66 pages • 2 hours read
Kathleen GrissomCrow Mary
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Crow Mary/Goes First
Content Warning: This section discusses racism, colonialism and colonial violence, sexual assault, alcohol addiction, and death.
Crow Mary is the protagonist and narrator of the story. She grows up as Goes First with her family, rooted in the traditional teachings of the Crow tribe. Crow Mary is raised in the pre-reservation period, but colonization has already affected her family, as her grandfather was a white fur trader. As a kid, she has a profound connection with her grandmother, who teaches her about The Resilience of Indigenous Women. Crow women learn to build their tipis and own their homes, in contrast to middle-class white women of this era, who were usually financially dependent on their husbands. Young Goes First is deeply affected by the loss of her grandmother in battle with neighboring tribes, and she aspires to be brave like a warrior. She develops a strong bond with her grandmother’s brother, Red Fox, whom she calls “grandfather.” Red Fox becomes her teacher and guide. He imbues Crow Mary with Indigenous values of bravery, instructing her that “the brave take action in spite of [their] fear” (15). This idea guides Crow Mary’s survival journey throughout the story. As she grows up, Red Fox teaches her how to ride horses and shoot guns, traditionally male skills. As a young adult, Crow Mary becomes a “tall” and “strong” woman. She falls in love with Big Cloud, a young Crow warrior, and the couple intends to marry. Big Cloud, however, dies during a buffalo hunt, leaving Crow Mary grief-stricken. As she mourns, Crow Mary sees Big Cloud in a vision, promising her a “new life” and giving her a dog, signaling the start of her character journey.
Crow Mary meets Abe Farwell, a white fur trader known to the Crow tribe, who is looking for an Indigenous wife. Farwell pursues Crow Mary with kindness. Crow Mary doubts their union but agrees to marry him after he gives her a white dog, which she interprets as a sign from Big Cloud. Crow Mary believes that her marriage could give her the new life that Big Cloud promised as she seeks to forget her grief. However, she begins to feel the impact of colonization when she marries Farwell in Fort Benton. She feels alienated in white society. During the marriage ceremony, she is forced to change her name to Mary, a generic name given to all Indigenous women in white settlements. Crow Mary remains distant from Farwell as they travel to his trading post in Cypress Hills, feeling that they will never connect due to their different cultures. Farwell is understanding with Crow Mary as she preserves her cultural practices, but she desires to escape. Her meeting with Jeannie, a Métis woman, changes her perspective. Through their friendship and Jeannie’s guidance, she realizes the possibility of cross-cultural communication. Jeannie and the Métis call her “Crow Mary,” a name that she adopts to reclaim her identity within the white society. Crow Mary approaches Farwell, and the two eventually fall in love. While Farwell expects her to conform to white cultural norms, Crow Mary constantly affirms her identity.
Crow Mary’s journey to Cypress Hills thrusts her into cultural conflict. She encounters the novel’s antagonist, Sam Stiller, a wolfer and an old friend of Farwell’s. Stiller makes racist comments, sexually harasses her, and offers her alcohol, threatening her journey in the story. The wolfers kill Crow Mary’s dog, a distressing sign given that she saw the dog as a symbol of her new, happy life. When the Nakoda people arrive destitute at Farwell’s post, Farwell gives them shelter, and Crow Mary forms a bond with the Nakoda women. She witnesses the massacre of the tribe, and after seeing the wolfers abduct the women and rape them, she summons her bravery to save them. Crow Mary exemplifies Crow bravery, neutralizing the wolfers. Her life with Farwell changes after he fails to achieve justice for the Nakoda. Farwell relapses into alcohol addiction and opposes Crow Mary’s and her family’s cultural values. Despite this hardship, their family grows, and Crow Mary finds comfort in her three children. Navigating her conflict with Farwell, she strives to survive and protect them.
Crow Mary’s return to the Crow reservation with her family signifies a new stage in her life. She continues to confront the challenges of colonialism while she tries to help Farwell regain his strength. However, Stiller’s presence thwarts their connection. Farwell’s adherence to Stiller begets his demise, as Crow Mary cannot save him from alcohol addiction. Her suffering is exacerbated when Stiller and Farwell conspire to relocate the couple’s children to residential schools. Crow Mary finds support in her community. Red Fox kills Stiller, relieving her from his threatening presence. After Farwell’s death, Crow Mary awaits her children’s return. When her son returns and she learns news of her daughter, Crow Mary is ready to claim her freedom. Despite the tribe’s restricted life in the reservation, she reclaims land for her family and settles with her community, completing her homecoming journey.
