My Review of Elatsoe So Far

Trigger Warning: the erasure of indigenous people is discussed. Violence as well as stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination is mentioned as well.

Elatsoe is a novel that I have to read for one of my English classes, but that is so good I no longer feel like I'm doing it for an assignment. I read half of it in one night, unable to put it down. The main reason why I love it so much is its message that fights the erasure of indigenous peoples. I also attended a webinar that touched on this topic, and so getting to see that webinar in literature form is beyond amazing. Elatsoe is a perfect example of how to go about being responsibly inclusive of Native American characters. It criticizes all the stereotypes that show up in some other books. I'm here to give my interpretation on it so far, with the assumption you've already looked up what it's about or have already read it.

Erasure in this context is that Native Americans have been erased from history and literature. If you think about it, Native Americans aren't talked about in history classes. I have a psychology class right now on stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination, and it doesn't even list them as a minority. They just completely aren't included at all, like they're completely forgotten about. There's a huge myth that Native Americans are people of the past even though there are tons of tribes that still live and exist today. In Elatsoe, when Ellie and her mom are being attacked by a vampire, the vampire refers to the Apache as "were." Ellie questions him in response with, "'Were?''" (Badger 154). Tribes also tend to be all put under one umbrella, similarly to the out-group homogeneity bias, where it's assumed all of them function the same. When in reality, when writing literature, it's important to be as specific as possible to describe each specific tribe and differentiate between them.

Oftentimes in history classes it seems like we learn about history through the lens and perspective of the oppressors/in-groups/privileged. In history, I learn about Native Americans, but I only see them in the historical narrative when they are the victim of colonization. Then they never appear again. I only see them in wars as if they are in the way of colonizers when they are simply living their life on their own land. What's missing is all the history on the different tribes and their cultures and what they do day-to-day. Why is it that we don't get the whole picture of who they are?

The writer's group which hosted the webinar talked about important it is to write books with indigenous characters in modern-day settings to avoid erasure from happening. I think this book is a great example. With the ghosts coming back to life in Elatsoe, I personally think it’s supposed to symbolize Native Americans coming back into literature. A lot of people assume indigenous peoples are dead and don’t exist anymore. Including the ghosts isn’t a way to continue stereotypes that all indigenous people do is magic and spiritualism (it was another myth we discussed at writer’s group), but it’s to show that even though Europeans have erased them in literature and therefore killed them, they are still very much alive like Ellie’s dog, Kirby. It’s possible that the humans coming back as ghosts being so dangerous is because “humans” represent Europeans who have always been treated as humans. Whereas animals like Kirby represent Native Americans to show that Europeans have dehumanized minorities and don’t even see them as human in the first place. It’s a way to criticize erasure even further. The danger in bringing the “humans” or Europeans back to life could be that they’ve already been alive. Even when Europeans die, they are still all we talk about in history classes. They aren’t forgotten, and that’s dangerous because Native Americans are humans too and they deserve to be talked about as well.

There’s also the part in the book when Ellie is going to look at fossils that the women in the store treat her differently because she’s Native American. It shows the prejudice and discrimination that occurs today still.

I think Abe being Ellie’s main suspect responsible for the murder of her cousin, Trevor, is a big part of the message of the book. “’Are you sure Abe is a murderer? He seems like a first-rate guy’” (Badger 78). In my opinion, Abe being rich and connected in all these places is to show white privilege. He has a fancy car and a big mansion, and he knows everybody. And the police rule Trevor’s murder as an accident again to show erasure and how Native Americans don’t even get a fair investigation like whites do. They’re forgotten about. I personally think it’s a reference to young Native American women who are kidnapped, and how the news doesn’t even cover it. There are all these brutal and awful things happening to Natives and people don’t even know about them. There’s a reason ghosts are such a big part of this novel, and it’s because in today’s society, indigenous peoples are treated like ghosts, invisible. This book is to try to change that.

The sea is another big symbol in this book. When Ellie and Jay fall in, I think that the dirtiness of it is to show the dirty treatment that Native Americans receive. The fact they had to fall in the sea to even see the dirtiness could represent how they're invisible until they try to make themselves visible; and when they do, they're usually met with stereotypes that aren''t true and with poor treatment.

I really hope Ellie is able to get justice for Trevor and I can’t wait to continue reading. It’s so good so far.