the deaths occurring in the war in Vietnam
- the American Indian Movement (AIM)
Which two characters fight at Frenchie’s going-away party in Chapter 11 about the AIM?
Justin and Frenchie
What story does the open space of the natural environment help Dora-Rouge remember and reflect on in Chapter 11?
the memory of the Indian agents coming to take her away to school, separating her from her sister
What does Angel begin drawing in Chapter 11?
plants!
What are the names of the couple that Angel and her grandmothers encounter on their journey north?
Bob and Jean
What does Dora-Rouge do to help them pass the river and travel safely in Chapter 11?
makes a bargain with water
What is the name of the destination that the women arrive in Chapter 12?
North House
What is the name of the German lady who runs the North House?
Gita
What are the men at island and staying at North House doing there?
trappers or hunting for Spanish silver
In what chapter does Agnes receive her fur coat in a package sent from John Husk?
Chapter 12
What destination do the women arrive at next after leaving North House?
the Place of the Sleepers
- find it almost submerged due to new dams
In what chapter does Agnes die?
Chapter 12
Who is sent in Chapter 12 to retrieve the plants that would supposedly help Agnes and her sickness?
Angel
At the end of Chapter 12, what animal do the women see in the mudflats as a harbinger of the increasing damage and destruction to the natural environment?
a moose, sinking into the mud and is swallowed by it unable to free itself
At what destination do the women arrive at in Chapter 13, where they make arrangements for someone to get Agnes’s body?
Two-Town
What is the name of the character who runs the Two-Town Post?
Mr. Orenson
Where do the women arrive in Chapter 13 to learn of the history of Native people who are living “partway inside both worlds…sometimes in neither”?
Holy String Town
From what character do the women rent a room from in the Fat-Eaters’ town?
Mrs. Lampier
What is the significance of Chapter 14 being so brief?
Emphasizes Angel’s mourning of the desolation of the land of the Fat-Eaters, finds parallels in destruction and violence of her childhood, compares the land to herself and sees how it’s angry as a result of change
In what kind of state does Dora-Rouge find her homeland to be in when she arrives in Chapter 15?
finds it unfamiliar and people despairing, people find loss unbearable and devastation of the land mirrored in devastation of the people, who have resorting to alcohol and drugs to find escape from their grief
In what chapter is Dora-Rouge’s cousin Tulik introduced?
Chapter 15
What is the significance of Angel floating in cold water in chapter 15?
as a kind of ceremony that might cleanse her of her grief and promote change
In what chapter does Bush begin attending meetings?
Chapter 15
What do John Husk and Tommy say in their letter to the women in Chapter 15?
that they plan to visit
- suspect their mail has been intercepted because Husk still hasn’t gotten the message about Agnes’s death
In what Chapter does Angel briefly interact with her mother, only to be gravely disappointed by the prospects of a reunion?
Chapter 15
When year was Linda Hogan’s “Solar Storms” first published?
1994
What does Angel dream about in Chapter 16, to which Tulik encourages her to go visit Hannah?
Angel dreams her mother is dead
What does Angel find at her mother’s house in Chapter 16?
her infant sister, later names her Aurora
What is the name of the man who Hannah asked to stab her, and later killed himself too in Chapter 16?
Eron
With whom does Angel converse with at Hannah’s house and ultimately changes Angel’s perception of her mother when she dies (feels grief and compassion vs just resentment)?
two women who were taking care of Hannah while she was on her deathbed
In Chapter 16, Bush and Angel prepare Hannah for burial and share a meal with the two women Angel had been conversing with, to find what outside of Hannah’s house afterwards?
Wolverine tracks
What does Dora-Rouge reveal her bargain with water was in Chapter 16?
Dora-Rouge said she would give up her desire to die so that she can fight for the water to live
- believes finding Aurora was part of her bargain with the rivers
Given that the Fat-Eaters believe that children are born with the souls of those who have died, what does Tulik start calling Aurora in Chapter 17?
“Totoshi” or “Storm” after his grandfather
What is the name of the god of that Angel learns about in Chapter 17 and how all living things grow from the god’s deep silence?
Ammah
What is the name of the channel that people gather at Tulik’s home to listen to as news spreads about the hydrodam project?
“Indian Time”
How does Angel begin to feel in Chapter 18 realizing there aren’t many teenagers?
lonely; revels in playing music and dancing around the house
In what chapter do Dora-Rouge and Angel join Bush at a meeting where BEEVCO announced their plans for construction?
Chapter 18
What are the people who showed up at the BEEVCO meeting to protest the dam construction told by the company men?
- that they are remnants of the past
- the company wants to bring them to the 20th century
- the company employees are only doing their job
- the people do not have enough names on their petition to matter
After being surrounded in the middle of the night by workers and their machines, which character forces Angel to leave with Aurora in Chapter 18?
Auntie
Why does Angel get arrested, and her truck impounded in Chapter 18?
tried to report the work crew bulldozing Tulik’s fence, but officer arrests her for driving without a license
What spurs Ms. Nett to come help the people at the land of the Fat-Eaters after her own lands were flooded and destroyed?
Angel’s radio interview, letting people know of the company’s mistreatment of her
Towards the end of Chapter 18, while Bush is smuggling articles to newspapers in American and Canadian cities and the people are blockading the train tracks, what is the dynamic amongst the townspeople?
they become divided (especially over use of violence in their protest), some even threaten Tulik, many seem to lose hope
Why do the protesters start to become suspicious of Bush in Chapter 19?
she begins talking to the police and soldiers after one of them trained a gun on Dora-Rouge
In what chapter does LaRue arrive at the land of the Fat-Eaters and cause more conflict among the group?
Chapter 19
What name do the people of the land of the Fat-Eaters reclaim for themselves in Chapter 19?
The Beautiful People
In what chapter is Tulik’s house burned down?
Chapter 19
In what chapter does Angel think of Wolverine and steal food from the workers?
Chapter 19
The friendship between what two characters dissolves as a result of their differing beliefs towards protest?
Auntie and Bush
At the end of Chapter 19, upon the arrival of soldiers with guns and helicopters, what do two main things do they do to wreak havoc on the people?
- shoot Mr. Orenson’s dogs
- throw teargas in the Post (making Aurora sick)
Who helps Bush and Angel escape with Aurora to find her medical treatment in Chapter 19?
Mr. Orenson
In what chapter to Bush, Angel, and Aurora finally return to Adam’s Rib?
Chapter 20
What do Bush and Angel find upon their return to Adam’s Rib in Chapter 20?
flooding has begun there as the protest up north as failed
How have LaRue and Husk’s characters changed when Bush and Angel return to Adam’s Rib in Chapter 20?
LaRue: changed man, different perspective on natural environment and his place within it
Husk: exhausted from fighting the rising waters, still grappling with Agnes’s death too
In Chapter 21, set a year later, who does Angel meet up with to give testimony about the effects of the dams on their way of life?
Tulik
About how much longer after Angel accompanies Tulik to testify to the courts about how the dams have affected their way of life, was the dam project stopped by the courts in Chapter 21?
over a year later
What song does Angel sing at Dora-Rouge’s death in Chapter 21?
the animal-calling song
What happens to Angel and Tommy in Chapter 21?
they become married
- Angel believes they are their ancestors reunited together
Where does Angel travel back to when Dora-Rouge invites her and Bush to her death?
Two-Town