Abe Farwell
Farwell is also a central character in the story. He is a white fur trader who frequently trades with Indigenous tribes. He plans to build a trading post in Cypress Hills and seeks an Indigenous wife to help him with his work. Farwell narrates his story to Crow Mary. He is from Pennsylvania, and his mother died when he was a kid. He was mistreated by his father’s second wife and was sent to law school in New York but left to work at building houses. Farwell is a Civil War veteran and was traumatized by the experience. He traveled west after the war to work building forts. Farwell is described as a kind and handsome man, and he pursues Crow Mary with patience and understanding. While he values Crow Mary’s skills and determination, he also falls in love with her. Farwell initially accepts Crow Mary’s cultural practices but expects her to conform to white standards.
Farwell adheres to the colonial mindset despite his good disposition, a trait that establishes his negative character arc. Farwell feels indebted to the story’s antagonist, Stiller, for saving his life in the war, and Stiller gradually guides him to his demise, exacerbating his alcohol addiction. Even after Crow Mary informs Farwell of Stiller's racist and harassing behavior, Farwell tolerates him, becoming complicit in colonialist practices. Farwell illegally trades whiskey to Indigenous tribes, which puts him at odds with Crow Mary and Indigenous people. Farwell demonstrates a “white savior” attitude toward the Cypress Hills massacre, but his own struggles with alcohol addiction counter the trope. Farwell does not manage to stop the wolfers from inflicting violence, but he naively believes that the white justice system will provide justice to the Nakoda. After his failure, he confronts the contempt that the white community of fur traders holds for Indigenous people, which initiates his “foul mood” and feelings of guilt. Despite his love for Crow Mary, Farwell adheres to the colonial mindset and opposes her culture. Farwell demonstrates his settler mentality in believing that Indigenous people can only survive by assimilating into white society. His opposition to Crow Mary’s cultural values at the end of the story and his decision to send their children away from their Crow family establish a permanent rift between the couple. Ultimately, Farwell dies due to his alcohol addiction, demonstrating the destructive effects of colonial ideology.
Red Fox
Red Fox is the brother of Crow Mary’s grandmother, and Crow Mary calls him “grandfather.” Red Fox becomes Crow Mary’s teacher and guide, representing the Indigenous elder as the keeper of tradition. Red Fox teaches Crow Mary the values of bravery that nurture her determination and courage throughout the story. Red Fox’s teachings challenge rigid gender boundaries, as he teaches Crow Mary horse riding and gun shooting, traditionally male skills. Red Fox encourages Crow Mary to follow her heart and overcome her grief after the loss of Big Cloud, assuring her that the Crow values will always guide her. Red Fox teaches traditional stories to Crow Mary’s children, offering them spiritual sustenance. These cultural values inform the children’s identities as they navigate the traumatizing experience of residential schools without losing their sense of their inner selves. Ultimately, Red Fox’s agency is key in Crow Mary’s positive character arc, as he neutralizes the antagonist, Stiller. Red Fox’s character indicates that Indigenous traditions can counterbalance the impact of colonialism.
Jeannie
Jeannie is a key character in Crow Mary’s character journey and demonstrates the possibilities of Cultural Conflict and Cross-Cultural Understanding. Crow Mary encounters Jeannie during her journey toward Cypress Hills, and they become lifelong friends. Jeannie is a young Métis woman whose father was a Scottish fur trader and whose mother was Blackfoot. Like her mother and Crow Mary, she is also married to a white fur trader. Jeannie’s hybrid identity and attitude demonstrate to Crow Mary the positive aspects of intercultural contact. Jeannie also becomes a guide for Crow Mary as she navigates her life away from her family. As an Indigenous woman, Jeannie understands Crow Mary’s alienation in white society through her own experience and helps her regain courage. She prompts Crow Mary to rebuild her tipi and use the name “Crow Mary” to affirm her identity. She teaches English to Crow Mary, making her education feel like a “game” instead of an enforced assimilation. The two create a sisterly bond that helps Crow Mary avoid loneliness. Even as their life paths diverge, the two women maintain contact throughout their lives.
Sam Stiller
Stiller is the novel’s antagonist. He is described as a “huge man” with a “deep” and “heavy” voice. Stiller is a wolfer and an old friend of Farwell’s who saved his life during the Civil War. Stiller represents the destructive impact of settler colonialism. He is a racist and misogynistic man who sexually harasses Crow Mary while addressing her with racist slurs. Stiller uses alcohol as a means of manipulation. His character reappears several times in the story, threatening Crow Mary. After the Cypress Hills massacre, Crow Mary finds Stiller raping a Nakoda woman and neutralizes him to save her. Stiller is key in Farwell’s downfall, as he facilitates Farwell’s relapse into alcohol addiction. He later becomes an “Indian agent,” enforcing hostile governmental policies toward Indigenous people. Stiller abducts Crow Mary’s first daughter and her son, sending them to residential school. Following this, he blackmails Crow Mary, attempting to force her to marry him so that she can keep her second daughter. In the end, Red Fox kills Stiller, ensuring the positive end of the protagonist’s journey.
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